Rossana Mitchell has entered the political fray once more, and is now one of four candidates vying to replace Wilburn “Bill” Kruger on the Chino Hills City Council, following his abrupt September resignation.  His vacancy came too late for the special election to choose someone to serve out the remaining two years on his term to be joined with the balloting in November, when two other positions on the city council were contested.  Mitchell ran in November, but that contest was won by Art Bennett, the incumbent mayor, and Cynthia Moran.
Mitchell was on the council a decade ago. In 2003, she was elected to the city council in a special election to replace James Thalman after his death. The following year, she lost to Kurt Hagman. Mitchell has also served four years on the Chino Valley Unified School Board, which, she noted, has a larger annual budget than the city of Chino Hills.
“With this open seat coming available, I believe I have the experience and insight that has been missing on the council in the past,” she told the Sentinel. “Right now the city and the council are facing the challenges of the Edison towers,” she said, in reference to the utility giant’s efforts to traverse the city with its 500 kilovolt electrical line that is to carry electricity generated at what is to be the world’s largest wind farm near Tehachapi in Kern County. Residents have objected to the placement of the 197-foot high towers in upscale Chino Hills after the California Public Utilities Commission approved the transmission line. The above-ground placement of the line is now under review.
“I am a Hope for the Hills member,” she said, alluding to the group that has led the citizen-backed effort to have Edison underground the electrical cables. “I will continue to fight that good fight. We need a councilmember who is vigilant and non-complacent to ensure that Edison does everything that is asked of it in terms of burying those cables. It has now been revealed that they do not intend to underground the cables through Oak Tree Downs. Communication between staff and the city council broke down. That is unacceptable and there needs to be someone who will not back down in the face of this. The undergrounding of those cables at the mouth of Carbon Canyon needs to be addressed.”
“I am more than ready to stand up and address the challenges we face, such as the maternity hotels that were established in our city,” Mitchell said. “There were three of them.”
Those operations were birthing houses where pregnant foreign women took up temporary residence so their offspring would be born as American citizens.
“They are vacant now, closed down,” Mitchell said. “I was active in the fight against those. We should fight to remain a family-oriented community. It is clear that the council was not aware of those maternity hotels for the first eight months they existed. If I am on the council, I will continue to be vigilant. I will make sure that our general plan isn’t changed and that open space and low density in Chino Hills continues to be a  part of our heritage.”
Mitchell said she favors “building our commercial base so we can meet our financial challenges.” She said the city should not give way to requests to intensify the level of development by increasing density or the number of units that can be build on one acre.
She said she has been “committed to the community for 23 years. I am very interested in establishing a city-run program for seniors. Chino Hills also does not have a dog park. Other cities do and several residents have expressed the wish that we get one. That is what I am hearing as I go door to door.”
Mitchell said taking on the responsibility of overseeing the city on the city council “requires experience and knowledge. I am an attorney. I have the knowledge. I also have the energy and enthusiasm to be non-complacent when things get rough. The city needs someone with experience but also with a fresh viewpoint.”