For 25 years, running against Michael Cacciotti in South Pasadena has been something people talk about but rarely do.
This fall, Nevin Stanton-Trehan is in the race and moving fast. The South Pasadena Finance Commission Chair, Marengo parent and YMCA executive is the lone challenger on the council ballot, and District 4 is the only seat in town in play. District 5 and City Treasurer were settled in August – uncontested.
The South Pasadenan sat down with Stanton-Trehan this week for the first time for a ‘getting-to-know-you’ conversational interview to help introduce Nevin to the South Pasadenans who may not know him – yet.
Who He Is, In A Paragraph
Six years in town. Homeowner near Garfield Park. Two kids at Marengo. Coaches Little League and Junior Clippers, sits on the SPEF board, did a year on the Marengo PTA. Business degree from Cal, law degree and MBA earned at the same time. Lawyered at two Sacramento firms, first for public agencies including cities, then for private clients, then did the everything job at a startup. For about a decade he has been at the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, where he is now Executive Vice President and General Counsel. His ballot line says Nonprofit Executive/Father; it does not say attorney, though he is an accomplished legal talent in the personnel space.
Why the ‘Y’ ?
He credits his difficult family-life experiences growing up, and the YMCA across the street from the home that was always there for him as what influenced the direction of his career. “It is who I am, it is not what I do.”
Overcommitted to Organizations, Or Is That The Point?
He is on a lot of boards, so the first real question was conflicts. Here is an example: Suppose the city wants to change how crossing guards work in the Marengo Elementary neighborhood and Marengo parents are pushing back. Who are you going to be beholden to? Much of leadership on these organizations rely on good relationships. How would you manage the conflict?
He took it head on. “Conflicts are possible”, he said, and he also mentioned that he would recuse himself from anything touching the South Pasadena YMCA. But he sees the overlap as the point, not the problem. He has two kids in the district right now, he walks them to school, and he thinks that vantage belongs on the dais. “Listen to the people affected….”, he said, “then vote for the whole city”.
The Paint The Stripes Issue
The crossing guard question was not hypothetical. Arroyo Vista parents have wanted, and needed, an additional crossing guard for years, a child was hit in a crosswalk last school year, and “…the city and the district have spent much of that time explaining why it is the other one’s job”, he said. (Info/Updates on the record for the AV Crosswalk Issue: Click Here)
Stanton-Trehan’s word for this is “…unacceptable”, and he continued on the concern. His own version of the story is smaller and more telling. Before school started for the year, he asked the city to repaint the existing crosswalk stripes on the Marengo walking routes. Not new crosswalks. Just paint. As of this week, he said, the crosswalk his family traverses every morning at Marengo and Oxley “…is still barely visible.”
Nevin also added to his actions on the matter: After the Arroyo Vista incident he asked at the Finance Commission what more guards would cost and was told “….the studies had been done and they were not needed.” He went to SPEF, which was about to hand the district a seven-figure check, and asked if the foundation could fund guards directly. He says that he was told “…the city’s contract made that complicated.”
His fix is to stop litigating jurisdiction. “Who cares who is responsible? Let’s just solve the problem to keep our streets and our kids safe.” He wants the city, the district, SPEF and the parents at one table. He also wants, at minimum, marked crosswalks at Stratford and Hope leading into Garfield Park, and would rather have speed bumps or a lighted stop.
The Goats
He is for them. “Life and property come first in a high-fire town…”, he said, and “…goats are fast, cheap and green.” He fully trusts the expert experience and decisions of the South Pasadena’s Fire Chief in the matter.
Nevin pivoted off of the issue to explain what he actually wanted to talk about in matters like this: How the city explains itself. “We listen to sometimes the loudest voices, which can be the smallest percentage of folks,” he said. “Make the decision on data, then tell people why, and do not be afraid to enjoy it…. Goats are fun, man.”
The Finance Commission, With Context
This is one of the strongest credentials he’s running on, so here’s a careful look into the complex situation.
