Councilmember Terry Tornek Set for Swearing In Tonight

Incoming Pasadena City Councilmember Terry Tornek is set to be sworn in as the District 7 representative at tonight’s City Council meeting.

Tornek replaces three-term Councilmember Sid Tyler, who announced last February that he would not seek re-election and endorsed Tornek.

Tornek defeated Margaret York, the former Los Angeles County Police Chief, in an April run off election, 1,087 to 937 votes.

The race was forced to a run off in March after none of the five candidates garnered the 51 percent needed to win the seat. Tornek finished far out front of the other candidates in that election with 47 percent of the vote with York trailing with 27 percent.

Despite those numbers York gave Tornek a race in the runoff election largely due to an endorsement by third place finisher Ciran Hadjian and more than $20,000 in campaign contributions coming from unions.

The election turned ugly after York’s campaign issued a press release questioning Tornek’s ability to be an effective member of the city council based on a campaign mailer.

Tornek was endorsed by outgoing Councilmember Sid Tyler, who appointed Tornek to the Planning Commission in 2005. Tornek was also a member of the Pasadena Design Commission.

Tornek moved to Pasadena from Massachusetts 27 years ago to accept the position of Planning Director after serving as Planning Director of Springfield, Mass. He also was elected to the Springfield City Council. In Pasadena, Tornek served as Planning Director for three years and helped to rewrite the Zoning Ordinance, the General Plan and to establish the Redevelopment Plan for Old Pasadena.

Since leaving city government, Tornek has remained active in Pasadena affairs through his 20 years of service as a Board Member of Pasadena Neighborhood Housing Service.