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Dennis Scherzer has spent much of his candidacy door-knocking, whether it be for East Palo Alto City Council or through Residents for an Independent Sanitary District, which aimed to “safeguard the autonomy” of the entity.
But what he learned, he said, was that most people aren’t thinking about politics or city council.
“They’re thinking about their car, their kids and groceries,” he said. “That takes up all their time.”
In a diverse city full of hard workers, residents want to kick their feet up, be able to pay their bills and return to a home they can afford, he said.
Scherzer, who served nine terms on the East Palo Alto Sanitary District’s board of directors — a body that was officially dissolved on Oct. 1 — hopes to pair his decades of board expertise with his ability to make decisions that are “best for the people,” to bring a sense of relief to the community.
He grew up in Akron, Ohio, and moved to the Bay Area in 1973 due to economic hardships following the Kent State shootings in 1970.
“I came across the Golden Gate Bridge on January 1, 1973,” he said. “And I thought, I might as well be struggling here than in Ohio.”
He stumbled upon East Palo Alto by chance when he helped a friend move from the area, promising himself that he would come back – which he did in 1974.
For about five years, he focused on raising his family and was a community farm coordinator in the area.
Scherzer began his undergraduate education at the University of Akron in 1969, but finished after his move to the Bay Area, earning a degree in geography from San Jose University in 1989.
He was first elected to the sanitary district board in 1982, he said, and continued there for decades, serving as chair of the board earlier this month.
In 2002, he was fired from the sanitary district “without cause” but returned in 2009.
“We had a board member who built a second unit at his house and refused to pay connection fees or service charges,” Scherzer said, who believes he was terminated for holding the member accountable.
Another board member at the time, Edrick Haggans, was the lone dissenter in the 4-1 decision.
“I couldn’t find any reason to dismiss him,” Haggans said in the 2002 article. “I don’t have any political axe to grind against him.”
Through his decades of work, he said, one of the more notable things he’s done is help create a loan program for residents to borrow money for lateral replacements, which involves pipes that connect homes to the sewer main. These pricey repairs can cost around $10,000, he said, but residents were able to pay back the loans on their property tax bills over time.
He even designed the East Palo Alto Sanitary District’s logo, he said.
With thousands of hours of meeting experience, he said he’s well-acquainted with decision-making and saw himself as a reasonable voice on the board.
“That’s where the decision points occur, that’s where the rubber meets the road,” Scherzer said.
The sanitary district had operated independently since 1939, but a San Mateo County Superior Court judge officially ruled to turn the district into a subsidiary of the city of East Palo Alto on Aug. 30 of this year based on a unanimous vote from the San Mateo County Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCo.
The ruling, which went into effect on Oct. 1, caused a ripple effect among community stakeholders, some in favor of an independent sanitary district with famously low resident rates that sometimes hindered the progress of construction and some in favor of it becoming a subsidiary, with more regulations, to bring opportunity for development and a potential rise in rates for residents.
Attorneys for LAFCo and the city said that residents could deal with those higher rates themselves, electing City Council candidates who stand for lower fees.
Scherzer is one of those people – along with candidate Webster Lincoln – who served on Residents for an Independent Sanitary District, protesting the “takeover.”
“We both are dedicated to preventing the city from raising the source service charges so they can finance infrastructure for new development and for other things in general,” he said.
As someone who lived in East Palo Alto before its incorporation, volunteered with programs like the Ecumenical Hunger Program for decades and raised a family in the city, Scherzer wants to keep things classic and focus on residents who already live there.
“Currently, outside profiteers are making it more difficult for us to remain here,” he wrote in his candidate statement. “The incumbent City Council wants to cruelly increase property taxes, subsidizing for-profit developers.”
He is not against new development, he said, especially to garner more tax revenue, but thinks current plans might induce traffic or push residents out.
The Ravenswood Business District, for example, prioritizes building more commercial and office space, which he said the city already has a surplus of.
“It doesn’t make good economic sense to build another office building,” Scherzer said, adding that he believes it would cause greater traffic buildup.
Instead, he envisions a concept he calls “Senior City,” a senior housing development plan that relies on shuttle transportation and “wouldn’t dramatically increase traffic.” The mixed-use project would still leave room for businesses and essential services, he said.
Scherzer wants people to know he doesn’t represent any special interest group be it a nonprofit, business or favor of new developers – he simply wants to continue to represent the public.
“Should you choose me to represent our remarkable community, I pledge to work to protect those who live, work, and worship here,” he wrote in his statement.
