Candidate for
Council Member; City of San Fernando

San Fernando Mayor Nury Martinez is a passionate advocate for the Northeast Valley, where she was born, raised, and educated. First elected to the San Fernando City Council in March 2003, Nury has a proven track record of leadership and accomplishment for the City of San Fernando.

Nury learned the importance of access to economic opportunities for working families from her parents. Her father worked for 20 years as a dishwasher and then as a painter; her mother was a seamstress before getting a job in the factory at the Price Pfister plant in Pacoima where she was a member of the Teamsters. In 1996, Nury helped to organize hunger strikes, marches, and press conferences to protest the closure of the Price Pfister plant.

Since then, Nury has continued to work shoulder-to-shoulder with working men and women in the fight for just wages and benefits. She worked to implement a living wage ordinance in the City of San Fernando, and is proud that San Fernando was the first city in the nation to declare Cesar Chavez day as a city holiday.

Nury has fought to ensure that working families have improved opportunities to pursue the American Dream of homeownership. Under her leadership as Mayor, the City of San Fernando saw the addition of more than 45 new senior housing units in 2006, with another 50 units expected to open in spring 2007. Nury is also a strong advocate of the city's Property Rehabilitation Program, which gives eligible property owners the opportunity to apply for interest free loans to help them improve their homes and to help preserve the city's existing housing stock.

Nury is working to revitalize San Fernando neighborhoods through the Downtown Revitalization Plan and the Community Action Plan for Neighborhood Protection and Preservation (CAP), which targets blighted neighborhoods and properties for immediate and intense attention.

Nury strongly supports universal healthcare and at the local level has been a leader in bring more health resources to San Fernando. Her strong advocacy for providing HIV test counseling and education outreach led to the creation of the first support group for women living with HIV in the San Fernando Valley. As the former District Director for State Senator Richard Alarcón, Nury assisted with obtaining millions of dollars for community health clinics and she worked hand-in-hand with local residents to expand the Las Palmas Senior Center to provide seniors with more opportunities to learn about health issues and participate in programs that help them stay healthy.

A graduate of Northeast Valley public schools from Pacoima Elementary through San Fernando High School, one of Nury's top priorities is improving educational opportunities for San Fernando's young people. As a City Councilmember, Nury worked with the Los Angeles Unified School District to help site additional schools which will help reduce classroom size. Her efforts to improve education date back to 1989 when as a high school student, she organized student support for striking teachers at San Fernando High School.

Nury lives in the City of San Fernando with her husband Gerardo Guzmán. She is a graduate of California State University at Northridge.