After 7 hours, 2 pit stops, 241 miles, we got into Wellington during the afternoon peak commute hour. Darn. Trapped in traffic.
As we got to our place for two nights, we breathed deeply, exhaled more and enjoyed our first night. All around, about 180 degrees, we have the view of the Pacific Ocean. What a beautiful paradise!
First stop the next morning is a ride in the cable car, a commute vehicle for seniors, free, and for students, also free, spanning three stations.
At the top is the ‘Botanic Garden’ where we enjoyed rare blooms and the oldest tree, Pohutukawa.
“Metrosideros excelsa, commonly known as pōhutukawa,[2] New Zealand Christmas tree,[3][4] and iron tree,[5] is a coastal evergreen tree in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display of red (or occasionally orange, yellow[6] or white[7]) flowers, each consisting of a mass of stamens. The pōhutukawa is one of twelve Metrosideros species endemic to New Zealand. Renowned for its vibrant colour and its ability to survive even perched on rocky, precarious cliffs, it has found an important place in New Zealand culture for its strength and beauty, and is regarded as a chiefly tree (rākau rangatira) by Māori.[8]”
Source: Wikipedia
A walk of 20 minutes downhill became a walk uphill of 40 minutes as we kept stopping for me to catch my breath. We made it back to the top of the hill, where cable car runs every ten minutes. Wonderful exercise!
It was simply rich! Rich in warmth, welcoming care, genuine love, unafraid to link arms as we walked. Even the bathroom signs reveal the sublime to read: use the bathroom that best aligns with your true identity.”
Imagine that phrase, a salute to your wholeness, to the fullness of you, a place that nourishes the ideals of the collective humanity: smart, progressive, respectful to the rich abundance of nature, tweeting birds aplenty yet calm and serene; sweet New Zealanders who respect your Malay/Indonesian/Filipino/American self to be included with their families, and trees – very old trees formed and shaped with the winds, embracing the earthly grounds, the expanse more than your distant horizons and your clear eyes could see.
Sight! No blindness! Everyone is seen and heard, where not a single muscle, fiber or bone of my body is feeling ill or out of sorts. My food was simple: mushroom toast, shared with the Delacruz Family whose “manners” are bred like royalty for how polite, sweet, supportive and loving they are to one another. Sweet sweetdays since we landed at the airport, family dinners, city tours of cathedral visit – St. Patrick’s closed due to vandalism and inner door to reveal Christ on the cross.
Nothing is felt like suffering here, yes tired folks on Monday night alighting from the ferry, but a beautiful bay, a cove of replenishing tides of clean waters and spectacular deep orange colored sunsets, yet you don’t sense anger, hatred nor unhappiness.
No wonder The Robertson’s extraordinary gift of 15 exceptional art paintings from Monet, Degas, Gaugin, and more collected by this couple who upon discovering New Zealand split their lives between here and New York.
Awashed, Afloat, Ashore
This extraordinary gift from their hearts must have been intended to match the beautiful generous hearts of Maori people, the first people of New Zealand, a people who at first felt awashed, perhaps lost in the thousand of miles of coastline to explore, where every road you traverse is urban planning that makes sense: a university next to a cathedral – open campus decorated by multi colored flowers, a collection of paintings to memorialize a centenary of women voting rights, the first nation to grant them the right to vote; wintergarden next to a hospital so staff can renew themselves and heal others; a Wyndham multirise hotel next to upscale apartments and at its core, a St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Here is where I don’t ask questions, every place we visited was carefully curated for our needs: from the balcony of our hotel window in the 8th floor, a symbol of infinity to the forever 50th anniversary of Bert and Dollie Delacruz, my handsome soulful husband, Enrique paid tribute by his words, to Bert’s and Dollie’s vision to bring families together for their 50th wedding anniversary. It was described by Dollie as a marriage threatened by separation three times, yet by God’s grace got stronger and more United.
A marriage that Bert humbly described as a marriage in progress, that Dollie said was a series of ups and downs, up, up, up, down, up, up, down, and now up, up and up to reveal a beautiful clan of two children, several grandchildren who carry themselves as if ‘ambassadors of goodwill’ with clear life goals.
