City Hall critic Catherine Alvarez launches bid for city council

DOWNEY — Catherine Alvarez has announced that she will be among those vying for a seat on City Council this November.

Alvarez will bid for the District 3 seat, which is currently held by Councilman Rick Rodriguez. Rodriguez will not run for reelection, citing health concerns.

According to her website, Alvarez is a single, disabled mother who took odd jobs to raise her two sons.

Her decision to run stems from a passion to help people, which she says began during her time volunteering at First Christian Church.

Having been a resident for around 11 years, Alvarez is a recent breakout in renter’s advocacy. She has quickly become one of the faces of the movement within the City of Downey.

 “I founded the [Downey] Tenants Union,” said Alvarez. “Seeing that there’s so many issues with tenants…I said it’s not only us, it’s not only me; it’s a lot of people.”

“It’s the working families, right? It’s not a rich middle-class; it’s working families. Basically, what I’m trying to do here is work with these families that I know are going through hardship.”

Alvarez aims to tackle veterans’ issues, homelessness, and youth engagement.

Alvarez made comments on the amount of construction and projects that the city has seen recently, saying that “We’re forgetting what we have already.” Instead, she suggested the city should focus more on projects that are more ADA-friendly.

“We need to go for construction to make it better for disabled people,” said Alvarez. “Our streets are not actually advocate [sic] for disabled people… I would like to work for that too.”

She does not support defunding of police – one of the universal issues facing the nation as a whole – however would like to see police move away from handling mental health and homeless issues, instead having those matters handled with resources and / or an organization directed specifically for those problems. She’d also like to see more outreach between officers and the youth.

Her main platform issue, not surprisingly, is rent control and housing.

It is no secret that Alvarez has been less than satisfied with the current council on the topic, having become a regular face at their meetings to speak on the rent issue. She was also amongst the group that controversially began protesting at council members’ homes just a few months ago.

Alvarez feels that the council could do more than they are currently doing to help the renters of Downey.

“We don’t have a City Council that is approaching the problem for tenancy; it just barely started with the pandemic,” said Alvarez. “When we requested it last year, it didn’t happen.”

“We have to look into our city, that it’s not the rich city that everybody thinks it is…We need to think about the working-class family that is actually living here, and is working for small and bigger business. We need to keep them here, not tell them ‘go live out there in another place.’”

She faces two opponents in established community volunteer Eric Pierce and relative newcomer Dalejuan Peevy.

However, Alvarez feels that voters’ ultimate decision shouldn’t depend on what candidates have done or who has done more.

“I’m really into my community, my community already knows me a lot,” said Alvarez. “It doesn’t mean because he’s doing less, or I’m doing less or whoever is doing more; it’s qualified or not.”

“I think all of us are qualified to that position, because we all have different ideas for the citizens and the community of Downey. So, in reality, who gets to the chair hopefully will work for the talking points that I really want to do for the community.”

Alvarez can be found on Facebook and Instagram, as well as at Catherine4Downey.com.