2020 Downey City Council Candidates Forum

DOWNEY - Council hopefuls sat down to discuss their vision for Downey last Thursday, during the 2020 Downey City Council Candidates Forum.

The event – presented by the Chamber of Commerce and the Downey Patriot - was held virtually via Zoom and Facebook Live, and was moderated by award-winning former KCBS/KCAL -TV reporter Dave Lopez.

Each candidate was asked the same five questions on rent forgiveness, public speaking time during meetings, the city’s response to challenges within 2020, development of Downey’s downtown area, and defunding of the police.

Candidates were then posed with a personal question structured specifically for them, addressing points of concern or policy clarification brought up by the community prior to that evening.

The evening closed with participants rapidly fielding questions from the audience, and finally with closing statements.

District 1

Clear lines were drawn in District 1, where current sitting mayor Blanca Pacheco faces a single opponent in the progressive Alexandria Contreras.

Contreras started the evening’s answers by voicing her support of rent forgiveness.

“I am a renter here in the city of Downey, and I am one of the lucky few who can find an affordable place to live, which isn’t that affordable,” said Contreras. “I know how difficult it can be for families – working class families, even lower-middle income families – to thrive and survive during the pandemic.”

“Sometimes what we need to do as a city council is make sure we use our funds that we have to invest in protecting our renters, and protecting our home owners…it would be a shame to lose families, jobs, students if we as a city morally neglect our most needed at the most needed time.”

Alternatively, Pacheco said that while she did not support rent forgiveness, she was in favor of “helping the community and renters.”

She highlighted the actions the city took over the last year.

“We created a moratorium – or a stop – on evictions from residential and commercial tenants, and we have that moratorium in place,” said Pacheco. “We also set aside $700,000 to help renters to pay their rent, and we still have money available for those renters.”

“I am also in favor of helping our business owners. I am not in favor of forgoing on rent, as this would have monumental consequence on those landlords, on your mom-and-pop landlords who need that money to pay their mortgage.”

Contreras said that she would like to see the city’s rental assistance program expanded to include mobile-homeowners and homeowners.

She also criticized the city’s police funding.

“We do have the funds, but what the city has done instead is allocate $2 million – while slashing other community funds – to the police force,” said Contreras. “What that $2 million could have done is make sure that we keep homeowners in their homes when they need it most.”

“Making sure that residents stay in their homes is an issue of public safety and public health. For us to pretend it is anything otherwise is criminal and immoral.”

When asked about the city’s response to the challenges of 2020, Contreras expressed that the city should have done more, including implementing a “strict mask ordinance” and a “safe streets program” to promote safe exercise.

“We needed to make sure that we shut down the city right away, followed the public health administrator’s leadership in San Francisco; they have expertise with dealing with these kinds of things and the city should have followed,” said Contreras. “We have some of the highest cases of COVID and some of the highest deaths in SELA County which is simply unacceptable.”

“Our businesses are suffering and our people are dying…while the city council has done nothing.”

Pacheco said that she felt she and the rest of the council “handled [the year] well.”

“For me, it was important to provide the residents all the resources necessary to deal with this unprecedented time,” said Pacheco. “We stopped evictions for commercial and residential tenants who were financially impacted. We allocated $700,000 for a rental assistance program to help residential tenants affected by COVID. We received a total of 250 applications and processed 112 checks, and we’re still going through the waiting list to attempt to help more residents.”

“At our next council meeting, we’re going to be considering the expenditure of additional grant funds to assist our small businesses, pay additional rents for our residents, and fund nonprofits to assist the most at need during this time of need…”

On Downey’s police funding, Contreras said that her position on the department was “so far, a rather negative one.”

“My friends, volunteers that I have worked with, people that I have known in the city have come to talk to me personally about their experiences of being victimized and brutalized by Downey’s police force,” said Contreras. “The history of Downey Police Department is not one without talking about racial reconciliation, and racial justice.”

“I personally believe that when facing a global pandemic, the fact that our city places money towards policing as opposed to public health…is immoral. Why would you spend some extra money on security on a house during a pandemic when you should be spending it on making sure that the house is being taken care of, that there’s food in it, and there’s not just food for you, but your family, but your neighbors next door.”

Pacheco said that she was against defunding the police department.