For Miguel, a teacher of 75 students in 3 classes and a school teacher/leader, he has goals of completing a doctorate in philosophy in Columbia. Enrique, my husband, instantly mentored Miguel of how to avail of entering through the front door of higher education, and keep himself afloat; while the younger Steven has entered the door of Cal State Long Beach, availing himself of a semester of learning this coming fall 2024, whose photographic skills, and whose eyes are his primary assets and whose heart is so open to see beauty in anything and everything.
I love how he made his grandmother Dollie so pretty and soulfully reflective in a black and white image he snapped inside the wintergarden.
Even Kobe, a new infant, is a gift to the family as now the Delacruz brothers are great great grand uncles. True to my husband’s witty self, he said, “If Kobe is my great great grandson, then, I must be great. ” We laughed – his sense of self fully wholesome.
A reunion with more family members, EJ, John, Ysabel, Sophie, Sasha at a thriving farm where dogs are warmly cuddled, where fejoia trees are bearing sweet fruits, where chickens are raised giving green eggs, black eggs, orange eggs, yellow eggs. A rooster was cooked to perfection of tinola, a ginger broth with four sayote squash and malunggay leaves, welcomed our hungry tummies.
An Osaki massage chair welcomed us all, where 30 minutes removed kinks and knots and we kept mentioning @Body and Soul Accupunture’s @Antonio Whiteley and his triad of acupuncture, cupping and massage services to give us an Afloat, infant-like, relaxed feeling of no body pain, with no pills and no added substances, just healing hands of massage and precise needles and lotion.
Indeed the Art Gallery’s welcoming sign to heal and to recover, where a daily encounter with New Zealanders bring out their sweetness and care.
Thank you for gifting us your beautiful souls, your sweet soulful serenity revealing your Maori true gentleness – an intersection of land and and water, a renewing inside by the fresh, unpolluted waters, where verdant hills and open landscapes keep us Ashore, grounded to Mother Earth’s and soft sounding, calm hundreds of birds, where roads are not lighted in the suburbs to respect the nocturnal kiwis, where you find no street litter, only dried leaves where trees are nurtured in the shoulders of the motorways – not in entirety but enough to signal, trees and shrubs and bushes are respected here as all kinds of birds.
I did not see any unhoused men or women in the streets, just one Awashed man in his hospital gown, seem floating and lost in the streets. I said a prayer that he may find his moorings soon, towards the direction of God within him.
I felt comfortable talking to graduates, one finished her degree in nutrition and will be pursuing her Master’s in Dietetics. I introduced myself, a graduate of food technology and law, and my sweet niece, Suzette, who has a nursing degree and worked in public policy in Australia Dept of Public Health, and a World Health Organization – trained fellow and now works at a private hospital.
I talked to another graduate of a Master’s information technology in University of Auckland and introduced my brother in law, CJ who warmly shared his two engineering degrees and the student just shared that she too was an electronics engineering degree. CJ ended it with hope:”That she will be part of the future of transformation, from analog, to digital, to AI and to the space.” She smiled and said, “I started a job of being a project manager to now project engineer.”
We both smiled and walked a few more steps, 15,000 steps for the entire day, towards the stairs of art murals to memorialize women’s right to vote in 1893, New Zealand’s gift to the world.
Our city tour was capped by a ferry ride to Devenport where a few minutes ride took off our fatigue, making us clean slates to receive the beauty of our collective humanity.
The glorious day of sunrise, beach walk, sunset, and the beauty of family togetherness with no drama while driving to two national parks and city tours yesterday was a very generous gift of generosity of the Delacruz and Regalo family’s spirit to us, while visiting them in New Zealand.
Next post is on two national parks we visited yesterday, a true communion of souls with God’s creation and beauty! Thy kingdom come and thy will be done! We love you, Lord and each other.
A surprise to us all, my husband said, usually a man of few words, after appreciating Bert’s vision of bringing family together, declared with sincerity, “I love you all’.” His smiles say it all, as mine!
