Elected to the San Fernando City Council to a four- year term in
March 2003 and re-elected in 2007. His accomplishments include the
development of Heritage Park- the city’s first park in nearly 30 years,
pedestrian infrastructure improvements along Maclay Avenue and
fiscal consolidation of the City’s Redevelopment Agency. He helped
in the development more than 100 units of senior housing and worked
with the downtown business community to initiate a Business
Improvement District. He served as the city’s Mayor from January
2009 to March 2010.

Steve represented the City on the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s San
Fernando Valley Service Sector Governance Council. Additionally, he was
appointed by the MTA’s to represent Los Angeles Metro on the Mobile
Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee. From 2004-2007 he
served as the city’s Director to the Metropolitan Water District.

Born and reared in East Los Angeles and Huntington Park, Steve attended
Los Angeles Unified Schools and Loyola High School and graduated from
UCLA with honors. He continued his education at UCLA in the Masters
Program for Latin American Studies with an emphasis in Urban Planning
and pursued 3 years of Ph.D. work in UCLA’s History Department.

Steve currently teaches at Los Angeles Trade Tech College. Over the years
he has taught Social Studies classes at the K-12 level as well as a variety of
History courses at UCLA. Prior to teaching he worked as a news editor.
Steve is the District Director for California State Senator Kevin de Leon
(2007-present) and previously worked as District Director for Cindy
Montanez (2003-2006).

Steve has been recognized as a Democrat of the year by the Los Angeles
County Democratic Party and has received recognition from the County
of Los Angeles } for his volunteer work at the San Fernando Library
promoting literacy. Recently, he was recognized both statewide and
nationally for his work on the California Health Leadership Program
on Diabetes and Obesity.

Steve has been endorsed by: the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor,
AFL-CIO;the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, The American
Federation of Teachers College Guild, SEIU, United Teachers of
Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Orange County Building Trades Council,
United Nurses Association of California, CA State Controller John Chiang,
State Senators Kevinde Leon and Ed Hernandez, California Assembly
Speaker John Perez and Assemblymembers Ricardo Lara, Isadore Hall,
Mike Eng, Roger Hernandez and Gil Cedillo, Los Angeles County Sheriff
Lee Baca, Los Angeles Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel,
LA City Councilmembers Dennis Zine, Paul Koretz and Richard Alarcon
(partial list of supporters).