Determined and focused

Dave Brooks

Special interests make him mad. The city’s reluctance to deal with

it’s infrastructure really gets him going. And don’t even bring up

the West Nile virus.

“When we have our first death, this place is going to be a nut

house,” City Council candidate Jim Moreno said.

This year’s effort marks Moreno’s second attempt at office after

coming in a discouraging 10th place in 2002.

Running a campaign tinged with anger at the city, Moreno is hoping

that voter discontent in the wake of recent scandals, along with his

grass-roots machine, will push him out of the margins and onto the

dais.

Moreno’s campaign is centered around his experience in local

government, both as a former budget analyst for Los Angeles

Supervisor Ed Edelman and a member of the citizen’s advisory board.

But whenever Moreno is on the stump, he talks about the city’s

reluctance to tackle certain issues, like the West Nile virus.

“We’re surrounded by 10 miles of canals,” he said. “The county is

taking the steps necessary, but what is the city doing?”

Moreno said the city should dedicate more funding to battling the

mosquito-borne disease. His solution speaks to his desire for

decisiveness and his campaign resolve to get things done.

“I was having problems with people stealing my campaign signs, so

instead of complaining about it, I did something,” he said. “I am

offering a $500 reward to anyone that can provides information that

leads to the arrest and conviction of anyone perpetrating these

crimes.”

It’s also time for the city to reanalyze its costly pension system

and begin looking at how it plans to pay for more than $1.3 billion

in needed infrastructure repairs.

“These are problems and they’ve certainly come home to roost,” he

said. “We need to be presented with the real information about these

issues so that we can make the hard decisions.”