 Downey Update
October 2012
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City of Downey - Where imagination takes flight
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Oct. 2012
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The Wisdom of John Wooden
" Don't try to be better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best you can be. "
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Faith, Family and Friends |
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 Downey - A City with a shining past and bright future
Councilman Mario A. Guerra |
Dear Downey family and friends,
I hope this finds you all well.. I know this time of the year is always busy...I hope you had time to relax, refresh and enjoy the blessings in our lives during the summer and are enjoying the heat wave of this Fall..
The year has gone by very quickly. Many great things have happened in our community since the last time I wrote and there are exciting things coming up. I apologize for not writing sooner but this is a labor of love and time slips away from me at times.
Some of the things in this newsletter are : - Downey Space Shuttle Named INSPIRATION - Famers Market Moved to Downey Ave - Downey Town Hall - Oct 17th - Taste of Downey great success - Veteran Memorial Dedication 11-12 - Neighborhood Watch going strong - Economic Development Items - Public Art - Downtown - Street Repaving Projects - Traffic Calming - Youth Committee - Downey by the Numbers / Police & Fire - Happenings Around Town - Guerra family Update
As I said, a lot has happened...Pretty exciting time in our City..I even had to leave out several other things for future updates..And as always, I beg your forgiveness on typos or grammar as I finished writing this update very late at night..I am getting better at copying and pasting my pictures but there are many creative things I have not been able to master yet...Ha.
Please let me know what you think. I welcome and look forward to your comments and thoughts..
And thank you to Downey resident and local artist Don Lamkin for letting me use his painting at the top of this email. He recently painted this about the City of Downey. Most of us can recognize special items relating to our City and some from our past. It is a beautiful reflection of our history and icons that make us smile. Great job Don and thank you for using your creativity and imagination for our community..I bought painting # 4 of 10 and is proudly displayed in our Council offices on the third floor of City Hall.
I hope you find this email informative about our great city and gives you some insight about our community. We are so blessed to call Downey our home and I love sharing about our fine city. ..May God continue to bless us all . |
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Great day for Downey, exciting day for all..
Endeavour flying over our Columbia Memorial Space Center and Apollo BP.
Endeavour over Downey City Hall
Friends from Downey Art Vibe and Stay Downey Gallery captured this picture just as I turned around...It was a very exciting day to have Endeavour flying over the place where she was conceived and built. Welcome home to Downey !!
The original full scale model for the shuttle program was of course built, designed and created in Downey. It is now owned by the City of Downey and is the genesis for the space shuttle program. The Downey City Council officially named it last week.
It is called INSPIRATION for indeed it was. And it will continue to inspire future engineers, scientist and explorers for a true legacy of who we are and where we have gone...We are currently working on raising funds to restore and build a permanent building. It will display and interact with our past and future. It will be built next door to our Columbia Memorial Space Learning Center.
This is another picture of INSPIRATION right after we moved her from her home in building 1. It had been there since 1972 when it was built..Thanks to Jared Head from our Columbia Learning Center for taking these two pictures. .
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Developments keep coming..Many others in the works...Jobs !!
Tierra Luna is on its way. Our 77 acre development is moving along and I am excited about the buzz this has created in the development community. I think our residents will be very happy when they see what type of tenants and companies want to come home to Downey. From a 150 room upscale hotel, much needed offices to retail and an entertainment district. A new DFD Fire station is part of this amazing
$ 400 million dollar project. It will continue to transform our community , produce much needed revenue and protect our vital services for years to come. Thousands of local jobs and over 100 new businesses slated to come into Tierra Luna and area within the next 2 years alone. Very Exciting !!
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Our staff gets nervous when I get on these big machines and then start them up..One of the perks !..Ha
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Taste of Downey continues to be a great successful event for our entire City. Over 25 restaurants participated along with our Downey Art Vibe for a newly added Wine and Art Festival. Over 2500 residents enjoyed music, great food and saw amazing art pieces by local artist. Thanks to all our staff, restaurants and volunteers who made this happen again.
I remember when this was started after our false water situation in 2008. I wanted to find a way to help our restaurants advertise themselves and for us as a City to help promote the great eating establishments we have. Our first year was called " Dine in Downey " and participating eateries gave a discount to those trying their food. Today, Taste of Downey is a culinary event with over 25 restaurants, fantastic music along with a great showing for our local artist. Back again, bigger and better. Mark it down for next year in September !! ..Thank you all who helped make this possible.
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 From the sledge hammers to the actual demolition. This is one of the fruits of exciting times in our City and specifically our Downtown..Progress!
Our Award winning Downtown Plan calls for a variety of housing types and creates design standards and guidelines for businesses and homes..It will create pocket parks, plazas and a large central gathering space downtown..It will also promote festivals, fairs and events downtown and incorporate the Arts into a downtown scene where you can live, eat and play...Lead initially by City Manager Gilbert Livas and now by Community Development Director Brian Saeki, our staff really deserves the credit for their hard work and dedication, working towards our vision together..Mayor Roger Brossmer and I have been part of this sub committee for the past 5 years and are proud of what we have accomplished. A lot more to follow. Stay tuned.
