Meet Zhen
Personal Life
My name is Zhen Wu. My wife and I moved to San Clemente in 2004 to settle down in this beautiful city. Our son was born here; and now he’s a proud Triton at San Clemente High. We love surfing the beautiful beaches, hiking the trails, biking through the city, and enjoying a picnic at the park. We often walk with friends on Del Mar to the Pier, stop at the Farmer’s Market and walk the coastal trail to enjoy the view of our big blue ocean and beaches. San Clemente is our home and my wife and I plan to retire here.
Profession and Education
I am a licensed California architect, certified planner, accredited sustainability professional, and subject matter expert on urban design at a national level. I have earned Master of Planning/Master of Architecture (dual degrees) from USC School of Public Policy and School of Architecture. I am also a graduate from the Leadership San Clemente program, as well as the Citizen Academy by Newport Beach Police Department years ago. I own and operate a small office here in San Clemente, specializing in land use planning and architectural design. I’ve traveled to many Spanish and Spanish Colonial towns around the world and have developed a true appreciation for the architectural style.
Community Service
I have dedicated thousands of hours serving the community as a member of the City of San Clemente Planning Commission (2015-2021), Design Review Subcommittee (2015-2021), and Coastal Advisory Committee (2018-2019) to protect and preserve our City’s “Spanish Village by the Sea” vision. I’ve had the pleasure of serving eleven councilmembers and working professionally and collaboratively with 13 commission and committee members with outstanding credentials and skills pertinent to their respective appointments.
As a dedicated member of the Planning Commission and Design Review Subcommittee, I strongly supported small businesses, historic preservation, Complete Streets for multimodal transportation, pedestrian-friendly design, accessibility for disabled people, and neighborhood quality of life.
As a member of the Coastal Advisory Committee, I supported coastal protection and preservation measures including ocean water quality assessment, sand replenishment, and various community needs through the Environmental Sustainability Grant program.
The combination of my love for our city, education, professional achievements, community service with leadership, and life experience gives me the knowledge and skills to tackle the many issues our beloved city is facing today.
More to Offer
My strength as a public servant is that I am driven by finding solutions and problem-solving through analysis, research, holistic consideration, critical thinking, collaboration and leadership. As your Councilmember, I will continue to uphold the General Plan, and be your trusted voice of reason on the council. I will steward our city through current uncertainty towards long-term prosperity for a growing financial reserve and more local control. This will be achieved with a combination of economic development and conservative fiscal policy.
I will collaborate with my City Council colleagues, neighboring cities, the county, other regional stakeholders, and state and federal representatives to address regional matters such as affordable housing, transportation, water supply, sand replenishment, nuclear waste removal, and the homeless crisis.
Public trust in our city leadership has been eroded during these turbulent years. I pledge to improve government transparency, accountability, efficiency and oversight. As a resident and community member of San Clemente myself for almost twenty years, I appreciate and value public input on issues that are important to our residents. Together with leadership, city staff and community members, I believe we can make a difference in the protection and enhancement of our Village by the Sea.
Make San Clemente a Better Place
San Clemente is a great place. It can be better. Our city continues to face many pressing challenges such as inflation, rising crime in surrounding areas, the recovery from COVID-19 pandemic, jobs and economic constraints, homelessness, housing affordability, future of our healthcare, and the threat to our city charm caused by incompatible developments.
These tasks demand experience, brainpower, collaboration, fairness, and dedicated leadership. I promise to offer what it takes to ensure healthy and sound leadership for our city. I invite you to contact me at wuforcitycouncil@gmail.com about community issues, and I will do my best to respond in a timely manner.
If you want to see positive changes in San Clemente, I humbly ask for your support and your vote.
Thank you!
Zhen