Westsider sets sights on council

Deirdre Newman

After five months as a Parks and Recreation Commissioner, Mirna

Burciaga is ready to take the next leap and strive for a seat on the

City Council.

Burciaga filed an intention to run statement last week. She joins

six other candidates, who also intend to vie for the three open

council seats in November.

While the latest notch on her resume is a city commissioner, her

civic involvement is long and varied and runs the gamut from the

Westside to educational activist.

Those experiences revealed how important the art of listening is,

she said.

“I am a person who is willing to listen,” she said. “I never make

decisions based on my agenda. I want to listen to both sides and make

a decision based on what is good for everyone.”

Burciaga said she decided to file her intent to run after

consulting with her family, which includes husband Salvador, two

daughters and a son.

Burciaga lives, works and breathes Costa Mesa. The former fashion

designer has owned El Chinaco restaurant for 16 years. She took it

over from her brother-in-law when the restaurant was in dismal

financial health, she said.

“I decided to invest in it, and after one year, it started to go

up and up,” Burciaga said. “I think now he’s sorry.”

She is also the chair of the Human Relations Committee and

president of Madres Costa Mesa. Madres was originally formed to

advise mothers of youth already involved with gangs or atrisk of

being recruited into gangs. When Burciaga joined the group, she said

she wanted to focus more on prevention.

“If we get them involved in sports and healthy activities, it will

turn them into responsible adults when they grow up,” she said.

Her activism on the Westside dates back to the Westside Specific

Plan, which was born and then scrapped in the late 1990s.

She served on the Community Redevelopment Action Committee and is

on its successor, the Westside Revitalization Oversight Committee,

which is expected to present is recommendations for improvement later

this summer, she said.

Her resolute desire to improve the Westside stems from the fact

that she lived in that area for 10 of her 22 years in the city and

her Mexican-style cafe has been there for three years.

“I live in Mesa Verde, but I probably spend more time here,” she

said.

She also participates with the Latino Business Council and the

Latino Community Network, a group that works to empower the community

through communication, developing leaders and creating strong

relationships with city officials, schools and other organizations.

The highlight of her educational activism was when she brought a

formal complaint against the state Department of Education alleging,

among other things, that many Latino children attending Newport-Mesa

schools were not getting the necessary tools they needed to succeed

in school. The district has since required a systematic program to

address the needs of English Language Learners.

In all these instances, Burciaga has visibly demonstrated her

commitment to improving the community, said fellow Westside activist

Bill Turpit.

“I don’t know how she does it all, and she always gets it done,”

Turpit said. “In all of those things, the thing I like about her is

she’s a doer and a problem solver. She’s a very motivated

individual.”

Some of the chief issues Burciaga said she would make a priority,

if elected, are the city’s fiscal health and the safety of children.

“It’s disturbing when you read in the newspaper stories like the

[attacks] on Victoria Street,” Burciaga said. “We, as leaders, need

to commit to the safety of our neighborhoods.”

Burciaga was one of 26 candidates who competed to replace former

Mayor Karen Robinson, when she left to become a Superior Court judge

last spring. The council eventually appointed Mike Scheafer.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.