homework

Business 1 (12:45 AM)

Mr. Everett

Enrique Zaldivar

Director for The Bureau of Sanitation for the City of Los Angeles

Enrique Zaldivar is a hardworking man who fought against all odds. Coming into the United States when he was a freshman in high school it was a hard world for an immigrant to come in and make something of themselves. Zaldivar was born in the city of Zacatecas in 1961, and went to school in Mexico until him and his 5 other siblings decided to make the journey up north to the land of opportunity. When he finally arrived, he stayed in Azusa and attended the local high school, Azusa High School. The change from Mexican education to American didn’t faze him as he graduated amongst the top of his class. Following High School, he attended the University of California Los Angeles to study engineering. After a year and a half, he realized the school wasn’t right for him, he later transferred to the Cal Poly Pomona which is very well known for their engineering program. Afterword, he was recruited by the department of Sanitation for the City of Los Angeles and started off working in the admin office but nothing close to the top of the department. After working there for 10 years he received his first major promotion to assistant director, and 7 years later became the director of the department and has received great recognition and awards for his outstanding dedication and positive changes he’s brought along the way. Some of the awards range from Chicano of the Year, to outstanding department from Heal the Bay. Zaldivar just recently was inducted into the Cal Poly Pomona School of Engineering Hall of Fame.

When he is not in the office and helping make LA a cleaner, better city Enrique spends time with his 3 kids. Mostly his daughter Carina, and sometimes with his other kids Enrique Jr. and myself. He’s been coaches for both myself and my brother for baseball as he played baseball all throughout his life up until he found his calling to save as much water as possible.

When asked “What advice do you have to give to a young entrepreneur wanting to make it to the top of any company?” His answer was “ just be patient, a lot of people come into the business word wanting a position handed to them. But little do they realize that there are several people more qualified than they. You need to show that you are more of worth to the company than your opponent is. This is not a process that happens overnight it can take several years. It took me 15 years to get to the position I currently am at, and not once did I think I could have rushed the process.”

The Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation is a city owned corporation that oversees everything regarding trash pickup, sewers, and water filtration. LASAN has created one of the most state of the art water treatment plants in the country. The Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant in Santa Monica Bay area stretches over 200 acres, and treats 300 million gallons a day on a regular basis and can handle 900 million of gallons per day.