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Balancing act: as San Fernando experiences an economic renaissance, Mayor Jose Hernandez tries to make sure the city doesn''t forget its social responsibilities.

Article Excerpt
DR. Jose Hernandez did not go into politics simply to forge relationships with big developers. Nor was he interested in hobnobbing with the power elite in state and federal offices.

Rather, he made his first run for the San Fernando city council in 1990 to build on a lifetime of work toward improving social and cultural programs, as well as to foster economic growth in the Mission City.

This is Hernandez's third term on the council, twice as mayor, in a city that has been somewhat slow to emerge from a long period of economic turmoil, partially due to differences between previous members of the council over what kind of developments should be brought to the 2.4-square-mile city.

Three new council members joined the five-member panel in the last election in 2002. The city also has a new administrator who's wasted no time in obtaining funding for community and development projects, including a community aquatic center, senior housing and expansion of the civic center. San Fernando is clearly amid a major economic resurgence.

Hernandez arrived in the Valley in 1969 and settled in San Fernando a year later. As the son of poor farm migrants he got very involved in the migrant and Chicano rights movements being spearheaded...