Our leaders are leaving. We want to know why.

Mayor Pro Tem Catherine Alvarez and Mayor Blanca Pacheco.

I’m not sure what’s more concerning: the mass exodus that the city government is currently experiencing, or the fact that no one is willing to offer an explanation for any of it.

Promotions, retirements, job opportunities, and life changes happen; even just over the last handful of years, we’ve seen two new police chiefs, a new fire chief, a new city clerk, and other changes without anyone so much as batting an eye.

What is happening in Downey right now feels entirely different.

Ask around, and you’ll probably find that there are very few who are satisfied with city manager Gilbert Livas’s “retirement.” While his exit is written as a resignation and retirement on paper, the much more common belief is that this was not entirely of Livas’s own free will. Instead, it seems as though Livas was hurried and pushed out the door after a not-so-subtle attempt to fire him last December was stymied by boisterous public outcry.

Yet even much more impressive – or devastating - is the ensuing cascade of departures that have followed, most recently being Deputy City Manager Aldo Schindler and City Attorney Yvette Abich-Garcia (We can be reasonably sure that they won’t be the last, either).

Adding to the turmoil, we have an empty council seat and an assistant city manager suddenly and mysteriously on paid administrative leave.

Yet while the city continues to sprout holes and leaks, the captains at the helm stare up at a synthetic blue sky, as if by ignoring the rising storm water at their hips, it means it doesn’t exist.

Meanwhile, the rest of us play the part of Chicken Little as we watch the sky fall.

It’s been said that where there is smoke, there is likely fire. Downey is starting to smell like a barbeque.

As more and more administration leave, the city loses more than just a couple of faces at a council meeting; years of experience, expertise, and knowledge of Downey’s specific inner-workings seemingly vanish into thin air. What is left behind is a picture that would tell any potential successor of sane mind that they may want to steer clear instead.

This doesn’t feel like change, transition, or progress; it feels like abandonment.

Residents see the writing on the wall, but up until now it’s been written in unintelligible gibberish; they know it’s a bad omen, they just aren’t being allowed to know why, how, who’s behind it, or where to go from here.

It is not unreasonable to seek an explanation on all fronts. Residents, business owners, and workers in the city have the right to choose their own destinies, and whether or not they see Downey continuing to be a good fit as part of their future.

Over my around seven years writing for the Downey Patriot, I’ve done a lot of candidate interviews for several campaigns. Almost every single one – including many of you – mentioned “transparency” in some way shape or form.

There is too much at stake to continue staying silent.

Was there an underlying reason (besides his job promotion) for Sean Aston’s early resignation?

Why was Gilbert Livas’s job ever in question? Is he really leaving of his own accord?

Why was John Oskoui placed on administrative leave?

Why are so many of our leaders abandoning ship all at once?

The concerned residents of Downey are listening and await your response.

Alex Dominguez is a journalist and staff writer with the Downey Patriot.