The Three F's for Laguna's Future
My Priorities
I will listen, collaborate, and work across the table to find practical solutions that protect what makes Laguna special while preparing responsibly for the future.
For today.
For tomorrow.
For Laguna.
Experience I'll Put to Work for Laguna
Practical experience. Long-term thinking. Accountability for results.
I’ve spent my career managing budgets, solving operational challenges, leading complex projects, and being accountable for results. That practical experience is what I want to bring to City Council.
Why
I'm Running
Because the decisions we make today will shape Laguna for years to come.
I’m running for City Council because I believe Laguna needs leadership that looks beyond the next meeting, the next budget cycle, or the next election.
As I became more involved in City issues, attended meetings, studied staff reports and City finances, and spoke with residents, I saw a larger pattern: many of our biggest challenges come back to how we make decisions.
Laguna is facing real choices about wildfire preparedness, emergency medical access, aging infrastructure, tourism, neighborhood quality of life, the local economy, and our long-term financial health. These issues deserve more than short-term reactions. They require clear facts, honest tradeoffs, and a willingness to ask difficult questions before conclusions are reached.
That is the perspective I want to bring to City Council.
I have spent my career managing multimillion-dollar budgets, leading complex operations and projects, balancing competing priorities, and being accountable for results. In the real world, plans have to work, budgets have to balance, and good intentions are not enough, we have to measure what actually happens.
I also believe City Council benefits from experience outside City Hall. Local decisions affect residents, employees, investment, public services, businesses, and the broader economy in ways that are not always obvious on paper. I want to bring that real-world perspective into the room while listening closely to residents and respecting the character of Laguna that generations have worked to protect.
I will bring independent questioning, financial and operational discipline, and a future-focused approach to every decision. I will ask what problem we are solving, what the alternatives are, what it will cost, who will be affected, and how we will know whether it worked.
I’m not running to change Laguna for the sake of change. I’m running because I believe we can protect what makes Laguna special while preparing responsibly for what comes next.
Plans have to work. Budgets have to balance. Good intentions are not enough, we have to measure the results.
How I'll Lead
Better Decisions Start With the Right Questions
1
Listen First
Hear from residents, experts, City staff, and people with different perspectives before forming a conclusion.
2
Understand The Facts
Look at the data, costs, alternatives, tradeoffs, and real-world impacts.
3
Think Long Term
Ask how today’s decision will affect Laguna years from now.
4
Weigh the Full Impact
Consider effects on residents, neighborhoods, public safety, the environment, City finances, and the local economy.
5
Explain the Decision
Be transparent about what was decided, why, what it will cost, and how success will be measured.
About Ashley
I’m a Southern California native, and after nearly two decades living around the country and helping build businesses for other entrepreneurs, I reached a point where I wanted to build something of my own. I knew I wanted that place to be Laguna Beach.
I grew up spending summers throughout Orange and San Diego counties, and I come from a fishing family, so the ocean has always been part of my life. When I decided to open my first restaurant, I wanted to build a sustainable concept in a community where environmental stewardship, the ocean, art, and small-town character genuinely mattered. That became Oto Sushi Laguna Beach.
My twin sister, an artist, designed the restaurant. I joke that she is the art brain and I am the math-and-business brain. And now my nieces spend their summers here much the way we did growing up.
For me, opening Oto was much more than choosing a location for a business. I chose Laguna because I believed in this community enough to invest my savings, my work, and my future here.
Today, I’m at Oto almost every day. One of the unexpected gifts of owning a neighborhood restaurant is how many conversations happen there. I hear from residents about taxes, tourism, downtown vacancies, wildfire preparedness, evacuation, City spending, neighborhood concerns, and now the future of emergency medical care.
Those conversations have shaped the way I see Laguna, and ultimately why I decided to run for City Council.
GET INVOLVED AND IMPACT OUR CAMPAIGN
Our community is stronger when we work together. There are many ways to make a difference.
Four ways to jump in:
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Knock on doors,
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Host a house party
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Post a yard sign
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Donate.