“Our officers do an amazing job, and our residents approve of our police officers,” said Pacheco. “We have a safe city; crime rate has gone down since 2017. Now, it is down by 34%.”

“When we did a survey back in 2016, our officers received an approval rating of 91%. Defunding our police would take away crucial resources from our police officers that could ultimately impact our officers and put our residents in danger.”

District 3

Candidate Catherine Alvarez would kick things off in District 3, with her unsurprising support of rent forgiveness.

In fact, Alvarez was not shy about taking aim at the current city council for their lack of interference when the Eden Roc apartment complex was accused of buying out and pushing out its tenants late last year.

“Way before all this pandemic happened, I tried and I fought for the moratorium in November,” said Alvarez, who is the leader of the Downey Tenants Union. “It didn’t happen by Blanca Pacheco and the City Council members. Why? Because they have worked with the real estate directly, so they didn’t pass it. Unfortunately, they didn’t and a lot of families had to leave out of here.”

She later added that “rent forgiveness did not necessarily mean that landlords would not receive money,” calling instead for a rent freeze of several years.

“It’s a question of working with state, county, and local funding sources to help homeowners and renters,” said Alvarez. “We need to do a rent freeze - not only for housing, even for developers, even for small business - because they don’t have money to pay right now. We need to do a rent freeze for at least two or four years until all the economy goes up again.”

Dalejuan Peevy said that he did not support rent forgiveness because “it’s not good for the owners.”

“[Rent forgiveness] would mess up the economy, and mess up the budget to keep the economy going,” said Peevy.

Eric Pierce opened his comments on the subject by saying that it was “immoral to evict somebody because they lost their income because of COVID,” however came out opposed to rent forgiveness.

“A blank check to renters, it just doesn’t work,” said Pierce. “We have to think about the consequences on the property owners. There’s this myth that these are big corporations that own these income properties, but there are lots of senior citizens who need this income to pay their own bills.”

“I think any kind of financial relief for renters also needs to take into consideration the property owners and the landlords. I do support a moratorium on evictions, and giving the renters some sort of relief, and coming up with a plan where they can pay back what they owe.”

Pierce said that he felt that the issue would require state and national funds.

“I don’t think it’s something that the city of Downey on its own would be able to afford,” said Pierce. “It’s something that we’re going to need to get some assistance from the state and from the country.”

Candidates also found themselves split on their opinions of public comment time during meetings, which City Council voted to cut by two minutes earlier this year.

Alvarez said she felt the time cut was a violation of the First Amendment.

“The real motive behind the [shortening to] three minutes was to silence critics of the city council and not allow us to talk about what are the issues right here in city council,” said Alvarez.

Pierce said he opposed the change at first, however agrees with it now.

“I think the issue is too many people were abusing their five minutes,” said Pierce. “If you’ve attended a city council meeting any time recently, it gets really ugly with racist comments and just really abusive behavior towards people.”

“I think three minutes is enough to get your point across, and I think it’s in line with the time that other cities give the public.”

Peevy said he felt three minutes was fine.

On the Downtown area, candidates again shared varying views on how the city’s prospective draw location could be developed and improved.

Peevy said that the city should focus on the small businesses in the area, but otherwise was in very good shape and needed no change.

Pierce said that there should be a conversation about the type of businesses in downtown.

“I would like to see more independently owned businesses, more restaurants,” said Pierce. “I think we’ve reached our max capacity with bars, so I wouldn’t want to see any more bars.”

Pierce also added that he would like to see Downey Avenue closed on the weekends – with business approval - to make it “more of an open-air type of atmosphere.”

All three candidates said they did not support defunding the police, with Pierce adding that the budget could be tweaked if needed.

District 5

District 5 saw the most sparring of the night, mainly between Juan “Joey” Martinez and Mario Trujillo.

Candidates were mostly on the same page concerning support of rent forgiveness, with Arturo Gonzales saying that renters needed to work with owners, and Carrie Uva saying that she supported helping renters “in the current times we’re in.”

Gloves started to come off, however, when candidates were asked about the city’s two-minute cut to public speaking times at meetings.

Trujillo said that he would be made available to residents if elected, however drew a strong line in the sand against current behavior seen at the dais.

