Meet Dan

For those of you that don’t know me yet, I’m a former economics professor, a father of two, and as of almost six years ago, one of your elected Glendale City Councilmembers. I live in the beautiful Niodrara Historic District just north of Verdugo Park, and I, like you, can proudly say that I love Glendale. I’ve been fortunate. I grew up in a secure and caring environment. I attended Brown University as an undergraduate and Johns Hopkins as a graduate student. I found good jobs in banking and finance, including a long stint with a large US tech company setting up and running business operations in Asia.

About 15 years ago, I decided I needed something more personally fulfilling. I needed to give back. So I threw away the steady paycheck and reinvented myself—first as a teacher of history and economics at an private international school, then as an economics professor at Glendale College, then as an advocate for the environment, and finally as a Councilmember. I’ve never regretted it.

Entering politics was never part of my game plan. But the City’s insistence on spending hundreds of millions of dollars replacing an aging gas plant with the same old technology forced me to organize a push for clean energy alternatives. The effort proved to be successful, and the aftermath was a groundswell in favor of new, more modern approaches to old problems. I’m not afraid to disrupt. Whether it’s environmental and fiscal sustainability, development that accommodates change while protecting historic neighborhoods, our traffic safety crisis, mounting housing and utility costs, homelessness, or the challenge of our aging roads, electric grid, and other infrastructure, I will continue to apply my analytic approach to find creative solutions to the challenges we face.

I know that most of us are feeling financial pressures like never before. I am committed to attacking the underlying drivers of the rising costs of housing and utilities with real solutions that work. Not false “easy fixes” but honest, evidence-based strategies to keep costs check so everyone can continue enjoying the good life in Glendale.

I believe every person deserves a roof over their heads and access to basic education, healthcare, and nutrition. We all are better when the least well off among us are provided for. I also believe we are responsible for leaving behind a better world than the one we inherited—no unpaid debts, either financial or environmental. We have the brains and energy to be among the greatest cities in California, and to lead by example. Join our movement. Together, we can keep our Jewel City moving forward as it adapts to an ever-changing world.