Accomplishments

Over the past 30 years that Margaret has served on the Duarte City Council, she along with the staff and other council members have accomplished many important goals for the city.  Because her 5 children have all graduated from Duarte High School, Margaret has had a great interest in education in the community.  She is the President of the Duarte Education Foundation that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund projects and programs in the schools.  Margaret also chaired the first school bond initiative back in 1997, where over $44 million was raised to improve the deteriorating infrastructure of the 8 schools in the school district.  

Two other important accomplishments, working alongside current Councilmember and 6-term Mayor John Fasana, was the building of the Duarte Senior Center for our extensive senior citizen programs.  Furthermore, Margaret and John spearheaded the drive to seek grant funding to build the Teen Center, where there is a thriving boxing program.

The Gold Line Extension to Azusa was important for mitigating traffic congestion, and improve commute times for motorists.  Since it's opening in 2016, thousands of people use this public transportation to access the City of Hope as well as other businesses in Duarte. 

Preserving our natural resources for future generations has been a priority for Margaret.  She worked with former City Manager Jesse Duff to seek funding for the preservation of 330 acres in the foothills above Duarte, which will always remain Open Space now.  She also worked tirelessly with councilmembers Fasana, Gaston and Paras-Caracci against the mining expansion by a neighboring city. This mining cannot be stopped but Margaret has worked with councilmembers to bring real-time air quality monitoring into our city to record the air in close proximity to our city.  

Goals for the future: 

Extend the Gold Line to Claremont, and ultimately Ontario Airport, removing thousands of cars from our roads. 

Improve economic development in and around the Gold Line station, as well as bring more restaurants to our downtown.

Seek further grant funding from alternative sources (such as SCAG and other quasi-governmental organizations) to fund extra services that have been cut due to the State's dissolution of Redevelopment.  

Create more housing to mitigate the housing crisis that has affected the state of California.

Develop a wildfire mitigation plan that will keep our foothills safe from wildfire disasters.

Enhance our "smart city" capabilities with citywide wifi and sensor technology.

Protect our environment for generations to come by encouraging alternative forms of cleaner transportation (Margaret is an avid cyclist and commutes to many of her meetings by bicycle). 

Continue our downward crime trend with our pro-active policing policies, such as LPR (license plate reader) cameras that can track stolen cars. 

 Continue to monitor our homelessness crisis, by aggressively seeking new housing and employment for those people that want and need it.

Two of the best city managers that I have had the pleasure to work with - Dr. Dan Jordan and Jesse Duff, both of whom made significant positive changes in our city.

LA County Fire Chief Daryl Osby has helped our city on many occasions with our wildfires. We contract with LA County Fire and they have served our city well in fighting the fires adjacent to homes in our city.

I have made many trips to Sacramento with my colleagues from the San Gabriel Valley to ensure that our voice is heard by the state legislature. I am shown here with various city councilmembers and our Senator Susan Rubio.

Our current city council is shown here shortly before Mayor Pro Tem Tzeitel Paras Caracci passed away. We meet on a regular basis with LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger to learn about the county and what we need to do to be better partners with them. Margaret has the endorsements of all the current Duarte City Councilmembers, including Vinh Truong, Jody Schulz, Toney Lewis, Cesar Garcia and Sam Kang. I am also very proud to be endorsed by Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

Margaret and former Duarte City Councilmember and Mayor John Fasana were honored in 2021 by the Los Angeles County Boy Scouts Council for their volunteerism and dedication to youth in the Los Angeles area.

In 2012, Margaret was named the California State Mother of Achievement by the American Mothers Inc. She is shown here with her husband Brad and also with her parents and two children, James Finlay and Megan Warnick.