Today is the 50th renewal of marital bliss and transcended struggles of differences, United in a common endeavor of taking care of the farm, the church family, the birth family and the grandchildren. Congratulations Bert and Dollie Dela Cruz!
It was simply rich! Rich in warmth, welcoming care, genuine love, unafraid to link arms as we walked. Even the bathroom signs reveal the sublime to read: use the bathroom that best aligns with your true identity.”
Imagine that phrase, a salute to your wholeness, to the fullness of you, a place that nourishes the ideals of the collective humanity: smart, progressive, respectful to the rich abundance of nature, tweeting birds aplenty yet calm and serene, sweet New Zealanders who respect your Malay/Indonesian/Filipino/American self to be included with their families, and trees – very old trees formed and shaped with the winds, embracing the earthly grounds, the expanse more than your distant horizons and your clear eyes could see.
Sight! No blindness! Everyone is seen and heard, where not a single muscle, fiber or bone of my body is feeling ill or out of sorts. My food was simple: mushroom toast, shared with the Delacruz Family whose “manners” are bred like royalty for how polite, sweet, supportive and loving they are to one another. Sweet sweetdays since we landed at the airport, family dinners, city tours of cathedral visit – St. Patrick’s closed due to vandalism and inner door to reveal Christ on the cross.
Nothing is felt like suffering here, yes tired folks on Monday night alighting from the ferry, but a beautiful bay, a cove of replenishing tides of clean waters and spectacular deep orange colored sunsets, yet you don’t sense anger, hatred nor unhappiness.
No wonder The Robertson’s extraordinary gift of 15 exceptional art paintings from Monet, Degas, Gaugin, and more collected by this couple who upon discovering New Zealand split their lives between here and New York is quite inspiring.
Awashed, Afloat, Ashore
This extraordinary gift from their hearts must have been intended to match the beautiful generous hearts of Maori people, the first people of New Zealand, a people who at first felt awashed, perhaps lost in the thousand of miles of coastline to explore, where every road you traverse is urban planning that makes sense: a university next to a cathedral – open campus decorated by multi colored flowers, a collection of paintings to memorialize a centenary of women a collection of paintings to memorialize a centenary of women voting rights, the first nation to grant them the right to vote; wintergarden next to a hospital so staff can renew themselves and heal others; a Wyndham multirise hotel next to upscale apartments and at its core, a St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Here is where I don’t ask questions, every place we visited was carefully curated for our needs: from the balcony of our hotel window in the 8th floor, a symbol of infinity to the forever 50th anniversary of Bert and Dollie Delacruz, my handsome soulful husband, Enrique paid tribute by his words, to Bert’s and Dollie’s vision to bring families together for their 50th wedding anniversary. It was described by Dollie as a marriage threatened by separation three times, yet by God’s grace got stronger and more United.
A marriage that Bert humbly described as a marriage in progress, that Dollie said was a series of ups and downs, up, up, up, down, up, up, down, and now up, up and up to reveal a beautiful clan of two children, several grandchildren who carry themselves as if ‘ambassadors of goodwill’ with clear life goals.
For Miguel, a teacher of 75 students in 3 classes and a school teacher/leader, he has goals of completing a doctorate in philosophy in Columbia. Enrique, my husband, instantly mentored Miguel of how to avail of entering through the front door of higher education, and keep himself afloat; while the younger Steven has entered the door of Cal State Long Beach, availing himself of a semester of learning this coming fall 2024, whose photographic skills, and whose eyes are his primary assets and whose heart is so open to see beauty in anything and everything.
I love how he made his grandmother Dollie so pretty and soulfully reflective in a black and white image he snapped inside the wintergarden.
Even Kobe, a new infant, is a gift to the family as now the Delacruz brothers are great great grand uncles. True to my husband’s witty self, he said, “If Kobe is my great great grandson, then, I must be great. ” We laughed – his sense of self fully wholesome.
