Reassess Sagebrush Issue Immediately, Candidate Says

Editor's Note: This is one in a series of Q&As with the candidates for La Cañada Flintridge City Council. There are seven people running for three seats, including two incumbents. The election is March 8. 

Jacqueline Harris, 48, is a registered nurse/clinical nurse specialist, working in the field of solid organ transplantation. She is also a licensed pilot, and her daughter is an internationally ranked Irish dancer. This is Harris’ first run for city council. She has lived in La Cañada for 19 years. She and her husband Chris, a LCF native, have three children. When she’s not working, Harris enjoys flying her Cessna 172, scrapbooking and participating in Scout activities with her children.

Question: Many would like to see a remapping of the school district to eliminate the Sagebrush issue, which, by law, forces some students on one side of the same street to attend schools in Glendale, while students across the street attend school in LCF. What would you like to see done to rectify this situation? 

Answer: Given the current situation with state budgets and declining LCF student enrollment, this issue needs to be re-assessed immediately. I am aware that it has been a long-standing agreement that these students attend schools in Glendale, which has been receiving the per student state allotment for a very long time.  But we are past the time to re-evaluate this.  This issue was raised by several homeowners as I was out door-to-door campaigning. Sagebrush students are clearly living within LCF boundaries.  It not only affects students, but home sales, etc. for those families looking to live in the LCF school district and those wishing to sell their homes as well.

Question: If elected, what could you and the city council as a whole do to improve LCF schools in general?

 
Answer: The LCF City Council is not the authority on schools.  There is a very capable school board in place to oversee school matters.  I do think that the city council needs to continue to be attentive to businesses, continue the very effective joint use agreements we have with the school board, and expand support for the school district.  We need to think outside the box on ways to increasing funding for our schools.  I support benchmarking of other communities in similar situations to assess what's working and what's not, as well as assisting the school district in implementing programs and  projects where it's applicable.

Question: What do you most oppose about the extension of the 710 Freeway, assuming you oppose it.  If you support it, why?

Answer: As we all know, the 710 is a major truck corridor from the harbor ports.  We've already experienced a truck incident here in LCF (albeit, from Angeles Crest Highway, but a truck incident none-the-less), with litigation ongoing, which will tap into our decreasing $14 million in reserves. We in LCF don't need the added truck traffic or increased truck pollution, or increased street traffic and potential for more accidents.

Question: As a challenger in the council race, what do you bring to the table to address concerns that the existing city council is not responsive enough to community concerns? 

Answer: While I give the council credit for handling a very difficult job, especially during the fires and mudslides, I think there is much that can be improved upon. Communication between the city and the county, between the city and the state and most importantly, between the city and its residents that it serves are important, and the keyword here is serves.  The left hand needs to know what the right hand is doing. There needs to be more business transparency and a little less taking credit for what prior city council personnel have accomplished. In my travels door to door and business to business, I heard multiple complaints of unreturned phone calls, unreturned (or harsh, cynical replies when they do receive one) and unanswered e-mails.  We need to address issues as they arise and not let them brew. My proven track- record of success in the medical field translates nicely to politics.  The "politics" of hospitals and insurance companies is very similar to government. I am experienced at getting timely and effective results for the consumer.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Harris and not her daughter was an internationally ranked Irish dancer. Patch regrets the error.