Election Day is Tuesday, November 5. Read our interviews with Katie Chan here; Noya Wang here; and Je-Show Yang here.
AA: Can you start by telling us about your background and experience in public service?
Luthi: As far as public service goes, I started off in the in the Office of Treasurer and Tax Collector, analyzing census data. Then I moved over to the L. A. County Employees Retirement Association. From there I moved on to the Superior Court, where I clerked three years for Judge Kenneth W. Gale at the courthouse. From there I moved on to working for the State Bar of California.
After that, I moved into the private sector. I worked in the graphic arts industry. I had a company with two partners where we did service and repair of graphic arts equipment. We imported and exported commercial printing equipment, paper cutters, die cutters, Latin presses and the like. Eventually, I sold that to my two partners back in 2004. At that time, I must’ve signed over 10,000 paychecks.
I have experience both in the public sector and in the private sector. After that, I worked more for fun. I was a home brewer, and a home cheesemaker, and a home baker, and I’m just really into the fermentation sciences, which is called zymurgy. I worked for BJ’s Restaurants then I worked part time for California Fermentation Society, which is a non profit, and then helped my son set up Ohana Brewing Company, which we incorporated back in 2010.
I also own commercial and residential properties, which my wife and I purchased over the years, which I actively manage. And that’s pretty much what keeps me busy.
AA: Can you share a bit more about what motivated you to run for city council?
Luthi: When we were setting up the brewery back in 2010, we needed to go visit our architects, which were located in Hollywood, near Hollywood and Vine. So from the site we would walk over to the Metro Blue Line Station, which is about two blocks away at Washington and Long Beach Avenue. And it was a safe walk. You can’t do that walk today without running into homeless people. I’ve seen people out there with knives. I’ve seen people getting chased with pipes.
There are a lot of homeless, a lot of crime, a lot of stolen cars, and it’s become like a cancer that’s starting to spread. And I don’t want it to get into the city of Alhambra. We need to keep Alhambra safe, we need to keep Alhambra clean, we need to take care of our residents. My number one concern is public safety in the city of Alhambra.
AA: Do you have any specific ideas to address concerns about crime in Alhambra?
Luthi: I’d like to increase the number of police officers by at least ten over the next five years. And make sure that they’re properly equipped to handle any type of incidents that come up. I think the use of drones would be interesting to consider for patrol use.
Primarily increasing the police staff, make sure they’re properly equipped, and also make sure that our firefighters have up to date fire engines, paramedic ambulances, and ambulances. And that the Police and Fire Departments are properly compensated so that we can continue to have the best in Alhambra.
And I believe we truly do have the best police officers and firefighters in the San Gabriel Valley, in our city.
AA: I was wondering if you have any initiatives in mind to support housing affordability or to address homelessness in Alhambra?
Luthi: Most of these people actually have family and would have a place to go if they could get their lives straightened out. And I think there’s a binder and they have a picture in there of all the homeless in the city. And they take notes in there and they keep track of where everyone is. I think a big part of it would be just reuniting people with their families and helping them get out if they have a substance abuse issue. Dealing with those type of things.
In Alhambra, I think a lot of the homeless that we have don’t necessarily need to be homeless, and they could be housed. And then the ones, for the ones that are genuinely unhoused because of financial reasons or for whatever reasons, we just need to get the state and the county more involved in working with these people to get them off the street.
Affordable housing is something that we talk about for low income working families, for example. But I think affordable housing, needs to apply to everybody. And that includes the seniors we keep seeing these attacks on Proposition 13. We need to work to defend Prop 13. My next door neighbor bought her house with her husband back in 1949. And she still owns the home. And she has paid more property taxes on her home than she ever paid for the house.
Back in 1978, we got Prop 13 to come in because property and taxes were increasing at such a rapid rate. After Prop 13, things stabilized where, property taxes are still massively high. I pay four or five times in property taxes what my neighbor pays. But unfortunately my other neighbor, who bought his house two years ago, pays double what I pay in property taxes.
So when I talk about affordable housing, I want affordable housing for everybody, not just a few.
AA: What are your views on climate change and sustainability practices in urban spaces? How do you propose to make Alhambra more environmentally friendly?
Luthi: Everybody needs to do their part or at least a small part. And what we do at Ohana Brewing Company, we brew a lot of beer and in the brewing process, we create a by product called spent grain. Instead of throwing it in the waste bin, we partner with a farmer who comes down from Hellendale. Then he hauls all this spent grain back up to the desert and he feeds his livestock with it and uses it for compost.
We recycle water at the brewery, not for putting into the beer, but for cleaning our brewing cans. We use compostable plastic cups. We use glassware rather than plastic cups. We use cloth towels rather than paper towels. And in every little small way we try to do things in the most sustainable way as possible.
AA: What are your plans to promote local businesses and attract new investments in Alhambra?
Luthi: I’m going to work with the Community Development Department to bring in new developments and businesses. And I think we can take a lot more aggressive approach to bringing in new developments and businesses.
The City of Monterey Park is quite aggressive on that. In fact, they’ve been at Andrew’s tasting room, met with him a few times and invited him to come down to Monterey Park to look at potential places to lease. Ohana Brewing Company is looking to expand. We’re gonna keep our existing facility in Alhambra, but we’re looking for another location where we can do, we can partner beer with food service. They’re making a real effort to attract us to Monterey Park. We should be making that same effort with other businesses from Alhambra.
So I’d like to work with the Community Development Department, work with the Chamber. And I have time to do that too. There’s all sorts of retail businesses that we could get into Alhambra.
AA: How do you plan to maintain transparency in your decision making and make sure that residents feel heard and included in that process?
Luthi: On my website, for example, I say that I’m going to respect everyone’s dignity. When somebody wants to say something to me, I’m going to listen to what they have to say. Now, my campaign, I think, is pretty transparent. For example, it’s a small thing, but on the campaign form, it asks for your age. My age is 67. I don’t think anyone else even put their age down. And it’s a small thing, but when somebody asks a question, I’ll give you a response. I don’t need to withhold that type of information.
I’m the only candidate that that I’m aware of that is self funding this campaign. I haven’t taken a donation. I’ve been offered donations, but I have turned them down. And I was actually contacted by people who wanted to give me some money. And I’ve explained to each one of them that in order to maintain a truly independent campaign, I would prefer to continue to self fund my campaign.
AA: Is there anything else you’d like people to know about your platform or background?
Luthi: My wife and I both attended Alhambra Unified School District schools, as did my children. My wife’s been an RN since 1980. We’ve been married 41 years. Three adult children, all graduated college.
My one daughter’s a dentist. She has her own business. My son’s a brewer. He’s got his own business. My other daughter has a master’s from USC, works in behavioral health. So we’ve raised successful families in Alhambra. We’ve been successful in the business and what we do.
