Calabasas City Council incumbent says he wants your vote again

By Michael Picarella Acorn Staff Writer

City Councilman Dennis Washburn

Calabasas City Council candidate Dennis Washburn, 60, is a founder of the city. He’s seeking reelection in the March 4 election.

He’s served on the council for 12 years and has lived here more than twice as many years.

Washburn was appointed as the city’s first mayor and twice served in the same office.

Add to his resume that he’s past president of the greater Mulwood Homeowners’ Association for seven years and that he was regional councilmember of the Southern California Association of Governments for Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Malibu and Hidden Hills since 1996.

Washburn would make anybody’s "Who’s Who" in Calabasas.

"I’ve been at this since 1978, trying to get independence and self rule," Washburn said. "I’m fascinated by the process and I’m dedicated to the process, and I’m inspired by the opportunity to be in a community-building position."

Washburn earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of California Berkeley and later an MBA in marketing and finance from San Diego State. He’s an advertising/public relations/Internet marketing executive and uses his skills to build community—or as he calls it, Calabasas commUNITY.

"‘Unity’ is the coming together and the philosophy of being together and the ‘comm’ part is ‘communications’ and ‘commitment’ and ‘comprehensiveness.’" Those words contribute to the process of unity, Washburn said.

"This is a fabulous community with fabulous people in it. But they all have to work to be a kindler, gentler and engaged citizenry. We have to be supportive of one another in order to solve some of the very difficult and ongoing problems. There will always be (problems)," Washburn said.

"Working together as we do, there’s so much you can do and it’s exciting to be able to do it, and it’s educational and revealing to do it—that whole thing is part of the process of life that I really enjoy personally," Washburn said.

He’s proud to be instrumental in many Calabasas accomplishments, including the acquisition of hundreds of acres of open space, the development of parks and recreational facilities like Juan Bautista De Anza Park, the Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center and the Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center. Washburn has also been involved in the planning and preparation of a new library and the civic center.

The councilman wants to continue acquiring open space and parkland. And he wants to make sure that the land stays that way in perpetuity.

"I have a lot of experience in making the institutional structures and setting up the processes to make that happen," Washburn said.

Regarding traffic in Calabasas, Washburn said, "We’ve done a lot from an engineering standpoint, installing traffic lights. And we do already have very comprehensive and well-managed traffic signalization control."

But Washburn said vehicular traffic isn’t about speed control devices such as traffic lights, speed bumps, stop signs and roundabouts. "We’ve done a lot of that," he said. At the Calabasas Park Homeowners’ Association candidates’ forum earlier this month, Washburn said city residents are successful people and they got that way because they took risks. That "risk-taking" attitude can also show up in the streets, he said. He wants to attack traffic control on the behavioral level, Washburn said.

"You have to control the things that you can with engineering solutions and good planning—we do that—and you then have to say, ‘Folks, we need your cooperation. We need you to drive more carefully, more slowly or more respectfully and sensitively ... or you need to help us develop the shuttle or bus—the mass transit solutions within our own city that will help us remove vehicle trips per day from the roadways.’"

The creation of groups like the Calabasas Emergency Response Program, he said, helps behavior by bringing people together.

"It’s not just to deal with disasters. It’s to deal with preparedness for anything that would impact our city. And it’s building relationships," Washburn said. People are more concerned with the safety of others when they’re working cooperatively in these types of groups and atmospheres. And they drive slower or allow more time to reach their destinations. There are different ways to create, he said, a safe community.

"Even a 15 percent improvement is a very significant difference," Washburn said.

Traffic near Lupin Hill Elementary School was a problem in the past, the councilman said. The city scheduled its buses to transport kids to the campus, and while not everyone uses the bus, it helped reduce about 15 to 20 percent of the vehicles at peak times.

Washburn wants to do similar things with other schools.

Washburn said he also enjoys the results of creative thinking and the ability to set goals and meet them on major projects.

Washburn said he has the time, the energy, the desire, the experience and the history to make more accomplishments as a city councilmember.