As a member of the City Council, I have been honored to work as part of a team that is getting things done. We've taken bold action to address Pomona’s problems and ensure that our promising future includes everyone. This team, led by Mayor Tim Sandoval, includes my colleagues on the Council, incredibly talented and dedicated staff members at City Hall, a network of community organizations, and engaged residents, like you, who love Pomona as I do. We are making a difference. You can see the improvements as you drive (or walk, or bike) around the City. Of course, Pomona still has many challenges—but there is a growing sense of optimism and potential that is refreshing and exciting. Things are moving in the right direction, and I want to keep the momentum going! We’ve accomplished a lot; there are many great plans and projects in progress; and there is so much more we intend to do. I want to continue using my talents and energy to preserve what we’ve accomplished, finish what we’ve started, and ensure we continue with urgency and resolve on the path toward shared prosperity—with dignity, health, justice, and opportunity for all.

WHY I'M RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION

ABOUT JOHN

MEET JOHN

Family Man

I grew up in north San Diego County, the oldest of six kids (four brothers and a sister). My dad worked for our church, and my mom, a painter, ran an art school with after school programs for kids. My dad also had a job throwing newspaper routes early in the morning to make ends meet. My dad is a genuinely good and faithful man who always puts others above himself. He is the kindest and most personable man I know—to meet him is to be his lifelong friend. He is my example of what a man should be. My mom is a wise and deep thinker, a reader, someone who appreciates and creates beauty. She sacrificed a lot to raise her children and loves us fiercely. She has always been my greatest fan and defender. I lucked out being born into a strong, united family and if there's good in me it stems from them. My siblings are my best friends. Our family never went hungry, but we knew how to stretch a dollar, and we knew that the most important things in life cannot be bought.

My wife, Aimee, and I met in college. She is a genius jazz piano player and singer. We have four great kids—Miles (24), Ella (22), Charlie (20), and Louis (17). Miles lives downtown with his girlfriend, Renee, Ella is in college in UT, Charlie is working internationally, and Louis is a senior in high school (who just found out he was accepted to Wesleyan, his first choice for college—yay!). These people keep me grounded and lift me up when I feel low. They support me and help me do my best. I find that when I put family first I have more energy, focus, and direction for my work in the community.

Louis (17), Ella (22), Me, Aimee; Renee and Miles

My mom and me in 2019

Tenant Know Your Rights meeting, 2023

Day Labor Center recognition, circa 2012

Community Lawyer in the Public Interest

After graduating from UCLA Law School in 2004 I came to Pomona to sue slumlords and represent kids with disabilities. Initially I worked for a nonprofit and had a public interest fellowship to represent tenants. For example, I won compensation for two families living in a mold and roach infested building in east Pomona who suffered asthma, nosebleeds and constant migraines and something like PTSD from the endless roaches no matter how clean they kept their apartments; I helped an elderly couple near downtown Pomona living in a rented house where the roof was literally caving in and there was a big hole in the living room floor; One big case secured life-changing funds for nine plaintiffs from a mobile home park on Mission where the manager was an abusive tyrant and the owner was renting out storage sheds with hotplates and no bathrooms at exorbitant prices to people with criminal records and others who had literally nowhere else to go but the streets.

When the fellowship ended I started representing students with disabilities full time. My clients are typically low-income, Spanish-speaking families who have a child with autism, or a learning disability, or ADHD, or health problems, or any other disability. The parents are struggling to get the school district to provide an adequate education for their children. I help kids get services and support they need to learn to talk, or read, or behave, or pay attention, or make friends—ultimately to learn and become as happy, productive and independent as possible.

I also volunteer my legal skills to the community in the fight for justice. I have advocated in Sacramento for legislation protecting the rights of children with disabilities. I helped found Pomona United for Stable Housing (PUSH) to protect tenants from illegal evictions and make sure they can afford to stay in their homes. I give know-your-rights presentations. I often represent clients free of charge. I feel blessed to have a job that allows me to use my skills to right wrongs and defend civil and human rights. I will continue do all I can for the workers, the vulnerable, and the oppressed from my little office at Holt and Date in District 1.

On a picket line, 2023

Experienced Public Servant

I have been involved in politics, activism, and community service since I came to Pomona almost 20 years ago. I helped lead the fight against ICE raids on day laborers as a board member and Board President at the Pomona Day Labor Center from 2004-12. I fought as part of the community coalition, Pomona Habla, for drivers licenses, and against police impounding the cars of innocent undocumented people at checkpoints. I served on the Pomona Charter Commission in 2010 and pushed for a police commission and ranked choice voting in City elections. I joined United Voices of Pomona for Environmental Justice in their fight to stop the trash transfer station.

