April 2, 2007

Pierluigi Oliverio takes office

Mayor, city clerk swear in new District 6 Councilman

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Cameras flashed and the audience clapped as Mayor Chuck Reed and City Clerk Lee Price swore in Pierluigi Oliverio at the March 20 City Council meeting.

Pierluigi Oliverio is sworn in as the city’s District 6 council member by Mayor Chuck Reed and City Clerk Lee Price.

The swearing-in ceremony came just seconds after the City Council unanimously certified the March 6 election results declaring Oliverio the winner. That was followed by Reed asking that the process be hurried in order to give the new council member his committee assignments, which turned out to be 11.

Once the oath had been administered and photos of Oliverio, his parents and Reed were taken, Price slid the nameplate in front of Oliverio’s chair, the Council settled down to business and so did Oliverio.

The new councilman’s first order of business was to fulfill a promise made to voters, he said, which was accomplished at the March 27 Council meeting. “Members of the Willow Glen and Rose Garden communities were concerned about the wording in regard to the airport curfew,” he said. Along with District 3 Councilmember Sam Liccardo, there was concern that new language in the agreement would provide a loophole allowing airlines to disregard the current curfew. “We got the language stricken,” Oliverio said,” so the airlines will honor the curfew.”

Since the election, Oliverio says his priorities haven’t changed. His main goals are to ensure that each development in District 6 has sufficient park space because the district is currently deficient in parks. He wants to ensure that industrial lands are not converted to housing and he wants to preserve the neighborhoods in his district.

In addition, he wants to communicate with the various neighborhoods within his district and stay up with the news by attending all the meetings. And, he wants to make sure that neighborhood business districts, such as Lincoln Avenue, continue to thrive.

Following his swearing-in ceremony and photo session, Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio shakes hands with his fellow council members including District 9’s Judy Chirco.

One of the things he discussed during his campaign was to be able to respond to constituent issues in a timely and responsible manner. To that end, he plans to use software to provide more visibility to constituent issues.

“My constituents will be able to track issues online,” he said. “They will be able to find out discussions and progress. When a constituent has an issue, he or she will receive an automatic e-mail with their log-in information so that they will be able to see their issue, what is happening and who [which staff member] is handling the process. All of this information can be accessed through their Web browser,” he added.

Among the 11 committees Oliverio has chosen to work on are Public Safety, Finance, Strategic Support, Clean Water, Healthy Neighborhoods, the Library Commission and CalTrans Maintenance.

His office staff includes Denelle Fedor who is director of public policy, Council assistant Ryan Ford, executive assistant Tina West—who also served with former Councilmember Ken Yeager—and another council assistant who has not yet been hired.

While Oliverio has taken a leave from his job, he said he will remain a consultant on advice of the mayor.