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Denelle Fedor
City Beat
New faces at work in Yeager's city office
Councilman hopes to open local office in Willow Glen
By Kate Carter
Councilman Ken Yeager's sixth floor city hall office is up and running, along with a new staff.
District 6 chief of staff Darren Deffner, aides Denelle Fedor and Rick Crosetti and administrative assistant Diana Jamison are in place and already working to meet their boss' and his constituents' needs.
"It's been a lot of fun, but, boy, has it been busy," Crosetti said. "Our days just fly by."
Yeager also has plans to open a field office in Willow Glen, as Frank Fiscalini did on Lincoln Avenue, but he has yet to find a place.
Fedor, 30, is Yeager's staff aide for Willow Glen, Sherman Oaks and College Park area issues and is already a familiar face to many active Willow Glen community members. She worked as Yeager's campaign coordinator for both the primary and general election campaigns and has been a regular at Willow Glen business and neighborhood meetings for several months.
"So many people know me, they call me first," Fedor said. "Which is fine."
Fedor was a student in Yeager's political science classes at San Jose State University. She said she chose to continue working for Yeager as a council aide after his election, because of the opportunity it gave her to work on issues she'd learned about and with people she'd met during the campaign. She said she also wanted the experience of working inside politics.
Fedor also is a Willow Glen resident. She has worked in public relations and marketing for companies in Palo Alto and Los Altos. She also ran for a seat on the San Jose Unified School District's school board in 1996, but lost to current board president Gary Rummelhoff. Education, small business and health issues are of particular concern to her, she added, and she will be Yeager's aide on child-care issues and District 6 neighborhoods affected by the strong neighborhood initiative.
Fedor is also a big Oakland Raiders, New York Knicks and San Jose Lasers fan, and has an affinity for Harley-Davidson motorcycles and fishing.
Rick Crosetti
Crosetti, 39, also helped on Yeager's campaign because, he said, he wanted to work for a council member he believed in. Crosetti, Yeager's aide for the Rose Garden and Shasta-Hanchett neighborhoods, has about 18 years of experience in construction since he graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in civil engineering. He will handle many of District 6's land-use issues.
"With all the new developments in our district, I have a real interest that it benefits not only our neighborhoods but the city as a whole," he said.
Crosetti has known Yeager as a friend for over 10 years. Although he has been involved with the Shasta-Hanchett Neighborhood Association and worked with former District 6 Councilman Frank Fiscalini's office on a number of neighborhood issues, Crosetti said he wanted something more. Yeager's candidacy and election were a perfect opportunity for him.
"What he wants to do and what I want to do match up well," he said.
When he's not at the office, Crosetti said he likes to work around his Shasta-Hanchett home, garden and play racquetball.
Darren Deffner
Like Fedor, Deffner, 27, was also Yeager's student at SJSU. Deffner worked on Yeager's unsuccessful 1996 state Assembly campaign. Deffner then headed to Washington, D.C., and for the past four years has worked for various Democratic congressional representatives. Most recently he was a staff aide specializing in environmental and energy issues for peninsula Rep. Anna Eshoo.
He added that he hopes his work on national issues will benefit residents of District 6.
"I think working in Congress gives you a broader policy experience," Deffner said. "I think I'll be able to bring a broader federal agenda down to the local level, where real people are experiencing real issues."
Although he acknowledges that his exact tasks haven't been completely decided, his work will be less focused on specific neighborhood concerns than Fedor and Crosetti.
"I will be more heavily involved with trying to find issues Ken can be most influential on and the issues that are most important to the sixth district."
Deffner is also a resident of Willow Glen, a Sharks fan and photographer in his spare time.
Diana Jamison's is likely the first voice constituents will hear when they call the District 6 city office. As Yeager's administrative assistant, she handles most of the constituent calls that come into the District 6 office, and she says her easygoing manner helps frustrated people relax.
"We get a lot of constituent calls," she said. "By the time they get here, some of them are very upset. Part of my job is to sort of calm them down and get them the help they need. I don't blame them for being upset."
She has been working for the city since 1995 in the city manager's office. She moved back to San Jose where she grew up, after living in Nevada for 13 years and working for the state of Nevada. She says she enjoys working for the government because of the benefits, job security and the excitement.
Yeager's District 6 office can be reached by calling 408.277.5166, or by emailing ken.yeager@ci.sj.ca.us.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
