Growing old ... gracefully?

My two cents…

Age per se shouldn’t be the factor that entitles someone to membership of the council, nor should it automatically taint his/her contributions. To me, a council member’s action speaks louder than one’s age. I don’t necessarily see that old-timers are out-of-touch with the times, but a council of the city ideally should have some resemblance to the city’s demographic makeup. Four of the five members are 60 and over: does that mean this age group makes up 80% of Rancho Cucamonga’s population?

It would make me proud to see the city council to have a rich composition that includes the thirty-something, as well as the sixty-something. I believe diversity is a strength.

Wrecks 49? More like 9.
Keep Wrecks in Rancho - Rancho Cucamonga County Jail

Wendy,
Rex Gutierrez was able to find time to be a council member while on the payroll of the county. Now that's demonstrating how an elected can think outside the box.

The City of Rancho Cucamonga is soooooo lucky to have you covering the city regardless of age. Hardly anything gets past you re: this town and we are very well represented on a daily basis. Sorry other IVDB towns...we got Wendy!

Thanks for the kind words, Bob. I'll give you the $20 later.

Yes age does matter. Earlier comments from Gavin are right on to me. Actions do speak volume, BUT diversity is proven to be a tremendous benefit towards bringing balance to the discussion and final decisions. Age, race, backgrounds all bring different perspectives to the table. Any concentration of just one group, creates an inbalance. In Rancho's case, basiclly everyone over 60, white, and retired from public service is not representative of the makeup of the city. I have to applaud Dr. Kurth for his involment and dedication coming from the field of medicine. What a difference from past mayor, who was just another representative of the retired public servant (fireman), white, over 60 group.

Young people not having time as an explanation for the inbalance should be explored. Other So. Calif. cities have had many younger candidates and leaders on their council. Some good some not so good. It would be beneficial to understand why Rancho, seeking to be such a "progressive" city, cannot attract similar interest.

With recent actions of Rex, and County gov't corruption, possibly there may be more happening and influencing representation at the city level.

There is a history of diversity among candidates in RC council elections. I remember young Caucasian men, young Caucasian women, middle-aged Caucasian, African American and Latino men and a middle-aged African American woman on the ballots. Unfortunately if they did not have police/fire walking the street, and developer backing they were defeated.

In spite of the lack of diversity as a result of these highly influential factors, and with the exception of the plague of corruption embodied in Rex Gutierrez, the past and present Mayors and Councils have done a decent job.

Dear Wendy,

You often ask the wrong questions. Instead of focusing on the age of the City Council, you should be asking why voters and more importantly, the major donators keep supporting the incumbents???

The answer is simple: The major donators can depend on the incumbents. They are predictable for good/bad behavior, controllable, easily influenced, etc. A new and/or unknown candidate can be idealistic, unpredictable, etc.

When a special interest has millions of dollars in investments and/or contracts on the line, they will predictably seek to insure that their interests are protected by heavily backing the candidates who they can count on for favorable votes. Example: Paul Biane and Rex Guterriez. However, it does not end there unfortunately.

As stated in a previous comment, if a candidate (regardless of age), does not have police and fire union and developer backing, they cannot win. That is the reality. That is politics as usual.

You wrote: "I would imagine it's difficult for young working people to find time to be a council member. That's why many people who run are already retired, like Michael, Spagnolo and Williams." That is absolutely ridiculous. Do some homework. The internet provides election results. Several of the past candidates' demographic makeup illustrates the inaccuracy of your statement.

Voice of Reason, I agree with your statement......... "In spite of the lack of diversity as a result of these highly influential factors, and with the exception of the plague of corruption embodied in Rex Gutierrez, the past and present Mayors and Councils have done a decent job."

Yes they have done a "decent" job. Especially in early days of planning for Rancho. At the same time, possibly with a more diverse council and not so narrowly focussed in structure, they would be recognized as doing a GREAT job.

Many of the key issues these guys have touted during their elections, just have not happened. Central Park, traffic flow and signal syncronization, reserved open space, less multifamily developments to name a few. Past councils have grown the fire deparment, put in many new stations, put in more neighborhood parks than are even used, but can't land the "big one".

Alot has got done, but this crew seems to have exceeded their abilities to make it happen and move Rancho up to the next level of terrific cities.
Kudo's for the "decent job". Past Council's and Mayor's Grade = B-

I'm not looking so much for diversity in age, but maybe some diversity in ideas. A good portion of these council members all favor the same unions, the same social issue restrictions, and the same developers.

Many complain (correctly) about the corrupt influence of the real estate building industry and public unions.

How about making fewest campaign contributions a major factor in your voting decisions?