In early January, some local business owners were shocked to receive a letter from the San Fernando City Council – it was hand-delivered by the city clerk, accompanied by a local police officer – requesting five years’ worth of financial documents.
The requested financial records pertain to their work with the San Fernando Mall Association, a volunteer group of area merchants that has aimed to help increase foot traffic, boost business and create a welcoming atmosphere in the historic downtown district.
But the decades-long collaboration between the city and the association – which dates back to 1984 – was severed when the city council voted to terminate their agreement with the association last November.
It is unclear why the council made this move after the Mall Association had used its resources to build the successful San Fernando Outdoor Market that brought some life to the area that, for years, had grown stagnant with little foot traffic. The outdoor market was commended for becoming a gathering place for the community.
However, there has been an enduring resistance to change in the small town and the recent action taken by the city to curtail the Mall Association’s efforts has confirmed the preference to “keep the city the way it’s always been.”
There were rumblings and conservative eyebrows were raised when the city’s LGBTQ+ community held a micro parade at the outdoor market during Pride Month. While for some residents having gay residents, some dressed in drag, celebrating in a parade was “too much” and not “family friendly,” for other residents, the parade meant progress and “feeling included for the first time.”
The goal for association events was to encourage residents to buy locally, attract those living outside the city, rejuvenate the mall area and help keep the city’s small businesses open. One store owner, however, consistently complained directly to the council with claims that she would lose money when food trucks lined side streets and outside vendors would set up pop-up booths. Those with storefronts were encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity to market their businesses at the events.
Meanwhile, given the bylaws of the association’s agreement with the city, the request for records was unmerited, according to Tom Ross, founder and CEO of Tekwerks, an internet service provider based in the City of San Fernando since 1995. He believes the way the letter was written and delivered – to Ross and three other members of the association – was unnecessarily heavy-handed, especially because it was presented at his business, in full view of customers and employees.
“It was written very much like a subpoena – but it’s not,” described Ross, who started volunteering for the association in 2006, previously serving as president and most recently as the group’s treasurer and a board member. “In my opinion, that is a little intimidating.”
Especially, said Ross, because all four of them received the letter three times – via email, then in person later that same day, and again via FedEx the following day.
“If there was a problem, [they] could have called me – most of the city council and Kanika [Kith, the city manager] and the police chief, they all have my personal cell number,” he continued. “If you’re going to characterize this city as business friendly … you don’t need to send a police officer to send me a letter to say that you have questions about how we were spending money.”
During a recent event hosted by the San Fernando City Chamber of Commerce, Councilmember Mary Solorio broke ranks with her colleagues on the dais by speaking frankly. She said she feels the current city council doesn’t do enough to support local businesses.
“I am here to support our small businesses, [all] our businesses here in San Fernando, because that is exactly how we thrive,” said Solorio.
Unfortunately, she continued, “It’s been a little difficult on our council … recently, with a lot of things that I think have been broken with our small businesses here in San Fernando.
“This council continues to … take actions that don’t move local business initiatives forward” – such as terminating the agreement with the association and other decisions, added Solorio.
Last October, one of those actions was her fellow councilmembers’ decision to utilize approximately $200,000 of the estimated $240,000 in reserve funds allotted for the downtown district to purchase and install holiday lighting along the mall that will be used year-round. Solorio said they did so with limited input from the association and merchants, despite several urging the council to instead use the funds for new signage or projects to beautify downtown.
Solorio had suggested conducting a survey of mall merchants, who pay into the fund to support enhancements, events and marketing for the downtown district. Over 200 businesses that operate in a designated area along and near the San Fernando Mall are levied a tax based on a percentage of their gross annual receipts, up to a maximum of $500 per year, for the downtown fund.
That money, typically requested and distributed to the association yearly, had swelled to about $240,000 because the association hadn’t received funding for four to five years. Instead, they had been utilizing revenue generated by the local outdoor market when it was being held on a regular basis – once monthly, nine times per year – for downtown projects and events.
Instead of surveying the mall merchants or accepting input from association members, Solorio said the council approved and proceeded with the purchase and installation of the new lights before the recent holiday season. Not long after, some of the lights “were not working already.”
“It’s not necessarily the lights, it’s the infrastructure – this council made a decision to purchase the lights without [confirming] if the infrastructure in the city could even support [them],” said Solorio, adding that she feels some of her fellow councilmembers are making some decisions too “quickly,” without sufficient discussion or broader community feedback.
“It seems like this council just wants to take power and utilize it however they [choose] and, in my opinion, it’s all going in the wrong direction,” she said. “We need to give power back to the voters, back to the people who live and work here in San Fernando … That’s who we’re responsible to … not to individual council members.”
