Finishing her first term at the head of the Downey City Council, Mayor Blanca Pacheco is seeking a second term, representing District 1.  Facing a challenger this election, Pacheco is not taking anything for granted, which is why she is touting her accomplishments, such as overseeing Measure S renovations on local parks and other public facilities as well as youth engagement. Although much has been accomplished under her leadership, there are other issues she will address if re-elected.

The first issue she will address is the Covid-19 pandemic, which has not only affected the City of Downey, but also the United States and the rest of the world. One way the mayor plans on handling the issues this virus created is by aiding small businesses that had to shut down due to the pandemic.

“What we have to do is continue helping our small businesses,” Mayor Pacheco stated. We have to see what other grants we can get for our small businesses and educate them on the grants that are available and try to seek out more grants that are able to help our small businesses [because] we don’t want them to go under because of covid.”

Another issue that coincides with the pandemic is the issue of systemic injustice, which began in the wake of the death of George Floyd and has sparked both protests and riots. While she supports speaking out against injustice, Mayor Pacheco articulated her position on protesting.

“It is important to protest whenever there is any injustice. We have to speak up when an injustice is being done to other people,” Mayor Pacheco explained. “What I didn’t agree with was rioting because we do not want to destroy our neighborhoods either but peaceful protests is a first amendment right when an injustice is being done and it’s important to speak up against it.”

Even though Mayor Pacheco takes pride in what she has accomplished so far, her main objective, which was youth engagement, was put on hold. While she still plans to empower the youth if re-elected, she did acknowledge her pandemic response as another reason why she should remain in office.

“It’s unfortunate that I wasn’t able to do a lot of the things that I planned,” Mayor Pacheco said. “But I was able to accomplish other things like providing rental assistance programs for tenants to help them pay their rent, senior meal programs for our seniors… [and] food distributions, so I was able to help the community in [those] regards.”

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