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San Fernando
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Small City Achieves Big Success Per Plan

If you haven’t been to the City of San Fernando lately go. And if you’ve lived in the Valley for many years, you won’t believe the transformation that city has undergone in recent years. Streetscapes are changing for the better, whole blocks of homes are being refurbished, a state-of the art, huge aquatics facility is nearing completion, crime is down, etc., etc. This city of 25,000 people could teach other far larger cities a lot about how to get moving and get things done quickly. For many years, San Fernando (which is one of the municipalities separate from L.A.) was far from a place of envy it was a place with lots of crime and it was a city that just needed lots of work. Enter some new and creative ideas, some young people and lots of energy in the past few years; and a truly astounding philosophy of collaboration between the public and private sectors and everybody else in between. This has resulted in lots of changes too many to mention here. Recently, some city officials took me and Economic Alliance President and CEO Bruce Ackerman on a two-hour tour of the city to highlight the changes and explained how they got all these things done. Some of the highlights: New residential and commercial investment. The new aquatics facility that will be the best in the region. Corridor Specific Plans for the Maclay, Downtown and Truman/San Fernando districts involving mixed-use residential, retail, office and neighborhood commercial development. Creation of recreation corridors that link the city including pedestrian and bike paths. Facade improvements Home refurbishments “We’re planning, talking and doing,” said City Administrator Jose Pulido about all the improvements. That seems to sum things up. There aren’t the big, bureaucratic delays, common in Los Angeles, that make things move all too slowly. Yes, San Fernando is a far smaller city and that may make things easier but even some small cities still can’t do it. San Fernando doesn’t get its money from any one particular source: it’s public and private. Officials just know how to coordinate things to get the biggest bang for their buck. They also do some pretty creative things to help spur changes in the city like simply offering advice to developers on how to make their projects work. They don’t always have to throw money or tax breaks at them. Sometimes the city just leads by example, spurring redevelopment of a few houses, triggering other property owners in the area to do the same. San Fernando is also great at getting grants, routinely beating out far bigger entities for money. City officials are not ashamed to say they hustle for grant dollars. In fact, they’re so good at it that San Fernando received $21.9 million in grants from 2002-2007. This is more than the city’s 2007-2008 general fund budget of $19.1 million. But it’s not just hustle and piecing a lot of things together. City officials say their absolute greatest reason for success is they have a plan for the city and a plan for everything they do. Isn’t that true with everything in life? Why can’t other cities get a clue? Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at (818) 316-3125 or at [email protected] BR>

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