Other decisions involved changes to the popular outdoor market, which the association launched during the summer of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to help drive business to the downtown mall, recounted Ross. Last year, the city pulled its sponsorship for the event.
“Then they wanted [the association] to hire the city and pay them for things like security,” said Ross. Paying the city for those services diminished revenues from the event and made it financially unfeasible, he said. As a result, the association chose to cancel the outdoor market.
In early November, Ross said the association submitted a reimbursement request for $43,000 – most for future endeavors, and a portion to pay a local marketing company for two months’ worth of work. Not long after, the city council rescinded the 1984 agreement with the association.
After that happened, Ross said they no longer expected any funding and only wanted the city to pay the outstanding debt to the vendor. But on Jan. 8, Ross and the other association members received the unexpected request for all financial paperwork from 2020 to 2025.
Ross said they responded to the letter by offering to meet in person with city officials and be present while they review the documents.
Solorio, who confirmed the letter was delivered, said she wasn’t involved in preparing it or how it was presented. She isn’t supporting the council’s status quo and said she hopes that in the next municipal election, voters in the city will elect candidates who are more “business friendly.” That way, she explained, the future council can adopt more initiatives to help bring in new small businesses and support existing ones.
“We do have an election coming up in June, and [there are] great people who are running,” said Solorio.
Already, she is suggesting that residents support Sean M. Rivas, who ran and lost a previous race for the local city council and is expected to run again in June.
Solorio will be up for reelection in June, and the council seats will also be up for the current Mayor Joel Fajardo and councilmember and former mayor Mary Mendoza.
“We need to get involved and we need to change the dynamics of our council, because it matters,” said Solorio, noting she has plans to help grow and support local businesses.
To date, the association hasn’t been officially dissolved yet, but that is their plan, said Ross.
“I volunteered my time [with the association] because I believe in people giving back, to build a better business community, and this is what my … mission has been,” he said. But, given everything that has transpired, Ross said he would never volunteer for the association again.
“I’m out of the association, regardless of what happens [in the future],” he said. “I’m resigning as soon as is feasible, [but first] I’ve got to make sure that the association winds down properly.”
Solorio believes the association wasn’t valued enough for the work and support they provided to downtown businesses.
“I think the Mall Association brought different individuals [and] different businesses together, and they were all for one common cause, and that was to make downtown better,” she said. “And these were all volunteers. We should have been appreciating them more and saying thank you.”
The San Fernando Sun/el Sol reached out to Mayor Joel Fajardo and City Manager Kanika Kith requesting comment, but they had not replied by press time.
Editor Diana Martinez contributed to this article.
240k for Holiday lights is crazy.. They weren’t even impressive. They need to keep updating and renovating the city and bringing in new businesses not driving them away with expensive taxes and fees. We need a new Mayor and council.
I believe the tenants , business owners, are correct. Not the city. Those businesses downtown have gone through alot. The city is not addressing it correctly, and in all honesty i think this can’t be tolerated. I don’t know why but it has a very bad smell & breaths very bad intentions. As if it is an attempt to not only intimidate but a copy-cat syndrome of a Shirley+Somalia tactic., which happens to be FAR FROM THIS CITY & CASE.
As a born nd raised San Fernando BROTHER, thank you for making this known. THE Sun should address this with a heavy hand, as it appears it is doing. Thank you Sun. This is a form of tyranny against its business owners nd people of the community, and definitely should nNOT let it go. Period!
I was genuinely shocked by what I read.
If the City followed a threefold service process—emailing, faxing, and sending City employees, including police officers, to serve documents—then it strongly suggests the City took this matter seriously and ensured every procedural requirement was met. That type of approach does not happen casually. It tells me they crossed every “T” and dotted every “I.”
What concerns me most is the possibility that there is more information behind the scenes that has not yet been disclosed publicly. If subpoenas have already been issued, as I understand, then the community deserves to know what information is being withheld and why.
The City of San Fernando is well-equipped with legal counsel and funding. They would not take such extensive steps unless they believed they had a legitimate basis to proceed.
At this point, the key question is transparency:
Has the Association been honest, open, and fair with the community and local businesses? Or has critical information been kept within an inner circle, limiting access and accountability?
That is what truly matters—because the public deserves transparency, not secrecy.
Dotted every “i”, yeah uhuh! Not so sure they do the “T”. Intimidating works well for them. Its habit forming, get me. Like a child when not corrected. If u not know, remember that fire next to crazy chicken in the center of the mall? Can u tell me what the city did , and who paid for the repairs? Yeah, there sure dot there “I”, capitol I only! Thank U Sun once again.