When the Coastal fire of May 11 blazed over 200 acres of Laguna Niguel, Javad Mokhbery received a text from a local city councilman saying his neighborhood was on fire.
Mokhbery, who is running for a seat on the Laguna Niguel City Council in the upcoming Nov. 8 election, quickly left his office in the city and went home to find the canyon near his backyard engulfed in flames.
“I honestly thought we lost the house,” he told The Epoch Times.
His house, along with the neighborhood, was ultimately spared, thanks to a shift in wind. But over 20 homes across the canyon were burned to ashes and more than 900 people were forced to evacuate.
Mokhbery held a community gathering at his home after the fire to create a plan so residents can be more prepared for the next disaster.
“I’m the type of person I cannot sit back,” he said.
The incident pushed Mokhbery to run in the race, he said, to help prepare the city for whatever comes next: be it a wildfire or an earthquake.
If elected, Mokhbery said he would work to create a water reserve in the canyon that first responders can access in case of fire.
He also said he’d like to help improve the quality of life for Laguna Niguel residents.
“I work eight days a week,” he said. “Someone like me, has to be really crazy to get into … local politics.”
Mokhbery, who owns a sensor manufacturing business, said he wants to make Laguna Niguel a good example for economic development.
He said in 1999, he was urged to take his operation to China, which could have saved his company money.
“I completely resisted that,” he said.
He also said he wants to encourage more residents to participate in city council meetings.
“We should not take things for granted. [We] should not just sit back and blame people who are in power,” he said.
Participation and awareness of the issues facing the community are key, he said.
American Dream
Mokhbery is a living example of the American Dream, that anything is achievable through hard work.
In 1974, Mokhbery was 20 when he moved from Iran to Michigan with less than $350 in his pocket, he said.
He landed a job as an ice cream truck vendor in Detroit and learned he could sell more in the city’s poorer and more dangerous neighborhoods.
“It’s a package deal. You want to make more money. You have to risk going into that,” he said.
Mokhbery said over time he saved up enough money to put himself through college, obtaining a mechanical engineering degree from Lawrence Technological University in Michigan.
Now, Mokhbery is a distinguished alumnus, and was recently inducted into the university’s Engineering Hall of Fame.
After college, Mokhbery moved to Fullerton, where he started his business, Futek, which manufactured the sensors on the Mars rover Curiosity.
Later, he moved the business, which now employs 150 people, to Laguna Niguel.
Disclosure documents through Sept. 22, show Mokhbery with $60,000 on hand for his campaign, via a personal loan. He has not reported any individual campaign donations.
He is endorsed by the Lincoln Club of Orange County.
His opponents are Melissa Caldwell, Ray Gennawey, Stephanie Winstead, Stephanie Oddo, and Jeff von Waldburg.
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Jack Bradley is a daily news reporter for The Epoch Times based in Southern California.
