Happy spring, Downey! April is a busy month for the City. There are numerous meetings and events scheduled for you and your family to attend.

One of my favorite times of the year is when we get to celebrate STEM education at the City of STEM Big Science Fest at the Columbia Memorial Science Center. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and is the driving force in schools to prepare our children for the future. The whole month is packed with activities at the Space Center. Please check out their website for their calendar of events.

April also serves as Volunteer Month. This year, the City will be hosting its first Downey One Day of Service. This will be a community service day in which volunteers will give back by participating in various projects throughout the city. Event will take place on Saturday, April 27 at the new location, the Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center.

Volunteering is multi-faceted in its importance to our society. It enriches our society, brings us together as a community, and helps keep businesses and other organizations afloat. Volunteers are an integral part of our society. I hope you can join me and be a part of this great event.

Downey as well as surrounding communities have seen a rise of urban coyote population. The City of Downey has a Coyote Management Plan in place that explains in detail coyote behavior and strategies that the community can employ to mitigate the frequency of coyotes within City neighborhoods. Join us on April 2nd at 6:30 pm in the Council Chambers for a Coyote Townhall meeting. Speakers will include members of the Police Department, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, members of the City Council and City staff.

The second meeting for the Downey Business Watch Program is scheduled for April 11th at 9 am inside the City Council Chambers. This program is a joint effort between the Downey Police Department and the Downey Chamber of Commerce to help prevent and reduce crime. Through this collaboration, quarterly business watch seminars will be held at City Hall.

Seminars are scheduled for April 11th, July 11th and October 10th. I invite you to complete the Crime Prevention Survey available on the city’s website where you may share your input on which future topics you would like to see discussed at meetings.

Our series of “Walk with your Council Member” has gone great so far. We have had a great turn out and have been given the opportunity to speak with our residents one on one while working on improving our health. The walks are held at the Downey High School track at 7 pm.

This year the Bunny is back in town and the Brunch with the Bunny event is scheduled for April 13th at 9:30 am at Golden Park. Boy Scouts will be on hand serve delicious pancakes and breakfast staples and games and rides will be available for the little ones.

Now that spring is here, it is time to do some spring cleaning and gardening in your home. The City will be hosting a Mulch and Shredding event on April 20th from 8 am till noon at the City Hall parking lot. Please bring your own bags to collect mulch. Also, a Keep Downey Beautiful Clean Up is scheduled for that same day at 9 am. Meeting location will be at the Del Taco parking lot. Please arrive 15 minutes prior so that you may receive a vest and tools that may be needed.

The following week the City will be having their annual Drug Take-Back event at the Downey Police parking lot. The Police Department and community volunteers will be collecting unused, unwanted or out-of-date prescription medications. This event offers community members an opportunity to rid their homes of potentially dangerous drugs and minimize the potential for misuse and abuse. The event will be held rain or shine.

Event attendees will have the opportunity to drop their prescription medications off into collection boxes provided by the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency (D.E.A). Over-the-counter medications can also be discarded. Liquids will only be accepted in fully sealed, unopened plastic containers. Needles, sharps and glass containers will not be accepted. The event is co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Division of the D.E.A.

Lastly, I wanted to let you know that I have decided to move the State of the City address to October 9th. This will give me an opportunity to not only speak about future developments in our city, but also highlight the accomplishments made throughout the year. The luncheon is still scheduled for 11:30 am and is open to the public.

For more information please contact the Downey Chamber of Commerce at 562-923-2191.

Rick Rodriguez
Mayor

562-904-7274

#AlwaysForward
rrodriguez@downeyca.org
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