Although raised in Whittier, Eric Pierce, a candidate for District 3 on the Downey City Council, began serving his community in 2002 when he was hired by The Downey Patriot. Since then, he has moved to Downey and is active in several community service organizations. Though not a politician, Pierce announced his candidacy after years of being asked to run.

Due to protests that erupted after the shooting of George Floyd in May, denouncing racial injustice and calling for the defunding of police departments are on the table as potential solutions. However, to address the problem, Pierce thinks that the best way is to rely on the Downey Police department more.

“We all should want fairness, justice, and equality, so I don’t see how that’s even debatable,” Pierce argued. “In Downey, we have our own police department, we have our own police chief, and it’s on us to demand nothing but the best… we all want to strive to be the very best.”

Another issue that Pierce will address if elected is the Covid-19 pandemic, and he will do so by consulting local businesses instead of forcing them to close or impose new restrictions without their consent.

“The first step is talking to [businesses],” Pierce stated. “I want to hear their ideas of what the city can do to help them because we can’t just be making these rules without getting input from the public, or getting input from the people that are most impacted. I think we need to get their feedback first.”

Since Covid-19 is linked to homelessness due to the inability of renters, most of whom are unemployed, to pay rent, Pierce’s strategy to combat this issue is to encourage the building of more housing instead of imposing more rent control restrictions.

“When you pass rent control, it takes away the incentive for people to build homes,” Pierce explained. “The issue that we have is a housing shortage, so I think the best thing we can do as a city is to enact policies that encourage developers to build more housing because we have room here, especially if we start building vertically with townhomes and apartments.”

The city council elections are on Nov. 3. To get in touch with Pierce, his email is [email protected].