Candidate Spotlight: Emma Ramirez
The next episode in my series of interviews features Emma Ramirez, a retired LAPD detective sergeant and current San Dimas Public Safety Commissioner. Emma is a long-time resident, small business owner, and single mom who raised her two sons in San Dimas. Emma describes her campaign for City Council as part of her lifelong commitment to public service. Issues important to Emma include preparing for the Gold Line station, revitalizing downtown, and bringing City Hall to the community.
Learn more about Emma Ramirez by visiting her official campaign website, Facebook page, or Instagram feed.
Links for this episode:
Isabel in San Dimas’s March 2020 Election Guide
San Dimas Meet the Candidates Forum 2020
BJ Lamb
i like that emma has a lot of ideas. community gardens have been talked about for a long time & even included in the original plans for the walnut creek park project. my concerns with community vegetable gardens around the city are that they will attract & feed the coyotes & make them less afraid of humans. how does emma propose to deal with that issue? in our own experience we have found that we cannot grow vegetable here at our home in via verde because the wild animals eat them before we can harvest them for ourselves.
BJ Lamb
i like the idea of having town hall meetings in different parts of the city as long as i do not have to pay $10 to come & express my opinions/concerns.
i also like having online surveys. it is rare for anyone on council to ask via verde residents opinions of matters that impact us directly in our own neighborhood. & knowing full well we did not want a senior residential facility or anytype of skilled nursing facilities at puente & via verde they put the issue on the ballot to change the zoning & did it anyway so there was no way we could legally complain & stop these developments here that have negatively impacted our home values. & we told council succinctly & loudly that we did not want our home values to be hurt by these developments. & they did it anyway & told us the developments would be benign. they are not!
BJ Lamb
the metro gold line train is coming to san dimas in 2025 & there has been a lot of talk & focus on mitigating its impacts on the city & the anticipated benefits it will also bring to downtown san dimas. the summer olympics will be held in & around los angeles in summer 2028 yet there has been no discussion that i am aware of about dealing with the impacts of the mountain bike races that will be held in bonelli park as part of the olympic events. has anything been done to consider how to mitigate those impacts or take advantage of the opportunities that event will have on via verde?
BJ Lamb
would it be possible to put a community vegetable garden in a greenhouse or fully fenced in enclosure that could be coyote proofed?
Isabel in San Dimas
Hi BJ, Thank you for your comments! Personally, I love the community garden idea, but I don’t know exactly how it would be implemented–maybe something for you to reach out to Emma about and ask her further. I also have not heard anything about the City planning for the summer Olympics in 2028. I’m sure it will come up as the events approach, and I will certainly keep the community informed if I can. Best, Isabel