A reunion with more family members, EJ, John, Ysabel, Sophie, Sasha at a thriving farm where dogs are warmly cuddled, where fejoia trees are bearing sweet fruits, where chickens are raised giving green eggs, black eggs, orange eggs, yellow eggs. A rooster was cooked to perfection of tinola, a ginger broth with four sayote squash and malunggay leaves, welcomed our hungry tummies.
An Osaki massage chair welcomed us all, where 30 minutes removed kinks and knots and we kept mentioning @Body and Soul Accupunture’s @Antonio Whiteley and his triad of acupuncture, cupping and massage services to give us an Afloat, infant-like, relaxed feeling of no body pain, with no pills and no added substances, just healing hands of massage and precise needles and lotion.
Indeed the Art Gallery’s welcoming sign to heal and to recover, where a daily encounter with New Zealanders bring out their sweetness and care.
Thank you for gifting us your beautiful souls, your sweet soulful serenity revealing your Maori true gentleness – an intersection of land and and water, a renewing inside by the fresh, unpolluted waters, where verdant hills and open landscapes keep us Ashore, grounded to Mother Earth’s and soft sounding, calm hundreds of birds, where roads are not lighted in the suburbs to respect the nocturnal kiwis, where you find no street litter, only dried leaves where trees are nurtured in the shoulders of the motorways – not in entirety but enough to signal, trees and shrubs and bushes are respected here as all kinds of birds.
I did not see any unhoused men or women in the streets, just one Awashed man in his hospital gown, seem floating and lost in the streets. I said a prayer that he may find his moorings soon, towards the direction of God within him.
I felt comfortable talking to graduates, one finished her degree in nutrition and will be pursuing her Master’s in Dietetics. I introduced myself, a graduate of food technology and law, and my sweet niece, Suzette, who has a nursing degree and worked in public policy in Australia Dept of Public Health, and a World Health Organization – trained fellow and now works at a private hospital.
I talked to another graduate of a Master’s information technology in University of Auckland and introduced my brother in law, CJ who warmly shared his two engineering degrees and the student just shared that she too was an electronics engineering degree. CJ ended it with hope:”That she will be part of the future of transformation, from analog, to digital, to AI and to the space.” She smiled and said, “I started a job of being a project manager to now project engineer.”
We both smiled and walked a few more steps, 15,000 steps for the entire day, towards the stairs of art murals to memorialize women’s right to vote in 1893, New Zealand’s gift to the world.
Our city tour was capped by a ferry ride to Devenport where a few minutes ride took off our fatigue, making us clean slates to receive the beauty of our collective humanity.
The glorious day of sunrise, beach walk, sunset, and the beauty of family togetherness with no drama while driving to two national parks and city tours yesterday was a very generous gift of generosity of the Delacruz and Regalo family’s spirit to us, while visiting them in New Zealand.
Next post is on two national parks we visited yesterday, a true communion of souls with God’s creation and beauty! Thy kingdom come and thy will be done! We love you, Lord and each other.
A surprise to us all, my husband said, usually a man of few words, after appreciating Bert’s vision of bringing family together, declared with sincerity, “I love you all’.” His smiles say it all, as mine!
Today is the 50th renewal of marital bliss and transcended struggles of differences, United in a common endeavor of taking care of the farm, the church family, the birth family and the grandchildren. Congratulations Bert and Dollie Dela Cruz!
I got a phone call from a very dear classmate from elementary to high school, @Natimarie Pagayucan, who will be driving to LAX with her grandchildren to pick up Nati’s son-in-law. Drawback, his flight got delayed an hour. Yet, somehow we managed to get to the restaurant at 815pm.
With constant exchanges of texts and a willingness to get together, we had perfect timing and landed a table for 6. We had a sweet waitress and she smiled each time I said thank you in Korean – kamsamidah!
We ate galbi, dumpling soup, kimchi/pork/tofu soup, bibimbap, and chicken teriyaki, a heaping serving that no matter how Natimarie ate, it was still quite a mound of hefty serving.
Goodwill and generosity got paired as twins in our table. The best part, the 2 sisters texted their brother, Patrick who drove all the way from Northridge.
