I’m old enough to remember…

When the loudest complaint in Downey was its lack of restaurant options.

When Stonewood Mall was our only shopping center. 

When Imperial Highway resembled an airport landing strip. 

When I had to drive to Glendale for a Porto’s birthday cake. 

When the corner of La Reina and 3rd Street was overrun with a dilapidated house and stray cats. 

When the old Gallatin Medical Center sat vacant and abandoned. 

When Furman Park didn’t have a walking trail. 

When Rio San Gabriel Park didn’t have a dog park. 

When Downey fire stations screamed 1960s architecture. 

When Stay Gallery was a pipe dream. 

When Creamistry was a drapery store. 

When Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center was on the brink of closure. 

When Downey Regional Medical Center went bankrupt. 

When Johnie’s Broiler was a pile of rubble. 

When Downey didn’t have Nissan, Fiat or Maserati dealerships. 

The funny thing about growth is that often it happens so subtly we don’t immediately take notice. It’s only when we step back and admire where we were 10, 15 years ago that we can appreciate how far we’ve come. 

Downey has grown tremendously over the past decade and a half, and at the forefront has been city manager Gilbert Livas, who retires today. Livas was everything you wanted in a city manager: ambitious, creative, and smart enough to accomplish council members’ goals without compromising his (or the city’s) ethics or mortgaging our future.  

Livas’s tenure in Downey was bookmarked by a national recession and a global pandemic, making Downey’s accomplishments all the more remarkable. 

Cities and people are alike in that if you’re not growing, you’re dying. For the past decade, Downey grew. Now we only hope that growth continues without Livas at City Hall.

Congratulations, Gilbert Livas, on a job well done and a retirement well deserved. Downey is better because of you.