Leonard Chaidez is married and has two sons. To say that he loves camping and fishing is an understatement, and that would explain his passion for water policy.

Leonard Chaidez first came to the City of Hawaiian Gardens as a student recruiter for the University of California, Irvine recruiting students from the nearby Artesia High School to universities. Many of those students lived in Hawaiian Gardens and became close friends with him. When Leonard graduated from college he returned to Hawaiian Gardens and volunteered his services with the Hawaiian Gardens Head Start Program and eventually worked as a Social Worker for the program advocating on behalf of low income families and Senior Citizens in acquiring Food Stamps, Medi-Cal, and Aid for Families with Dependent Children, and Social Security Supplemental Income Programs. Eventually, Leonard worked at the County of Orange as a Deputy Probation Counselor.

While working in probation, Leonard was called by several Hawaiian Gardens City Council members to run the newly organized Hawaiian Gardens Social Services Agency. The agency was soon serving a thousand families a month through its food bank. In addition to the food bank was a job training and job placement program, clothing bank, referral and information services, a Women’s, Infant and Children’s Programs (WIC) and of course, legal advocacy for families and seniors receiving public assistance. After the success of the Hawaiian Garden Social Service Agency, Leonard was appointed to the position of Director of Recreation, to operate and manage the Recreation and Human Services for the City of Hawaiian Gardens. Although the Department of Recreation was “loosely organized,” Leonard soon had the department organized and providing quality programs for the public. One of the programs that Leonard was most proud of was the department’s effort to bring Senior Citizens quality programs while under his management.

The city went on to promote Mr. Chaidez to Assistant City Administrator and eventually City Administrator. During this time, Mr. Chaidez had to manage the City through the toughest of times. The City of Hawaiian Gardens was on the mend when Mr. Chaidez left his position with the city.

Leonard pursued a Real Estate career, while several residents urged Mr. Chaidez to run for Hawaiian Gardens City Council, as the City was regressing back to tougher times. In 1999, Mr. Chaidez ran for City Council and received the greatest amount of votes in that election.

Under Leonard’s leadership, the city never looked back. Pushing forward to complete many projects in the City, Mr. Chaidez has brought a new found optimism to a city that just a few years ago was looking at financial disaster. The City quadrupled its budget while saving monies in reserves. New programs as well as bolstering established programs for recreation, housing, and senior programs are the direct result of a city that is working hard to help its residents.

In 2001, Mr. Chaidez began to question why we as a nation were asking our grandmothers and grandfathers to pay for a lunch provided, only in part, by the Federal Government. “After all its Senior Citizens who built this great country of ours,” said Mr. Chaidez.

Leonard felt with a little effort and little help he could contract a plan and create a program wherein Senior Citizens could just come and eat for free. Also, seniors would be able to freely socialize and participate in the many programs the City of Hawaiian Gardens operates. Mr. Chaidez also felt that if Seniors were to spend money on lunches, they may not have money for medications, food, or utilities while on a fixed income. It turns out that the cost of lunches nearly equals a monthly Social Security check. Leonard worked hard to create a program that incorporated the combination of funds deriving from a generous donation from the Irving Moskowitz Foundation and the City of Hawaiian Gardens as a partnership in order to offset the cost of a donation paid by Seniors in Hawaiian Gardens. Now Seniors can get free lunches in the city. The provider of the meals get a 100% return on supplemental donation money, which also means the provider has a stable income in order to continue to provide meals for our community.

Mr. Chaidez was up for re-election in November of 2003, but for the first time in the City’s history, the election was uncontested.

His future plans include working on building a new commercial project on the old Home Base property, to open the dead-end streets, and build a new library.

His motto is: "Trustworthy and loyal."