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This is the second part of the Q & A with Council Member Joe Mosca that was posted on Saturday, March 17. The original conversation with Council Member Joe Mosca took place on Saturday, February 24.

Click here to read the post containing the first part of the Q & A.

Click here to read the entire interview in a PDF file.

inSM: [Former mayor] George Maurer told me that there has been a recall in Sierra Madre before. I have not read about it, only heard about it. He said it was truly ugly. Do you know anything about the previous recall?

JM: I think it was in the 1970s. A lot of older Sierra Madreans have approached me and talked to me about this. I think Jan Maddox may have been on the Council, and some questions or some issues had arisen and a number of Sierra Madreans wanted to recall her or somebody on the council at that time. I’m not sure. But most Sierra Madreans who have approached me about this have a very bad taste in their mouths about that whole process and about how divisive it is and about how much it pulled the community apart … I would suspect that same thing would happen this time.

At a very important time in our history — not to mention that we are celebrating our 100th anniversary now — when we’re really needing to move forward and look at issues of how we pay for this good community, we’re tied up and talking about issues of personality and not the serious issues the city needs to be talking about.

I don’t know exactly about [the previous recall effort]. I don’t think Sierra Madre has ever had a successful recall. I think the recall process started. People have said that it was a very divisive and bitter battle.

inSM: For Sierra Madreans who may not have been here during Grey Davis’ recall, what are the next recall events that are going to happen?

JM: The proponents of the recall have served me with the notice of intent to circulate a recall petition. They then filed that on Friday [February 23] with the city clerk. I have seven days to file an answer to their notice. I will file an answer early this coming week with the city clerk.

From there, there are so many days that the proponents have to put together a recall petition. A recall petition will consist of several things, including proof that they have published the notice in the paper, my statement, proof that they served the answer on me, all together. They’ll file that with the city clerk. The city clerk will review that document to make sure that it’s accurate and is sync with state election law, and then they can then start walking the community with that petition and try to get names. They have 90 days to get 25 percent of the electorate, which is about 7700 people registered, I believe.

inSM: And that’s the petition to put it on the ballot. So if they get 25 percent of 7700 people that doesn’t complete the process. It goes on the ballot, and then there’s a vote.

JM: But I’ve already talked to my supporters. We have a campaign going now to tell people not to sign this petition. Again, as George Maurer and a lot of other people who live in Sierra Madre in the 1970s will tell you, [recall is] not a fun thing. The city has some serious issues that we need to pay attention to. Signing that petition means that we go to the next step and that we have an election that could tie this city up for months. We [won’t be] able to focus on the real issues.

We’re definitely mobilizing. We have a campaign together. Do not sign this petition. We think that it’s not a wise thing to do, and we’ll bring our campaign to everybody and talk to people about what I’ve been doing and how I’ve not broken my promises. I stand for what I said I stood for [during the campaign], which is that I would support a public vote on the DSP. I’ve worked hard as a City Council member, and anything I’ve done does not warrant such an extreme measure like recall.

I’ll continue to work hard for the city. We’re not out there putting together this huge campaign. We’re going to move in a very measured way. We’re going to match them step for step. If the proponents are out there walking door to door, we’ll walk door to door. But the important thing is that I’m still on the council, and I need to focus. I have a lot of obligations on the council, committees, and the city has a lot of important issues that it’s facing. I think it’s important for me to continue working on the people’s business, and also we’ll do what we need to do to stop the recall, but right now the bulk of my time is focused on city business. And living life.

inSM: There are 30 names on the petition. Is there anything more you can say about who might have mounted this effort?

JM: Those 30 names on the recall notice. I don’t know more than that at this point. And as far as whether it’s valid, I have it in my campaign attorney’s hands, and he’ll continue to look at it and give me advice as to anything else that we should be doing legally. It appears to be proper, and then we’re just going to campaign.

So, I don’t know if there is any subtextual stuff. I know that there are lots of people who make connections to this, make connections to that. I could spend my whole day trying to figure out these conspiracies and who’s related to what, who’s doing what because of why.

The only thing I can do is to have a conversation with the people of Sierra Madre, tell them what I’m doing and tell them how hard I’m working on their behalf. Tell them that I have not betrayed their trust and that I’ve kept my promises and that I think that it would be an awful thing to go down the path of recall.

inSM: Anything else you want to add?

JM: I’m very proud of everything I’ve done so far on the City Council. I think it’s an amazing experience for me, and I’ve learned a tremendous amount. I feel very privileged and honored to be able to represent Sierra Madre. Sierra Madre is a great city with a lot of amazing people.

I was down at the Little League opening ceremonies today, and that’s what it’s all about. It’s about the festivals, it’s about the Little League ceremonies, it’s about the 4th of July Parade, it’s about the people who live in Sierra Madre, it’s about our neighbors. Yeah, we have complicated issues, and we’re going to work through those. I think in the future people need to focus on the fact that this is a great community because of the people who live here. That’s what makes the community rich, that’s what makes it an amazing community.

Let’s come together. Let’s focus on the issues we need to focus on. Stop talking about issues of personality because we’ll never agree, and we’ll divide the room every time we talk about it. Let’s focus on the things we can fix, which are the bulk of the issues facing the city. I think we’ll benefit the city tremendously. I think we can do a lot, especially since this is the 100th year of our incorporation. I think we owe it to our city, and we owe it to the generations of people who built the city who have come before us.

I think it’s interesting that some people say that I’m pro-development. I don’t think that my record on the Sierra Madre City Council shows that I’m pro-development. I think that what it shows is that I’ve been a preservationist, and I’ve been about controlled growth.

I think that if one looks at my record, especially when I was living in Sherman Oaks, when I was a member of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council and also a member of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, which is well-known for fighting good fights against development, you’ll find that I was about controlled growth and preservation.

One example is when Best Buy was trying to locate a project in Sherman Oaks. The homeowners association mobilized and fought that project. I was part of that mobilization, and I was part of fighting that project to make sure that Best Buy didn’t locate in Sherman Oaks. I was a part of a number of other fights, where we had an impact on decreasing the density of a lot of different condo complexes. We made sure that the single-family homes in Sherman Oaks weren’t destroyed and that they were preserved and that certain blocks were declared historical areas so that those post-World War II 1940s ranch style homes were preserved. And they still are, and some of those areas in Sherman Oaks are very beautiful because of the work of the homeowners association in Sherman Oaks.

inSM: Were you successful at keeping the Best Buy out of Sherman Oaks?

JM: For a little bit. I moved away from Sherman Oaks several years back. Recently a deal was struck with the homeowners association, the neighborhood council and the City of Los Angeles, to put something much smaller than what was originally proposed, and on one of the main traffic corridors and not on its original site. I think it was a compromise that the homeowners’ association wasn’t very fond of, but the City of Los Angeles eventually said that it would go through. … Though it wasn’t a perfect compromise, it was much better than what would have gone through had Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council and the homeowners’ association had not fought hard and fought well to make sure it didn’t happen.