Last week, Santa Clarita City Councilmember Jason Gibbs was elected to the Metro board. Gibbs was approved by his subregion, and still faces one remaining county committee approval. Gibbs will replace outgoing boardmember Glendale Councilmember Ara Najarian in representing the cities of North L.A. County and the San Fernando Valley.
Metro board subregional representatives are elected via a two step process.
The first step is a population-weighted election by city representatives from the subregion. Last week Gibbs won this election at the Los Angeles County City Selection Committee North County/San Fernando Valley Corridor meeting [agenda].
This subregion includes the cities of Agoura Hills, Burbank, Calabasas, Glendale, Hidden Hills, La Cañada Flintridge, Lancaster, Malibu, Palmdale, San Fernando, Santa Clarita, and
Westlake Village. Gibbs’ Santa Clarita is the most populous city in the subregion. Its 232,000 residents give the city nearly a quarter (23 of 99) of total votes in the subregion [population vote breakdown]. The area is generally more suburban and more car-centric than overall L.A. County.
Gibbs was one of three city officials vying for the Metro position; the others were Glendale City Councilmember Dan Brotman and Palmdale Mayor Eric Ohlsen. Ultimately Gibbs won by a single vote out of 99 overall population-weighted votes.
The second step will be a ratification vote by city representatives throughout all of L.A. County. Generally, the full county vote is seen as a rubber-stamp of the subregion’s pick. This meeting is expected to take place on July 30.
At last week’s meeting, Gibbs stated his interest in more Metro support for freeways and driving, and less for transit and active transportation.
Gibbs was first elected to the Santa Clarita City Council in 2020. He is a mechanical engineer with a career in the aerospace industry. Gibbs, a Republican, is currently running for U.S. Congress; in November he faces a run-off against incumbent Democrat George Whitesides. Gibbs’ campaign website notes his support for law enforcement, border security, education, and local control – and his opposition to raising taxes.
The North County/Valley seat is one of two that are definitely changing on the 13-member Metro board. Both Najarian and Whittier Councilmember Fernando Dutra leave, and Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson and Gibbs arrive. The L.A. City mayor’s race has the potential to further change the Metro board, as the mayor controls four board seats.
Streetsblog emailed Gibbs for this post, but did not receive a response by presstime.
