At special meeting, City Council votes to partially fund Mexican concert

DOWNEY — The City of Downey will spend over $3,800 to support the “Mexico en el Corazon” scheduled at the Downey Theatre in just a few weeks.

The North American tour features mariachi music, folkloric ballet, and other representations of Mexican heritage, taking artists across the United States and Canada in an attempt to educate audiences unfamiliar with the culture and provide a semblance of home to natives of Mexico.

It is scheduled for June 1.

Trujillo described the show as “a great opportunity for cultural enrichment.”

“We have a very diverse city, especially when it comes to Latinos. We have Argentinos, Columbianos, Cubanos, Mexicanos,” said Trujillo. “Any opportunity that we can give to our residents and our families for them to learn about not only their culture, but other cultures, I think would be welcome; especially if it’s affordable.”

Initially, it had been requested that the city pay over $15,000 to cover theatre staff reimbursement, advertising, equipment, and hotel accommodations for performers.

According to Trujillo, the theatre subcommittee decided that the requested amount was “just too much,” however was willing to pay $3,831 to cover theatre staff, security, and ticket printing fees, and to make the event “completely available and free to the residents of Downey for their cultural enrichment.”

The $3,800 amount was approved in a 4-0 vote, with Councilwoman Claudia Frometa absent.

There had been some criticism that the item should have been discussed at last or next week’s regular council meeting, in particular from Frometa, who in a statement to the Downey Patriot said, “we cannot be calling special meetings for trivial matters.”

“This council has (historically) called special meetings to address critical and pressing matters, NOT to discuss funding an event on a whim,” she wrote. “This item should’ve been included in last week’s council meeting or next week. This is not a good use of our time nor city’s staff time and resources.”

Frometa added that she was “uncertain as to my availability to attend,” due to her work schedule, and was ultimately not present for the vote.

Trujillo apologized to residents for the hastiness of the meeting, accounting its necessity to the theatre subcommittee’s inability to meet before last weeks meeting where the item was originally intended.

“We scheduled the subcommittee meeting, we published the agenda per our city guidelines, and I was unable to make it to the subcommittee meeting which then triggered this item coming off of the agenda,” Trujillo said.

Mayor Blanca Pacheco added that the meeting was needed due to lack of time before the performance.

“The only reason that [this item] was on a special meeting is because this event will be held within the next several weeks,” said Pacheco.