Bernie Svalstad: Ready to serve again

June Casagrande

One look around Bernie Svalstad’s office and it’s clear this is a

man passionate about government. Svalstad runs his small finance

business at a desk surrounded by photos of himself with notable

conservative leaders. President Gerald Ford, Newt Gingrich, Pat

Robertson and John Wayne are just a few of the dozen of celebrities

and dignitaries whose pictures line his walls.

“I’ve been in government all my life,” said Svalstad, who served

on the Fountain Valley City Council for three terms beginning in

1969, including a stint as mayor.

Now an 18-year resident of Newport Beach, Svalstad said he’s ready

to make a difference here, as well.

“I think the No. 1 issue is probably John Wayne Airport,” he said.

The city’s first line of defense against airport expansion is to

protect the John Wayne Settlement agreement from future legal

challenges, he said.

“I feel that, due to the financial incentive for airports to

expand over time, that there will be a challenge,” he said. “It’s

very important that we stay vigilant and make sure the settlement

agreement stays in place.”

Water quality is also a crucial issue for the city, Svalstad said.

While applauding the far-reaching efforts now underway to keep

coastal and bay waters clean, he said even more must be done to meet

stringent water-quality requirement deadlines that are impending.

“The majority of the problem has to do with runoff from our city

and from other cities,” Svalstad said. “We need to be more stringent

in our measures to protect runoff from our city and from neighboring

cities as well.”

Public education, he said, is key.

Perhaps his biggest issue is his hope to bring a state-of-the-art

traffic-management system to Newport Beach. Svalstad has researched

programs in Anaheim and Fountain Valley and, in them, sees hope for

Newport’s ominous traffic challenges. Such systems use a combination

of cameras at intersections, signal synchronization and other

technologies to tackle traffic problems where and when they occur.

The funding, he said, could come from Measure W money.

Svalstad is also a supporter of a $10-million plan to improve and

expand the Oasis Senior Center.

“Seniors are growing in numbers in Newport Beach and residents

will become more and more in need of this type of service as citizens

grow older.”