His account of circumstances: About a year and a half ago he went to every councilmember and asked how a city this small could churn through two finance directors and a revolving door of staff and budget trouble. He offered his skills. He stated, “Luckily, Mayor Braun at the time saw a skill set and introduced me to folks, and I became a finance commissioner.” The commission seat had opened when then-commissioner, now Mayor, Sheila Rossi ran for council. She won her race, and is currently the Mayor of South Pasadena. Sheila Rossi’s finance commission work with those on the team, and now new staff, clearly turned the failing city finance trajectory into a functional, and now successful operation. Stanton-Trehan became chair of the Finance Commission about a year ago.
He says he arrived to the commission frustrated. Audits behind, no monthly budget reports, no forecast, no monthly meetings. Today, he says, the audits are current, the commission gets monthly budget, forecast and investment reports, the city has new financial policies, the commission meets every month on a published calendar, and he got a progress report card on the capital budget by asking for one – notably from the city’s Chief Financial Officer & Assistant Manager, Nick Kimball; who had settled into his role for a full quarter before Nevin became chair of the Finance Commission.
The city’s own record fills in the timeline. The commission’s advisory role had been diluted under the previous city manager, a period the South Pasadenan covered closely at the time. Stanton-Trehan joined in February 2025 under Chair Peter Giulioni Jr., with City Manager Todd Hileman already in place. The council adopted a new fund balance policy that June. Nick Kimball arrived as Assistant City Manager and Chief Financial Officer on July 7, 2025. Stanton-Trehan was elected chair in late October, and the monthly budget reports he describes date from that point. For most of the months since, the finance department has produced them by hand in Excel, ahead of the new financial software.
Stanton-Trehan was quick to cite: “I give all the credit. I didn’t create the budget. I didn’t create budget reports every single month. I just asked that they be presented to us.” On the (inadequate or missing) city finance software debacle: “It didn’t require the new system to get a monthly budget report. I asked for it, and they produced it.”
That is a reasonable description of what a commission chair can do. He asked, in the first stretch in years when the department had the leadership to answer, and he kept asking. How much of the turnaround belongs to the person asking and how much to the people producing is the kind of thing voters get to weigh.
How To Spend $80 Million – Fixing South Pasadena Streets Is On The Ballot
The $80 million streets bond shares the ballot with this race, and Nevin Stanton-Trehan is all in. He asked the City: “How can we afford it without a bond? That was my first question. And to be fair, we can’t.” He says the streets may be the worst in the San Gabriel Valley, the liability keeps landing on the city, and the budget cannot carry the work. “I think it’s unfortunate that we’re here, but we’re here.”
Can the city execute? He says staff are already sequencing which streets go first, second and third and pricing them out. He wants monthly progress reporting for the life of the bond. “It is not a one time and we’re done.”
For readers keeping score at home, the measure is a general obligation bond repaid through an assessment on property owner’s property value, roughly $33 per $100,000 of assessed valuation, not a parcel tax. The mechanics are in the city’s impartial analysis and the South Pasadenan’s earlier coverage.
Possible Upset? His Perspective on Michael Cacciotti
Nevin’s campaign slogan is “a new generation.” The South Pasadenan asked what District 4 voters should understand about his perspective; Thousands of South Pasadena residents would tell you that Councilmember, and past Mayor Cacciotti has been an effective and generally popular elected official for 25 years.
Nevin drew the sharpest line of the hour.
“History will tell you that the person that I am running up against was part of an organization but did not help run the organization. And I think that is a difference that I bring to the table.”
And to anyone who thinks he wants the seat for clout or professional status: “Titles mean nothing to me. It’s about the work, it’s about being effective, and it’s about getting the work done.”
And There It Is
The open and real conversation came to a natural close as his friends and supporters were waiting outside to canvass the district. Pickleball, which readers keep asking about, goes to him by email with a longer list of tough questions about hard issues. Round two for Nevin is penciled-in.
We’re awaiting Councilmember Cacciotti’s response for the same conversational interview.