“Let’s be realistic and talk about the fact that we are even talking about this is because a certain number of people are making a mockery out of our democracy system,” said Trujillo. “It is shameful; It is a circus what’s going on in the council [chambers]. While I am for the First Amendment, let’s call it what it is. These individuals shouldn’t even be given those three minutes…

“If I have a real concerned citizen who’s making coherent statements, who’s not insulting people, who’s really discussing the issues at hand, we will give that person the discretion to continue to speak and address us appropriately.”

Martinez, who actively speaks out against council at meetings, called it an “assault on the First Amendment.”

“Really what these council members were doing was stealing from the residents of Downey,” said Martinez.

He then took aim at his opponent.

“Trujillo easily said that it’s a shame that these people are speaking out, that some people shouldn’t even be given those minutes,” said Martinez. “You don’t get to decide what people speak or say…”

Candidates once again found themselves split when discussing the city’s reaction to the Coronavirus.

Martinez said that he felt the city did not shut down fast enough, while Gonzales said that infected needed to be isolated and quarantined.

Trujillo looked towards technology.

“It is unfortunate that Downey did not step up to the plate in regard to technology,” said Trujillo. “As an example, it is the fact that while many cities can today upload plans submitted to the city electronically through the city, Downey has not been able to do that.”

He added that he felt that the city also felt “reactive as opposed to proactive,” and “did not do enough to reach out to business owners.”

Uva said that the city needed to help small businesses “get back on their feet.”

“Having served as the President of the Downey Chamber of Commerce this last year…we had a lot of members that reached out to us for assistance, and we were there to help them promote their business, advertise their business, and do whatever we could as a chamber to get these businesses open and running during the times where they were allowed to reopen suddenly or quickly,” said Uva. “I would’ve liked to have seen more communication as to the PPP loans that were available from the different banks; not a lot of businesses knew about that, and I think a lot of businesses could have taken advantage of that opportunity to get those loans and help.”

Uva added she would have liked to have seen better communication regarding PPE equipment for business owners as well.

When speaking about downtown, Uva expressed desire for more family friendly shops and restaurants, as well as family activity.

Gonzalez said that his response was limited because he “did not go out very much at night,” however that businesses “have to have some control up to a certain degree.”

Martinez again took aim at Trujillo.

Martinez began to make comments about building bike lanes and improving accessibility for pedestrians, before abruptly ending his comments.

Trujillo would go on to say that the city should “consider the residents.”

“The plans are to build a center for family residents in Downey to enjoy; to be able to walk and enjoy a family environment that can be converted to a destination for people from the southeast after perhaps 8 or 9 o’clock,” said Trujillo. “The most effective downtowns are locations where people can live, work, and enjoy the dining experience.”

“Let’s consider the quality of life of our residents with the growth that we’re about to undertake.”

Martinez would jump back in shortly after these remarks, commenting that Trujillo would not be able to make decisions on downtown due to owning property in the area.

“The right answer would actually be to recuse yourself because you have various conflicts of interest,” said Martinez. “What Trujillo would be able to do for that area should be limited and restricted.”

Trujillo took offense to the remarks, responding saying that he was “making an investment in our city.”

“When Mr. Martinez decides to buy a home and lay roots in this city, then perhaps he should respond and talk about conflicts of interest, and remember the word respect when he approaches anyone in our city government,” said Trujillo.

All but one candidate – Martinez - voiced opposition to opinions of defunding the police.

Trujillo said that DPD was one of the most “exemplary” organizations that he had worked with.

“I’ve ridden with the men and women of Downey PD; good men and women who are putting their lives on the line every night and every day for the safety of our community,” said Trujillo. “I’ve looked at the budget. Downey is already being proactive about finding ways to respond to certain calls that don’t require a uniformed police officer.”

“Instead of defunding Downey Police, we should be defending them, and recognizing them for the top-notch department they are…The Downey Police Department is efficient, and let’s face it: you get what you pay for.”

Uva said that she “absolutely” supported DPD, and did not wish to see them defunded in any way.

“Being a lifelong resident of Downey, growing up in the city, we have it so special to have our own private police force,” said Uva. “Our response times are so quick, as compared to other surrounding cities with the Sheriff responding to calls.”

The forum can be watched on YouTube as well as on the Downey Patriot Facebook page.