Nagy: An Independent Glendora

Glendora city council candidate Jason Nagy says he has ambitious plans for the city of Glendora. He prides himself in ideas some might consider too lofty.

“What’s wrong with being the city everyone else looks at?”  Nagy asks.

Nagy, a third generation Glendoran, has lived most of his life in the East San Gabriel Valley. He spent his entire public school education within the Glendora Unified School District and attended college at Azusa Pacific University, majoring in marketing.

After working in the corporate world and growing weary from the long commute to downtown Los Angeles, Nagy decided to stay closer to his hometown and become more involved in his local community.

Now married with two young children ages 8 and 11, the 37-year-old is aiming for a seat on the Glendora City Council.

Being one of the younger candidates in the race, Nagy believes his youth is an asset, providing energy and a more progressive approach to local issues. With the state proposing sweeping changes at the local level -- including the early demise of redevelopment agencies -- Nagy believes it's time for Glendora to explore more independent avenues of revenue.

Nagy talks to Patch about his ideas for generating revenue, redevelopment and why he deserves your vote on March 8.

Why are you running for Glendora City Council?
I’ve always had a passion for local politics. I’ve actually have been wanting to run for a very long time, but what prompted me to step forward and do it now, was that I knew there was going to be a vacancy. I knew there was going to be an opportunity to serve without running against an incumbent for one seat.

There was an opportunity now to serve. With the changes that are coming in the next two to three years – pension reform and redevelopment – there is an opportunity now to make real structural changes to our city that can be long-lasting. Rather than wait 20 years, I’m getting in now.

The catalyst for me running was two-fold. One was the environment for change. In this financial crisis we’re in, you have to be innovative to come through it successfully. Coupled with the fact that there was more than one opening, I was definitely all in.

So I decided to run about a year and a half ago. Since then I’ve been preparing myself for this opportunity.

What do you think sets you apart from the other candidates?
I have had to be innovative in a very competitive market while I was in real estate and corporate America to differentiate myself to build a business and be able to negotiate. If you don’t have negotiating skills and innovative thinking, you’re not going to be successful in business. That’s something that I can bring to the table that some of the other candidates may not have.

To understand what it means to be innovative and what small businesses struggle with, others may not have a clue. That puts me in a completely different category. I can stand up to the bargaining groups and say, “Look, here’s where we’re going and here’s why.”

But I can’t go up there and be just one vote. I have to sell three other council members, at least, why this is a good vision and direction. You have to be able to work together to gravitate people to your ideas and what you want to do.

You are one of the younger candidates running in this campaign.  How do you respond to those who say you’re not ready at this point in your life to commit to the demanding job of a city council member?
It’s been proven that with the economic shift that we’ve had in our country and in our state that the traditional methodology is not working. You cut, cut, cut, but it’s not enough. You need to be innovative and restructure so you have long-term sustainability.

I come from a different generation and mindset that allows me to be innovative and fearless. We need to be bold and thinking outside of the box. I feel like the older generations are missing that. Personally, I feel like having that progressive approach is what the council needs.

What are the most important issues facing the city and how would you address them as part of the city council?
I have an unbelievable amount of energy and I’m excited about it. There needs to be excitement, energy, enthusiasm and innovative perspective on things

You ask each of the candidates what are their ideas are and you get budget, budget budget, pension, pension, pension. That’s the beating drum.

I think the main thing is, how are we looking to grow? The Glendora Marketplace and Diamond Ridge were great developments, but now that we’re almost built out, what next? What are we going to do for redevelopment?

The people are drunk on what the government is giving you. The state’s broke, the entitlement programs and the entitlement money is going to be going away. So what are we doing to be independent? How are we going to be self-sustaining?

We have $12 million in reserves. There is $3 million out on loan to a redevelopment agency. The city is paying itself back $360,000 a year. We have $9 million earning nothing. As we’ve made all these cuts and kept our reserve levels at 40 percent, but what are we doing to stop that hemorrhaging of having to cut, cut cut? What are we promoting to grow and redevelop?

We’re dependant on outside resources from the county and the state, but we haven’t said we can be independent and make some changes ourselves. We need to do more with our resources, such as our land resources.

It’s a two-headed dragon and I feel like the city is only looking at one head.

So what I’m proposing is an independent redevelopment agency. I am open to the exact way to get there. It doesn’t have to be my way or the highway.

My original idea was take $1 million of the reserves and open and fund an independent redevelopment agency so we’re not dependent on county money coming in and them making a determination of what’s blight what’s not. But I’m very open to ideas on how to get there.

This idea might seem really lofty to some, but I think it’s an attribute I’m willing to put an idea out there that’s not perfect, that needs refinement and work together to get it done, versus not putting an idea out there at all.

There has been the perception of some of the residents that the city does not take the time to listen to them. Morale among the city employees is at a low point. How would you address this issue if part of city council?
I’m a staunch Republican, but this may sound Democratic. Cities are not corporations, but having that much in reserves when your roads are suffering, and your programs are suffering … The city is a service-based entity not set up to be a profit center. To say we know what’s best and we need to set up all this money without listening to the needs employees of the city, without listening to the concerns regarding projects of the city and small businesses –  it’s got to change.

Until you go in and talk to them and try to see both sides of the coin, you don’t know what’s really going on. My issue with the council, and I’ve heard this over and over and over again, is that they have not actually gone out and asked.

There are two schools of thought. We’re going along Ok or are we really being the best we can? I personally think we can do better.

There are three open seats available on a five-seat city council. With just one incumbent running among seven candidates, city voters could possibly put in a new majority on the council. The three new candidates will make a critical impact to the makeup of the city council. If you were elected, who, among the seven candidates, do you believe should join you?

I honestly truly believe I can work with any of the candidates. I like Joe Santoro, I just like him. I enjoy Joe and I enjoy his conversations. He’s not arrogant or pretentious. I would vote for Joe. To be honest with you, I like Cynthia [Carrasco] as well. She’s naïve enough to be fearless. Judy [Nelson] is a very sincere woman and I think she's doing it for the right reasons. For the last seat, it’s a toss up between Cynthia and Judy for me.

[UPDATE:] Editor's Note:  Jason Nagy retracted his first statement. To ensure fairness to all candidates, Mr. Nagy's original response has been reinstated. At Patch, transparency is very important to us. We are committed to accuracy and will acknowledge our mistakes and fix them as quickly as possible. 

Editor's Note: This feature is the fifth in a seven-part candidate series. Each one-on-one interview will focus on an individual candidate for Glendora City Council in the March 8 election. Future articles in this series will run March 3 and 4. The order of candidate profiles will run in the order of the final ballot.