Former City Manager Among New Affordable Housing Board Members

By Lookout Staff

April 22 -- Former City Manager John Jalili is among four civic leaders appointed to the board of Community Corp, the city’s largest developer of affordable housing.

Jalili -- known for his insights into policy and finance, as well as his negotiating skills -- managed the city for 15 years, until his retirement in 1999. Shortly before retiring, Jalili negotiated the purchase of 13 acres of RAND property across from City Hall.

Before his appointment as assistant city manager in 1979 and then city manager in 1985, Jalili was Santa Monica’s community development director, as well as its environmental director. Among his charges was supervising the building, planning, housing and redevelopment functions in the City.

Jalili is currently a part-time consultant specializing in management and economic development.

Also appointed to the board of Community Corp -- which owns and operates 78 buildings totaling of 1,200 units in the city -- was Steve Wagner, who has worked 20 years in the affordable housing field.

Wagner is currently the director of operations and property manager for Menorah Housing Foundation, which has built and manages more than 950
units of affordable housing for seniors.

Wagner, who has a long history working on housing for several cities, oversaw the Emergency Housing program in Santa Monica in the weeks following the 1994 earthquake.

The other two new board members appointed this month are Mike Russell, a senior real-estate advisor to Saint John's Health Center, and Robert J. Gardner, the L.A. managing partner of a national real-estate advisory firm.

As managing director of Robert Charles Lesser & Co., Gardner handles residential and commercial market evaluation, urban infill and economic development. He has 31 years of experience in the real-estate field, 19 of them with RCLCo.

A 26-year resident of Sunset Park, Gardner has worked on major projects in Denver, Anaheim, Carson, Fullerton, Santa Ana, Orange County and Phoenix.

Russell, a senior development advisor to the Saint John's Health Center Foundation, has played a key role in creating the new health-care campus, which includes a new 350-bed hospital, several medical office buildings and a health-and-fitness center, as well as assisted living and other housing.