Major Issues Await Mayor Gordo and City Council

After Mayor Victor Gordo and City Councilmembers are sworn in Monday, a host of important issues will need almost immediate attention, among them are the city’s financial recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, increasing incidents of street violence, myriad social justice and affordable housing issues, and public education.

“More than ever we need to work together as residents of Pasadena to address issues. We have to be focused on ensuring that Pasadena tomorrow is a city that works for all of us and is a city we want to live in and we want our families to live in,” Gordo told Pasadena Now when asked to list the biggest issues facing the city. 

One of the most important issues is providing more affordable housing. The state has called on the city to build 9,400 housing units by 2029.  

“I think we need to be bold as we look to the future of affordable housing, not just in Pasadena but in the entire region. It is a regional and state issue that we are facing,” Gordo told the council on Nov. 23. 

“As we enter into the new year, I would like to see us appoint a commission that will look at the complexities of affordable housing,” Gordo said.

Currently, the city has 2,799 units that are deed-restricted as affordable, the Planning Department said. In addition, there are 907 affordable units that are either under construction or in the planning stages.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a series of laws designed to seize local control in the approval process, removing public hearings and parts of the review process.

“More people will lose the place they call home after the rent moratorium ends. We have to formulate a strategy now to address those issues on an interim basis and on a long-term basis, and we can’t wait to start those discussions,” Gordo said.

Gordo, 51, himself lived in a garage when his family moved to Pasadena from  Zacatecas, Mexico when he was 5.

“We lived in a two-car garage,” Gordo told the Pasadena Weekly in 2017. “In the corner of that garage was a Folger’s Coffee can. In the can were a written list of friends and family and their phone numbers, some cash and some other documents. If my parents ever didn’t come home, I was to take that can and walk to my neighbor’s house for help.”

Although the city has no authority when it comes to local schools, which has been struggling with at-home learning, Gordo believes the city should also play a role in public education.

“We need to team up with our education partners,” Gordo previously told Pasadena Now. “We need to think differently as a community, as residents, and work together to address access to education and access to the appropriate technology. The city has a very important role to play there. We have to be better than what has been done to date.”

After graduating from Pasadena High School, Gordo enrolled in classes at Pasadena City College and eventually attended Azusa Pacific University. He later served as former Councilmember Bill Crowfoot’s field representative before winning the District 5 seat in 2001.

Like all other local governments, Pasadena has been pounded by COVID-19. In the pandemic’s latest twist, Pasadena is being forced to end outdoor dining and conform to a new stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom, which goes into effect Sunday night.  

Although most restaurants were closed to outdoor dining following a similar county health order, Pasadena has its own Health Department and became the only city in the county to have outdoor dining, until now.

Up to today, some of those businesses reported their best days ever over the past week. But now, with a three-week shutdown order from the governor looming, some of those same businesses are saying this could be the final nail in their coffins. Gordo supported the Health Department’s decision to keep restaurants open to outdoor dining.

Pasadena has its own Health Department, which allowed it to not follow a county order banning outdoor dining. But this order is from the governor and must be followed.

Nonetheless, “I am glad that we’re untethering from the county and recognizing our own healthcare jurisdiction,” Gordo said.

According to a report included in a City Council Finance Committee agenda earlier this year, the city, in the General Consumer Goods category, realized the largest losses in comparison to last year at almost $1.2 million. Losses due to the closure of restaurants trailed at $965,000 according to that report. 

There are other pandemic-related fiscal losses as well. The Pasadena Center Operating Co., for instance, will not begin to make up for lost Transient Occupancy Tax, paid by anyone who stays at a hotel, until fiscal year 2024.

The city has also lost more than $6 million in payments to its water and power utilities. 

Amid all that, the city is also seeing more crime, with an 80 percent increase in gun violence in 2020, compared to last year. The city has experienced over 50 violent incidents and more than 20 people have been shot. According to Pasadena Police Chief John Perez, nearly 300 guns have been seized.

This past week, a shooting at Villa Parke left two men dead and a third person in critical condition. 

“We’ve seen far too many incidents of gun violence in the last few months. We have to take a different approach. I am going to ask the Public Safety Committee to work with the city manager and the police chief to find an approach that is effective in stopping the violence in and around our parks,” Gordo told Pasadena Now.  

Gordo will also have to lead the council through the appointment of commissioners for the city’s police oversight commission. The City Council unanimously approved the commission in the wake of the officer-involved death of George Floyd last May at the hands of police Minnesota.

“I’m one person,” Gordo said in a previous interview. “One person can’t fix any of the challenges. My job is listening, whether from the board of directors of the Rose Bowl, whether it’s on my front porch with people expressing concerns about policing in Pasadena, or whether it’s with the police officers who I know work very hard and sacrifice. My job is to listen and be inquisitive, and figure out with the people where the solutions are, where the common ground is. 

“I think it’s the views, opinions, and solutions of the people and residents of Pasadena that need to surface. As mayor, I will put the people of Pasadena first. I will work to bring us together as residents of Pasadena to ensure we are working together to address issues throughout Pasadena,” he said.