When Patrick arrived, they hugged and were all smiles and the youngest sat on her dad’s lap as Patrick hurriedly ate before all went to a dessert place, 6 blocks away.
Family and friends matter, and even distance become shorter to travel when there’s love and inner will to be with one another. Thank you my dear classmate, your family brought us joy!
That morning, my article on Susana Reyes was published, a path finding Commissioner working for the common good in Asian Journal. What a beautiful day and night, thank you dear God for your blessings, and thank you dear kaklase for making the trip and the treat!
P.S. Years ago, I spent an afternoon and evening with Natimarie Pagayucan and her grandchildren, along with my other elementary and high school classmates. It was early when we got to Oceanside. It turned out to be a great day of being at the seashore and catching the music of a band that the grandchildren loved. Mind you, my classmate lives in Chicago, but she flies to Temecula, and I travel from LA, another travels from Missiin Viejo and another from Oxeanside. Yet with the disparate zones, we managed to make distances irrelevant by spending the day and an overnight.
That day, I asked: Nati, I noticed you are so generous with your grandchildren. Why is that? Little did I know, as I was not a grandma yet. She quickly responded:”Because I am not rich and I cannot leave them monies, I can only leave them memories.” Bingo! That was a bell rung inside me, it is beyond monies, it is about LOVE, the full measure of life’s worth.
Nati’s lesson to me: Maximize Love! Avery, her granddaughter made me a necklace with a beautiful heart dangling!
Will you not go to bed with a heart filled with love?
Weeks in advance, Carol Ojeda-Kimbrough and I committed to go to 1917. I wanted to introduce her to a great place, outdoorsy that felt like a vineyard ambiance. Ever since this restaurant opened, its menu curated by Jo Quiambao Dijamco outside San Antonio Winery, Los Angeles, crowds grew and grew to enjoy charcuterie, wine tasting and live jazz music of Chuck Manggione. We were transported by the cooking of the fube hands of Chef Jo, who is inspired, and gives us flawless flavors and cooking.
We had arugula salad with salmon, funghi pizza, special of the day – ribeye on bread with romanesco sauce, topped with organic egg and chimichurri sauce, fresh prawns and Panna cotta with berries and honey.
The best part – the owner stood up from his reunion table with classmates, and introduced himself, welcomed us, and inquired about our experience. I told him “more than excellent.”
Even before we ordered Chef Jo asked what did we feel like eating. Later, Chef Jo shared his next culinary exposure/adventure and his immersive training in France, Italy and Spain. He is a hidden culinary treasure, and have opened most recently LA Belle Pinseria Romana and this fine gem in LA, 1917 Restaurant.
What did we talk about: upcoming and past projects, gardening, cooking, family, friends and affirmation of sisterhood lessons.
“… The good we have in common has been a commitment to respecting the rule of law, including its intent and spirit; to protecting our democratic institutions; to discovering and spreading the truth; to being open to change and tolerant of our differences; to ensuring equal political rights and equal opportunity; to participating in our civic life together, and sacrificing for that life together. These are the essential elements of what we owe one another as Americans. We passionately disagree about all manner of things. But we must share these commitments to each other because they are – or have been – what makes us a people. Although we have often fallen short of achieving them, they are ideals that we have strived to realize. …They have bound us together. They are large and noble obligations. The central moral question of our age is whether we are still committed to them.” – Robert B. Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, and Chair of National Governing Board of Common Cause, 2018
AS I write this, it is the fourth Sunday after Easter, described as the Good Shepherd Sunday. Good shepherd refers to a leader that many folks follow. Why? Because of how they care for their flock, without a single one lost or left behind. This pretty much corresponds to Los Angeles Board of Public Works Commissioner Susana Reyes’ style of leadership, inclusive excellence for all in her orbit.
I briefly made a phone call to thank Commissioner Reyes for helping me. It was not a case of injury to my person; it was to my 22-year-old vehicle. In this Sunday’s conversation, she shared her motivating principle: “I try to create a path, not by force of nature, [but] emanating from within, [but] by educating others for change, [avail of] opportunities for action, and sharing stories of others to join in the mission, and serve the public.”
