NORTHEAST VALLEY : Westside Leader Joins Alarcon Office

A former politician from Santa Monica has been hired by Councilman Richard Alarcon to oversee field operations in the 7th District.

Antonio Vazquez, 39, who worked as a planner in United Way’s North Angeles region for three years, began his new job as Alarcon’s field director on Jan. 9.

Vazquez also served four terms on Santa Monica’s City Council, two of those years as mayor pro tem.

In his new position, Vazquez’s primary duty will be “responding to constituent needs and requests” and supervising seven field deputies, said Alarcon’s chief of staff, Annette Castro.

“Tony’s experience as a councilman in Santa Monica and his work with the United Way in the northeast Valley make him an incredible asset to our field operations,” Castro said.

For United Way, Vazquez coordinated grass-roots community programs aimed at developing leadership qualities in residents and helping them seek funding for projects. Vazquez said he will continue monitoring local United Way programs, but must now track other programs in Alarcon’s district, too.

“I think Councilman Alarcon’s biggest concern when he hired me was that he needed somebody specifically to be in charge of the field,” Vazquez said. “There are things taken for granted in other districts that we don’t have, like street lighting. We’ve really got to focus on improving the infrastructure and responding to the community’s basic needs.”