Hello Downey,

During excessive heat advisories, please remember we have cooling centers in our city. Barbara J. Riley Community and Senior Center located at 7810 Quill Dr., and at our Downey City Library next to Downey City Hall on 11121 Brookshire Avenue, are open and available until 8 pm. Also, do not forget to check on your elderly neighbors and please, stay hydrated and avoid extraneous outdoor activities during peak times of the day. Also, never leave children in a hot car unattended. Annually, 38 children die in hot vehicles; children’s temperatures rise 3-5 times faster than adults 20 minutes can be deadly.

As we continue to see an unprecedented rise in crime involving youth and young adults, I am compelled to say we ALL need to do our part. The increase in thefts, mob-style smash-n-grabs is two-fold: one, there are no consequences for this level of criminality due to disastrous policies implemented in LA County from the D.A.’s office; and two, the lack of parental involvement and mentors in young people’s lives. We are seeing a generation raised by mobile devices and a level of entitlement never seen before. As the Mayor of this city, and a mother of four, I say we need action.

We need a D.A. that will reverse the policies that are inflicting this level of crime in our cities. We are seeing a sharp increase of this type of behavior around The Promenade and The Landing. Two, we need parents to parent their children. Teaching respect is not the responsibility of our schools and educators. In fact, the level of disrespect our educators see every day continues to increase. We need parents to do better. As voters, we need to be informed and make better choices.

Our children and youth are in great need, particularly post pandemic. Committed to strengthening our community through investing in our youth, we had two successful one day workshops for our youth in August. Young Men Rise Up made its debut on August 19 and the 3rd Annual Girls on Fire was held on August 26. The workshops were slightly tailored for each gender and included topics such as building confidence, interviewing skills, healthy relationships, mental health, personal finance, and social media/cyber bullying and self-defense. A 45-min session was also offered towards the end of the day for parents. I want to extend my gratitude to city staff for their work on these important workshops. Also, thank you to all the speakers and sponsors of the event, along with Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco for attending the Young Men Rise Up event and for her office for attending the Girls on Fire event.

As we may have noticed around our city, there are campaign signs showing up in various places. Downey is having a special election this November 7th, residents in District 1 (southeast Downey) and residents in District 3 (northwest Downey) will be voting for a new representative. As your Mayor, I have three asks of the current candidates and one ask of our residents.

• 1) Be honest and respectful. Lying to potential voters about who you are, your party affiliation and/or your qualifications, speaks volumes about your character. A reminder that local elections are non-partisan, party affiliation should not matter. At this local level, policy issues we bring forth have nothing to do with partisan politics. As I’ve said before, our sewers, our streetlights and our streets are not partisan, we shouldn’t be either. Residents, please be respectful and courteous to the candidates and their teams who are out walking the neighborhoods door knocking, sometimes in excessive heat.

• 2) Engaging in smear campaigning towards your opponent not only hurts you, it damages this city’s reputation, and your credibility as a candidate. People that are longtime residents of this city, do not appreciate the negative, mudslinging-type of campaigns. The day after election, the candidates that ran against each other continue to be involved in the same organizations in and around this city. Remember this, you are opponents, not enemies. Downey is different.

• 3) Ask permission to have your campaign lawn sign on people’s private property. It may come as a no-brainer, but this is also a reflection of a candidate and a team. If a lawn sign appears without permission it shows disrespect and a lack of character. Lastly, do pick up your signs from high traffic areas after election day.

Community Engagement:

As I always say, #engagedcommunitiesarestrongcommunities There are many activities coming up for our community residents to join us over the next several weeks.

First, we have the annual International Food and Music Festival scheduled for Saturday, September 9 from 4-10pm in downtown Downey.

A Remembrance Ceremony for 9/11 will be held on Monday, Sept. 11 at 10am at the Civic Center.

The annual Havana Nights returns on Friday, September 29 from 6-9:30pm in downtown Downey,

Transient Activity, Public Safety & Quality of Life:

Downey, I want you to know I am listening to you. Our safety and our quality of life in our city is of paramount concern. Therefore, I am continuing to discuss efforts to open a Homeless Navigation Center with Services in Downey. We can no longer stay idle and hope the ‘clean’ up efforts work. As we look at alternatives and common-sense approaches to address this growing concern, my goal is to protect the quality of life for our residents and tackle the safety concerns.

Clean ups will continue in coordination with LA County Dept. of Mental Health, LA Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), PATH and Downey PD. Downey continues to be proactive and aggressive in its efforts to curtail homelessness activity and its impacts on the quality of life for our residents and impacts to our businesses.

To assist us, please visit www.la-hop.org to dispatch a homeless services outreach team to your area and, if you know of someone that needs shelter, visit www.lahsa.org/get-help

On Speed Enforcement & Criminal Activity at Mall:

Our Downey PD continues working with Stonewood Mall Management on increased security and will also continue to conduct extra patrols around the mall.

DPD continues with speed enforcement activities throughout our city and illegal street racing, along with individuals utilizing empty parking lots/areas to do donuts. Drivers involved in street racing will have their vehicles impounded and will face steep fines.

Community/Economic Development

Downey continues to be an aspirational city where residents take pride in their homes, home values and neighborhoods. Special attention will be placed on unkept yards/lawns, cars on lawns, tents or structures erected on front lawns (this is against city code). Additional focus will be on illegal dumping and excessive trash and debris around neighborhoods and commercial properties. It is up to all of us to continue doing our part to maintain a clean city.

CERT

Join the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)! The next two-day training session is scheduled from September 29 & 30 at Fire Station 1 on 12222 Paramount Blvd. For more information or to register, call (562) 869-7331

Keep Downey Beautiful Monthly Cleanups

The next cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, September 16 from 9-10am behind Del Taco parking lot on 8028 Firestone Blvd.

Downey’s anti-litter campaign #BINIT, Residents may call CalMet/Athens services at 562.259.1239 to arrange a bulky item pick up. Additional important numbers to save on your phones:

• Graffiti Hotline: (562) 923-4484

• Abandoned Shopping Carts: (800) 252-4613

• Illegal Dumping: (562) 904-1161

Neighborhood Watch group in your neighborhood. This is a wonderful way to connect with neighbors and watch for suspicious activities. If you see something, please, say something. Currently, we have over 230+ groups throughout our city. To find out more information or to apply, please contact Neighborhood Watch Coordinator Stephanie Arroyo at (562) 904-2374 or sarroyo@downeyca.org

I welcome appointments for in-person visits. You can also follow my Facebook page for regular updates at Claudia M. Frometa Mayor, City of Downey, along with our City’s Facebook page, City of Downey Government Agency, for regular updates. Please also download the Downey App on your mobile device. Through this App, you can immediately report illegally dumped items, street repairs, trash, graffiti removal, neighborhood light repairs, etc.

#DowneyStrong, #EngagedCommunitiesAreStrongCommunities, #ThisIsDowney, #CityofDowney, #OperationRestoreOrder #MayorFrometa

Claudia M. Frometa
Mayor