The voters elected John the San Gabriel City Council in March of 2011. He holds a Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School. John has over twenty-three years of legal experience specializing in complex financial transactions, municipal law, and public works construction. In addition to being admitted to the California State Bar, he holds a real estate broker’s license and a general contractor’s license. 

John graduated from Saint Francis High School in La Canada-Flintridge and has maintained a strong bond with his Alma Mater. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communications California State University Northridge.

John and his wife Sonia have two daughters that attend San Gabriel Unified Schools and one I college. The Harrington’s value our strong school system and the great family venues in our city. John has been actively involved in many community organizations. He has coached his daughters in PONY baseball, AYSO soccer, and in the San Gabriel Girls Fast Pitch Softball League. 

John is committed to expanding family venues and experiences through community events. He has focused efforts on developing and funding the activities that make living in San Gabriel a memorable experience.

Being a business-friendly city is of utmost importance. He has devoted countless hours to attract quality businesses to Gabriel. His top priority is to enable the community to pursue additional family-oriented companies and increase quality venues aggressively. 

In 2005 along with Eloy Zarate, Senya Lubisich, and Eric Kirchhoff, John helped found the Friends of La Laguna. This non-profit organization was necessary to prevent the City from demolishing the (now) historic La Laguna playground in Vincent Lugo Park. This event marked the beginning of John’s political involvement in San Gabriel. He has championed San Gabriel’s place in history. Along with a strong effort from staff, he helped usher in San Gabriel’s award-winning Historic Preservation Ordinance.

John is also the former Vice-Chair of the San Gabriel Unified School District Facilities Oversight Committee. The School Board appointed John to this Committee because of his expertise in school construction and development. He accepted this nomination because he believes that our schools are vital to the success of our community. 

Active involvement in many issues that directly affect both the City of San Gabriel and the San Gabriel Unified School District is essential to John. He understands the economic value that development can bring to a community while respecting the past, and believes that all development must be responsible and respectful to the community.

Actively bringing the community’s voice and representing their opinion to the elected bodies of the region is vital to John. For example, he serves the San Gabriel Valley on the Metro Service Council, bringing transportation issues to the forefront. He has spearheaded issues such as increased paving, reducing massage parlors, lowering taxes, preventing mansionization of homes, securing affordable housing and making the city more responsive and accountable to the residents.

We are a diverse and thriving city full of great people. The Council's job is to help everyone be a part of the community, to make us the best we can be. San Gabriel is a special place in the region. We need leadership that is tested, trusted, and transparent.

TESTED

What separates me from other candidates is that I am honest about our problems and choose pragmatic and practical solutions. I have dealt with many difficult issues while on Council. I have lived up to my promise of always researching issues, finding solutions, and doing what is best for the ENTIRE community, not one group or special interest.

I stand on my record of service to the City and will continue to do so.

TRUSTED

I strive to be the Community's voice on Council. As a Council Member, I have actively worked with hundreds of community members to resolve issues with the City, between neighbors, and with businesses. I take a hands-on approach when it comes to helping the residents of San Gabriel. I have an open-door policy, and I am very approachable.

Every candidate will promise to "pave the streets." Have you ever seen a Council Member vote "NO" on paving? I will never lie to the voters and say that the City will pave a specific street. However, I can say that San Gabriel has paved more roads since I have been on Council than in any other eight-year period.

TRANSPARENT

As an independent, I do not bring an Agenda to my decisions on Council. I have been elected by the people, and for the people, so my decisions are for ALL the people. The City has come a long way since I was elected with transparency. We expanded our legal notice for projects to nearly DOUBLE the state requirements. We hold many more community outreach events for developments. 

The City publishes all documents on the website; also it broadcasts and archives all meetings for the public to see.

As we do the People's business, we must be open and transparent.

Tony Ding is a candidate for the San Gabriel City Council. He has been a resident of San Gabriel for 15 years where established his business, TD Financial & Insurance Services. Tony is a graduate of Jiao Tong University where he earned his Bachelor’s and earned a Master’s Degrees in Computer Science in the United States. After he obtained his Master’s Degree, he and his wife moved to San Gabriel where he founded his first business, a computer services company.

Currently, Tony is a San Gabriel Community Services Commissioner, member of the San Gabriel Chamber of Commerce, member of the Kiwanis Club, founding member of the San Gabriel Hope Lions Club, and honorary Chairman of the I-Chinese American Political Action Committee (IAPAC). During his term as President of the Asian American Advocacy Alliance, he is involved with a youth program which sponsors and teaches high school students the importance of the political process on a local, state, and federal level.

Tony is committed to community service and believes in the sentiment of giving back to the community. As a result, he has always been committed to serving San Gabriel and the greater San Gabriel Valley. His priorities are attracting new and quality businesses while developing new streams of revenue for San Gabriel, improving infrastructure, resurfacing residential streets, fixing sidewalks, alleviating traffic issues/concerns, and increasing accountability and transparency by managing the budget more efficiently and communicating more effectively with residents.

San Gabriel is beautiful for a variety of reasons, one being the unique character of the community. Due to the rapidly changing economic landscape of Southern California, San Gabriel must accommodate to growth and development while also maintaining its roots. Economic development is a top priority for San Gabriel City Council as prosperous business owners, quality jobs, and an increased tax base all help to create a thriving city. With increased economic vitality, the City of San Gabriel may continue to provide a high quality of life for workers, business owners, property owners and residents. Tony aims to support economic development and re-development in the City of San Gabriel in ways that complement the quality of life for all who live, work, shop and play in San Gabriel.

Every city requires frequent maintenance to ensure a healthy, clean, and prosperous environment. However, the City of San Gabriel is currently falling short. Potholes, functionless streetlights, and graffiti plague our city and detract from the beauty of the town. While reporting systems have been implemented, follow through on the complaints of citizens has been less than frequent. In addition, the city has not allocated enough money to fixing our aging infrastructure and generally beautifying the city. Tony plans to address our aging infrastructure by fixing more of our streets and sidewalks and ensuring that the proper funds are being siphoned to these projects, not just on main streets, but in our residential neighborhoods as well.

Every city requires frequent maintenance to ensure a healthy, clean, and prosperous environment. However, the City of San Gabriel is currently falling short. Potholes, broken streetlights, and overgrown trees plague our city and detract from the beauty of the town. While reporting systems have been implemented, follow through on the complaints of citizens has been infrequent. The city has not allocated enough money to fixing our aging infrastructure and beautifying the city as a whole. Tony plans to address our aging infrastructure by fixing more of our streets and ensuring that the proper funds are being siphoned to these projects, not just on main streets, but in our residential neighborhoods too. Lastly, he would like to enhance the main corridors with well-maintained landscaping.

I have lived in the City of San Gabriel for over 35 years. I am an engineer with the background and dedication needed to elevate San Gabriel toward a better future. I am proud to announce my candidacy for City Council for the March 2020 election.

After attending local San Gabriel schools, I attended and graduated from Cal State LA and Cal Poly Pomona and received degrees in Computer Information Systems and Civil Engineering. I have more than 12 years of professional experience working for the City of Los Angeles, Department of Public Works.

The City of San Gabriel and its residents taught me the importance of civic duty. This is why I have taken my education and experience as a licensed Civil Engineer to serve on the Planning Commission. I enjoy serving the community in this role. As Planning Commissioner, I serve as an adviser to the City Council on projects that affect infrastructure, transportation, local ordinances, commercial real estate and residential living. I have extensive first-hand knowledge of what it takes to provide quality infrastructure, manage multi-million dollar budgets, and build relationships among key stakeholders.