LA City’s responsiveness toward boosting the candy jar of public trust
An entire tree, with its shallow roots, uprooted by strong winds and heavy rains, with its branches fell on the roof of my car on March 2, 2024. It happened shortly after interviewing the commissioner. I took a photo and casually sent it to her with a single word: Help! She located me within minutes, and mobilized LA City’s street services. In 20 minutes, three city trucks came. After another half hour, they had cut up the tree, freed my car from the tree’s embrace, and then the chopped up branches were placed into their trucks for the city’s composting station.
The speed of the city’s response was faster than the towing truck, mobilized by the insurance carrier, which got there two and half hours later. I felt relief, including the storefront small businesses who got worried that the tree might stay there, unnoticed for days, deterring walk-in customers to their salons.
The best part of that incident was getting moral support — Commissioner Reyes stood with me until I could reach the towing truck and with her umbrella, a visible form of shelter from the rains. My daughter and granddaughter shortly arrived in minutes and offered me a ride. LA City’s Commissioner Reyes and my family’s presence boosted my spirits and I felt supported adequately by LA City’s Bureau of Street Services.
If a similar incident happened to you, would that boost your candy jar of public trust?
For years, we had gaping holes in our alley, made worse by the construction trucks of cement supplying the building crew to the additional dwelling unit (ADU). It took 10 months for the crack to become a puddle to a mini wading pool. The cracks in the alley became tripping hazards to toddlers learning to walk with their parents. For several months, I registered a service request through the LA City’s 311 hotline. After three follow-ups, I was about to give up, frustrated. I casually mentioned this issue to Commissioner Reyes when I saw her.
A month after the Christmas holidays, LA City’s Access services had cemented a portion of the sidewalk and a few feet of the alley abutting it.
Months later, a neighbor’s brand-new truck was stolen. It had been stripped when found by the LAPD. To our neighbors’ surprise, Tree Services King trimmed the overgrown tree branches that kept the street light’s luminosity obstructed.
Neighbors emailed their satisfaction with the alley repair including the now visible streetlights.
These street service improvements were made more visible as women leaders took their places in the boardrooms, including the Board of Public Works. No more wax in the ears of local city officials, from here on. There is a new LA City Hall culture under the leadership of Mayor Karen Bass, councilmembers, and commissioners.
Her style of leadership: Strategic thinking, diversity, collaboration on solutions-oriented programs
Randall Winston, Deputy Mayor of Infrastructure, described Reyes as a sustainability champion. He said, “Across her inspiring career, she has advocated for energy, water, waste, transportation, biodiversity and equity issues in a variety of capacities supporting various City agencies. I respect Reyes’ deep understanding of environmental challenges and her expertise in the mechanisms of local government needed to effectuate change. She is a trusted thought partner, yet remains grounded and accessible to so many others. Environmental advocates, community organizations, city staff, and executive leadership frequently rely on her experience to design new programs that lessen our impact on the planet in inclusive and equitable ways.”
Reyes does not shy away from solving issues, from one business owner, to an entire street, to policymaking on a bigger scale, to representing LA City on renewal projects, and new initiatives.
When she started the LA City Hall’s recycling program in 1985, it was an unpopular program. She persisted in championing it in city department offices and received early support from an environmentally aware council member, Ruth Galanter. It is now a common practice throughout LA City to use green containers for composting tree cuttings, blue for cartons and packaging, and black for non-recyclable trash.
Miss Universe 2022 R. Bonney Gabriel described global textile waste as 90 million tons going to the landfill while 100 billion garments are produced by the fashion industry, during a press conference in Little Tokyo, sponsored by APAIT, in October 2023. It is her mission to teach women sewing skills and designing new clothing using used clothing fabric, including plastic containers.
Reyes was part of a new working group of diverting clothing from the landfills. It will use a machine that will sort, and recover threads from used clothing, with several partners, foremost of which is the Homeboy Threads Facility. Norway has invented a sorting machine called TOMRA AUTOSORT that converts used clothing into usable threads. In her post, Reyes said: “Let’s maintain momentum towards implementing a closed loop textile recovery system by the LA2028 Olympics.”