I was elected to the Pomona City Council in 2012 and served until 2016. I stood up against waste and recycling polluters. I championed passage of the progressive General and Corridors Specific Plans. I approved the homeless shelter that has allowed the City to finally begin treating some of the unhoused (though nowhere near enough) with dignity. I helped draft and pass a resolution designating Pomona as a sanctuary city, preventing police collaboration with ICE and protecting undocumented immigrants against unnecessary inquiries into their status. I was a vocal proponent of stopping the raves at Fairplex which had tragically resulted in multiple deaths, and of starting the process of investigating and correcting Fairplex’s deviation from its role as a nonprofit, family-oriented community partner. I stood against the expansion of liquor licenses where they threatened the health and peace of nearby neighborhoods. I stood firm against Wal-Mart expansion in support of better union jobs. I championed and played a key role in securing approval for two innovative, beautiful low-income housing complexes (one of them, Parkside, in District 1) created in partnership with Tri-City Mental Health that offer dedicated units and wrap-around support for people recovering from mental illness.

From 2016-2020, I took some time away from City Council to be a dad to my teenagers, but stayed active in the community. I have been on the board of the Latina/o Roundtable since 2017 where I have worked on establishing the organization’s New Economy effort—focused on building community wealth by focusing on wellbeing. I'm honored that the Roundtable gave me its Community Star award in 2020. I also helped found Pomona United for Stable Housing (PUSH), a growing tenant-based community organization dedicated to fighting housing injustice, empowering neighborhoods and protecting against displacement.

During the George Floyd protests in June 2020, encouraged by some friends and fellow activists, inspired by the heady feeling of unity and potential for change that marching together down the middle of the street stirs, shaken by COVID and the vulnerabilities and divisions it exposed, but also awakened--in view of the measures (financial and otherwise) imposed in reaction to COVID--to the fact that humans are capable of formerly “impossible” and dramatic changes of direction when threatened, enlightened, or impassioned, I decided to run again for City Council in the open seat. You can read about some of the highlights of my accomplishments this term on the Achievements page of this website.

I believe Pomona is a special place and that this is a unique time in the City. Pomona is special because it is diverse, compassionate, and welcoming, and also because it enjoys an overarching Latina/o-infused culture that is passionate, resilient, industrious, entrepreneurial, faithful, family-focused, loyal, persistent, proud, vibrant, courageous, common sense, dissatisfied with incompetence, aware of injustice, and willing to speak truth to power. Pomona is aware of its heritage and history, and is intent on preserving its memory, exposing and addressing its injustices, and celebrating its joys, beauties, and victories. Pomona is the heart and soul of this Valley—it refuses to sell its soul, and it always leads with its heart (and often wears it on its sleeve).

This is a unique time because, among other things, there is true, talented, transparent leadership and vision in the Council Chamber and at City Hall; the City is in the best financial shape it has been in for years; City staff are as bright, experienced, and motivated as they have ever been; Pomona’s reputation, example, and influence in the County, the State, and even around the world (e.g., the Mayor’s Bloomberg Fellowship, and the City’s connection to the Wellbeing Economy Alliance) is on the rise; and we are experiencing a building boom (including the A Line arrival) that will bring new residents, new funding, and new opportunities. I look forward to continuing to pursue this path toward prosperity, focused on ensuring that all the people of Pomona can stay here if they want to, each supported to express their individuality and contribute creatively as we build our common future together.

Neighborhood Meeting, circa 2014

Parkside Low-Income Housing on Holt, est. 2016

New field lights go on at JFK ballpark, 2016

Food & Commercial Workers supporters, 2023

March for tenant & worker rights in LA, 2023

Christmas on Columbia neighborhood leaders

Breaking ground on new affordable housing, 2023

MY PRIORITIES

Build and preserve affordable housing
and reduce homelessness.

Champion a strong, innovative, & permanent housing stabilization ordinance to keep people in their homes and expand opportunities for tenants to become owners.
Advocate for the construction of housing of all types downtown and on the corridors – and insist that surrounding cities do the same.
Initiate partnership agreements with surrounding cities to directly tackle the homelessness crisis as a region.