Mario Trujillo gives first address as mayor

Mario Trujillo gives his first address as Mayor after being sworn in on Thursday. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)

Downey has a new mayor.

Councilman Mario Trujillo was sworn in as the head of the city on Thursday evening, flanked by his family and before a packed room full of residents and elected officials.

Trujillo opened his first address as mayor by commenting on the cohesiveness of the city council.

“It’s not easy being a politician. I knew when I ran for office that every vote that I take up there, there’s always somebody on the other side; there tends to be somebody who disagrees,” said Trujillo. “But I went back and I looked at the votes of our council. The Downey City Council is a unified, cohesive council that will vote together unanimously at least 95% of the time. Ninety-five percent of the time, this council makes decisions for the 117,000 residents of our city who rely on us primarily for protection.”

During his year at the helm, construction is anticipated to begin on the West Santa Ana Branch Metro Light Rail, currently slotted for the South Rancho Los Amigos Campus.

“Downey will now be connected to Downtown LA,” said Trujillo. “We’re going to get there in shorter time. Construction will begin in 2024, so we will be working closely to monitor what’s going on in the location where the station will be.”

In addition, the city will also be continuing its fundraising efforts for the expansion of the Columbia Memorial Space Center, as well as supporting the Downey YMCA in its pursuit of a new building.

In response to homelessness issues, which Trujillo said was “getting out of hand” in certain areas, the city will be forming a homeless outreach team, including the hiring of a Homeless Solutions Manager in February.

“We’re going to put dollars into that, form a team so that we can hopefully come up with solutions on how to get people dignified housing,” said Trujillo.

On public safety, Trujillo said that the city needed more officers.

“We’re going to strive to bring in at least 10 more officers to continue to protect our families,” said Trujillo.

In addition, Trujillo announced that the city would pursue increased code enforcement, expand the International Food Festival to highlight ceviche, and continue to pursue a second dog park in the south of the city and a community garden at Rio San Gabriel Park.