Reyes attended the milestone launch of “Lucena on Court, a 46-unit affordable apartment community for individuals and families earning less than 60% of the median income, with SIPA providing resident services, including the much-awaited HiFi Well-Being Center,” she informed us.
Mayor Karen Bass has expedited the permitting process down to 35 days and has resulted in 16,000 additional, affordable new housing units in the pipeline, which she reported in her State of the City speech in April 2024.
Reyes has represented the Bureau of Public Works at the groundbreaking project of transforming a vacant lot of Haynes Street, “Vacant to Vibrant,” into a trail of oak trees, desert willow redbuds, and opening to the LA River bike path, a 5,000 square foot pocket park.
A few months ago, the California Floral Company’s owner complained of daily construction debris, metal rails, and nails that resulted in flat tires to their customers in Little Tokyo from nearby construction. The owner had contacted City Council District 14, and only the deafening sound of silence after. Few more phone calls and nothing. The construction crew placed blue trash receptacles by the business storefront, inviting graffiti and deterring more foot traffic, which affected the owner’s revenue.
The issue was resolved through Commissioner Reyes requesting collaboration from city departments: one that oversees construction, placement of trash bins, graffiti removal and after, a satisfied business owner that did not have to close their business.
How many more can be helped if we know of LA City’s role in these success stories?
HerStories: Inclusive excellence as transformative leaders
Responsive. Problem Solver. Solutions-Oriented. Makes a Difference. These are some of the descriptors that I learned about Commissioner Susana Reyes, one of the five commissioners of the Bureau of Public Works in LA City Hall, along with: Aura Garcia, Teresa Villegas, Mike Davis and Vahid Khorsand. Descriptors are derived from actual observations and concrete experiences.
I attended a panel discussion of HerStories: Women Leading at Work, sponsored by the Los Angeles Board of Public Works on March 27 at the Tom Bradley Tower, 26th floor of LA City Hall. Panelists included: Cora Oriel, President of the Asian Journal; Naomi Rodriguez, Founding Partner of 3 Gens Consulting; Hydee Feldstein Soto, LA City Attorney; and Emada Tingirides, LAPD Deputy Chief. About 150 attended and lingered to connect afterward.
I learned from them a concept of inclusive excellence – that it takes many given perspectives to reach common ground, a forward-moving solution, righteous and reasonable responses, consistent presence in important events, empowering those participating at the decision-making table, regardless of title or hierarchy. It included a disciplined work ethic, consistently waking up early to review their daily work agenda, reading minutes of decisions arrived at to assure that the strategic mission is accomplished, day-to-day. It included “bringing one’s whole self to work,” not fragmented and hidden, a new LA City culture.
Commissioner Reyes quietly made her presence known by helping to organize, connected with the registration desk staffers, invited one of the panelists, welcomed the attendees, and introduced some panelists. They shared their personal stories of transformation, transcending discrimination, struggling to find work-family balance, being a calming presence in representing LAPD in the community, in the context of rallies advocating for reasonable police action, and consciously choosing to be the change that we desire.
Anselmo Collins, Senior Assistant General Manager of the Department of Water and Power had this to say about Commissioner Reyes: “I have had the pleasure of working with Susana Reyes several times in our careers, first as co-workers and then later, when she was appointed to the Board of Water and Power Commissioners and now as Bureau of Public Works Commissioner. Reyes is a great strategic thinker, collaborator and leader. She has always supported staff and is a strong advocate for all Angelenos. She is a great example of servant leadership and committed to expanding diversity, equity and inclusion in the City of LA.”
“When Commissioner Reyes [then of DWP] was assigned to the Native American tribes in Owens Valley, she immediately went to meet with the tribal leadership to determine their issues and how to collaborate with them. By doing that, she was prioritizing their well-being and growth,” Collins said.
Reyes described the first two meetings set up by LADWP as tense. The tribal chief was silent, “mirroring the radio silence suffered by the tribe until LADWP decided, with the LA City Attorney, to resolve the lingering core issues in person.”
