City of San BernardinoCandidate for Mayor

Some say that a year at San Bernardino City Hall could be counted in dog years, the situation is so fraught with political minefields, infighting and financial insecurity. At the very least, one should consider it municipal government boot camp. If that is the case, you could say that San Bernardino City Clerk Gigi Hanna is fire-tested and battleground proven. Twice elected citywide to her position, Hanna spent the past 6 years on the front line of local government. During that time San Bernardino has:

• Had five city managers;

• Filed for and exited from bankruptcy;

• Seen a ten-fold increase in public records requests;

• Endured a terrorist attack on public employees; and

• Survived a divisive Charter amendment campaign, recall election and three initiatives regarding marijuana dispensaries.

In the midst of this, she followed all of the discussions concerning bankruptcy, the charter, employee negotiations, consultant agreements and contracting options for city services. Despite the challenges, Hanna remained a stalwart champion for the community, cheerfully helping residents navigate the complexities of City Hall, and involving herself in those issues that helped bring a sense of normalcy to a chaotic situation. She:

• Revived the Fine Arts Commission, providing a means for local arts groups to survive and gave the community a sense of normalcy during bankruptcy;

• Used partnerships within the community to keep the 60-year-old Sister City program alive despite pressure to disband it;

• Made more than 100 years of documents, including campaign contributions and other information, available online and accessible without a public records request;

• Updated the Municipal Code for the first time since 2010 and made it searchable online;

Hanna is an open government and communications expert with 30 years’ experience in public relations, journalism and government affairs. She holds a B.A. in in Journalism with a minor in Political Science, completed her graduate work in Communications and is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Public Administration at California State University San Bernardino (CSUSB). She began her career as a reporter, working throughout California for 16 years before transitioning into public relations for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, where she trained its member agencies how to navigate media crises, and was the contract administrator for the agency's City Makeover program, which awarded grants to cities, public agencies and non-profit groups to switch out traditional landscapes to those that were water conserving.

She left MWD to spend her time and energy in her community, and took on the position as Associate Director for the Water Resources Institute at CSUSB. While at the WRI, Hanna served as the communication manager for the statewide Alluvial Fan Task Force, a coalition of developers, fire officials, flood control experts, policymakers, scientists and environmental concerns creating design guidelines and a toolkit for development along alluvial fans, in hopes of preventing the environmental disasters and flood damage caused by development along thee geologically and environmentally sensitive areas.

Seeking even greater connection with her community, Hanna successfully ran for election as City Clerk in 2011 and since has become a Certified Municipal Clerk who mentors several clerks throughout the state. As she has recorded all of the council meetings and most of the closed session discussions, the plight of San Bernardino and its people touched her heart, pushing her to run Mayor, willingly taking a substantial pay cut, to make sure the people of San Bernardino have a voice in their future. Hanna believes it is time to take the city back -- from darkness, from despair and from elements that seek to divide it. We are “SB Strong,” and the time to flex our muscles is now, she believes.

You often see Gigi Hanna involved heavily in community activities, serving on the boards of Habitat for Humanity, the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, the Boys and Girls Club and Rotary. She believes that San Bernardino has the basis for a prosperous future, but needs a solid vision and a mayor willing to listen to the residents, fight for their future and work with all of the stakeholders to bring the city back to its former glory. She believes it is a duty of those who have received much to give back to the community.

She supports beautifying neighborhoods, fixing potholes, repairing streetlights and revitalizing the business districts to enhance safety, attract investors, create jobs and give people reasons to stay and raise families. She believes we must harness federal, state and county funds available for these goals; build coalitions across political, social and economic lines to find common ground and put ourselves on track for the long run. Hanna’s plan to do this includes:

• Harnessing federal funds available for the revitalization of Route 66 and branding ourselves as a place for national and international visitors to stop and celebrate the culture of “the Mother Road,” just as Route 66 is about to turn 100.

• Using state funds to upgrade the roads into the city, implement safety improvements, ease traffic congestion, repair local streets, freeways, tunnels, bridges and overpasses, making San Bernardino attractive to small business investors, homebuyers, developers and their clients.

• Bringing police, businesses and citizens together to prevent crime and solve neighborhood problems before they start.

• Using financial and other incentives to attract new business and keep those already here.

• Retrofitting City Hall to give the City an iconic and visual focus for its government, making it more accessible to the public and easier for them to do business with the City.

• Promoting and facilitating commercial development along the 215 corridor to take advantage of the millions of cars that pass through the city on the north-south route.

• Investing in the University District, to provide retail, food and entertainment services to the thousands of students, professors and families that live around CSUSB.

• Addressing the homeless issue by providing wrap-around services for the mentally ill, and addressing the need of veterans, women and the 4,900 K-12 in San Bernardino students who are homeless.

• Using Code Enforcement and an updated Development Code to beautify the business areas in the city; adopting commercial sign design regulations; and promoting adaptive re-use of our historic buildings

• Adopting a vision and plan for the city’s development so that decisions are not done piecemeal, but are part of a greater, long-term plan for the look of the City.

• Encouraging high tech and creative companies to invest here, providing jobs that move people into the middle class.

• Updating the Municipal Code to make live entertainment attainable for local entrepreneurs, keeping entertainment dollars within the city.

• Promoting arts as a means to revitalize the city, providing jobs and improving residents’ quality of life by committing a portion of the Transient Occupancy Tax to support arts, and attract homebuyers, businesses and shoppers.

• Harnessing our local talent by strengthening our relationships with CSUSB and Valley College so that students are mentored and trained, able to step into local jobs, or create their own jobs, here in San Bernardino. Then we must be willing to promote those who are qualified into management positions within City Hall.

• Completing the fee study that will determine whether the City is covering its costs for services and adjusting them accordingly.

• Eminent domaining the empty buildings in downtown that add to the blight, then build live-work spaces in connection with a walkable design that encourages a nightlife that will revitalize the economy.

Engaging the residents of San Bernardino in a meaningful and continuing discussion about the vision for the city, listening to their ideas and respecting their desire for a vibrant, healthy and diverse community.