She continued, “at the third and subsequent meetings, the discussion became more productive. By the time I left to become BPW Commissioner, I passed on the baton to Cynthia Ruiz, DWP Commissioner, who continued establishing the relationship and helped with crafting solutions.”
A bit of context here: LA City built an aqueduct in 1970 diverting water to the city, resulting in lowered water levels in Mono and Owens Lake, and an agricultural toll in Owens Valley. It became a dry alkali flat and in 1998, EPA mandated that DWP take steps to reduce the dust pollution from the dry Owens Lake. University of the Pacific’s website of Jennifer Little’s exhibition, “Drought, Dust, Flood: Owens Lake and the Los Angeles Aqueduct” described the “dust mitigation program in 2000, installing 45 square miles of dust mitigation zones, including gravel cover, managed vegetation and buried drip tubing and irrigation bubblers costing over $2 billion. From the great melt of the Sierra’s in 2023, Owens Lake got flooded and became a full lake again for the first time in a century.”
Fr. Ernesto Cordero described transformative leadership feature as: “a conscious shift from seeing oneself as privileged from a clerical, educational or experiential point of view – towards the viewpoint of a stranger, opens up the leader… the liberating shift in perspective allows the pastoral leader to engage in a meaningful dialogue with “the other.” This shift veers away from the position of privilege and a tendency to presume a supreme understanding of faith [knowledge] over others; instead I believe it is an appeal to be humble, curious and attentive in the presence of fellow strangers.”
Reyes’ daughter, Freya Estreller, described her mom as “an incredible woman, and I am incredibly proud to be her daughter. She has dedicated her life to public service leadership in the City of LA for over 32 years. She tirelessly fought for the rights and well-being of our city’s residents, always putting their needs above her own. Her dedication doesn’t stop there.”
Estreller added, “in addition to her demanding career, she managed to raise four daughters who have all grown up to be successful and independent women. She instilled in us the values of integrity, compassion and perseverance. She is also the beloved Nannah of four grandchildren, making time to babysit and spoil them any chance she gets. Her role model was my grandfather (her dad, Virgilio) who was the Chief Legal Counsel of the Civil Aeronautics Administration at Manila International Airport, a model of honesty and transparency in government.” Estreller is a successful founder/entrepreneur of CoolHaus, a specialty ice cream bar that has become a multimillion business. She credits her mom for lessons she learned as an LGBTQ+ daughter, spouse, parent, and is quite lucky to have her mom as her mentor, guide and cheerleader.
Reyes is a graduate of UCLA Anderson School of Management’s Civic Enterprise Leadership and Management Program and St. Paul’s University with a B.A. in Communications, Magna Cum Laude. She completed training programs on volunteerism and in leading a governing board of directors with the Sierra Club. She is a wholesome person with all the hallmark features of awareness of self, ethical decision-making and integrity, critical thinking and communication skills, and active citizenship engaged with family, environmental organizations, community, and civic responsibilities.
She carries her baon (inner provisions), fully informed and with capacities to fully engage positively, without the bitbit(burdens we bring with us) tainting the landscape of perspectives at the table. Baon and bitbit are Tagalog terms described by Fr. Ernesto Cordero in his successfully defended doctoral dissertation, “A Stranger Amidst The Strange: Pastoral Leadership in Disorienting Times” at Fordham University in 2022.
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, J.D. writes a weekly column for Asian Journal, called “Rhizomes.” She has been writing for AJ Press for 12 years. She also contributes to Balikbayan Magazine. Her training and experiences are in science, food technology, law and community volunteerism for 4 decades. She holds a B.S. degree from the University of the Philippines, a law degree from Whittier College School of Law in California and a certificate on 21st Century Leadership from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She has been a participant in NVM Writing Workshops taught by Prof. Peter Bacho for 4 years and Prof. Russell Leong. She has travelled to France, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Japan, Costa Rica, Mexico and over 22 national parks in the U.S., in her pursuit of love for nature and the arts.