Firestone Blvd street improvements coming shortly. It is exciting to see what we are planning and the potential it holds for our Downtown and City...I am so happy that after all these years we are finally moving forward...It really opens up many possibilities and we have had a great start..6 new businesses have opened in our Downtown in the past year and several others have made large improvements. Some have invested considerable capital to enlarge their establishments..Several others are jumping in and we can see the differences already. In the next 5 months alone we should have over 10 next businesses within a mile of Downtown that will be opening their doors.
Coming to Downey Theatre...
We are very excited about upcoming events at our Downey Theatre. We had a great season last year and look forward to these performances. I hope to see everyone there.
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Downey Veterans Memorial...
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Downeys tribute to all our Veterans who gave so much of themselves will be unveiled and dedicated on Veterans Day weekend Nov. 12th at 10 AM..Right in front of City Hall. |
The Veteran Memorial Committee consisted of Michael Murray, Johnny Venegas, Rick Rodriguez, Mayor Roger Brossmer and yours truly. Mayor Roger has been the driving force and genesis of this awesome and long overdo tribute..Brian Saeki and his staff have worked hard to make this a reality. No general fund dollars were used for the memorial.
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Character does Count in Downey and it shows...We now have Respect Road, Trustworthiness Trail, Caring Way, Citizenship Court, Responsibility Row, Respect Road, Fairness Lane and Character Counts Court..We will continue to make sure our youth and community know we care about ethics in our community.
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I look forward to seeing everyone at my annual Town Hall coming up on October 17 at Apollo Park..
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I proudly serve on the United States Army Advisory Board representing the Los Angeles Battalion Rough Riders..Recently the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, 4 Star General Raymond Odierno, visited with us at the top of LA City Hall. He truly is a man who has served us all with the highest example of leadership and character and it is easy to see why he leads our US Army. It was very exciting and a very memorable experience.. Lt. Col Blankenship, who was the commander of this battalion until recently is also pictured with us...Serving and helping in any way possible is truly and honor for me..God bless all our armed forces for their service to our country.
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Downey Youth Committee ...
In December 2008, one of my first acts as Mayor was to ask our City Council and our staff for the formation of a Youth Committee. The Downey Youth Commission, was finally established by the City Council last year and these were the amazing young leaders that served us so well in 2011-2012... I am very excited about our
future. Thank you for your service to our community.
The Commission is for high school students who are interested in learning and serving their local government and would like to be more active in the community. The Commission serves in an advisory capacity to the Downey City Council and meet regularly every month. This is a great opportunity for our youth to learn about how their local government works, to be more involved in our community and to provide a forum for gathering input from youth in Downey.
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Independent Cities Association
I was recently installed as President Elect of Independent Cities Association..It is a great group of dedicated elected officials that represent 45 Cities and over 7 million residents..Our board is hard working with many elected officials that truly care about their cities and our region.
Our executive board consist of President J Gomez from El Monte, myself, VPs are Tom Brewer from Torrance and Kit Bobko from Hermosa Beach, Secretary is Laura Friedman from Glendale and Treasurer is Joe Santoro from Glendora...Here was the recent installation dinner in J's home City.
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Blue Mass in Honor of 9-11
On 9-11 a Blue Mass was celebrated at Saint Raymond Catholic Church to pay tribute to those who serve and protect us.. It is a tribute to honor those who passed away 11 years ago and to say thank you to our Fire, Police and Armed Forces. They protect us all every day..Thank you, God bless you all...Father Mark from OLPH started the Blue Mass in 2002 and Father John from St. Raymond celebrated it this year...Pictured here with Mayor Roger Brossmer, Fire Chief Lonnie Croom and Mayor Pro Tem Dave Gafin.
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Downey by the Numbers...
Many people have been asking about the Downey Fire Department and the response times for service, etc..I have posted our numbers for the fiscal year to date ( July and August ) and I have also included the numbers regarding mutual aid to our City.
We are blessed to have some very fine fire department surrounding us and they come into our City many times during the year to help us with our calls.
For example, last year we gave and received aid to the following:
DFD GIVEN To : Santa Fe Springs Fire 197 calls /RECEIVED Aid : 389 calls
DFD GIVEN To : Los Angeles County Fire 383 / RECEIVED Aid : 653 calls
DFD GIVEN To : Montebello Fire 29 calls/ RECEIVED Aid : 31 calls
FD GIVEN To : Compton Fire 87 calls / RECEIVED Aid : 9 calls
The number of times Downey Fire Department gave mutual aid to other departments last year was 696 total...We RECEIVED aid from others 1082...
We received 386 more aid calls from other departments than we gave to them...Mutual aid is at no charge to us and other departments because it is mutually assumed that life safety is so important.
We are happy to have 16 County Fire stations within 5 miles of Downey to be able to help us anytime we need it. Everytime we have a fire call in Downey 16 Firemen are asked to respond...We had 233 working fires last year out of 8900 total calls of incidents in Downey. A very high volume. That is why our reaponse times are such a great feat. Two new Fire Engines were purchased 3 years ago and we will continue to provide the latest and best equipment. Thank you to our fine Downey Fire Department.
I think they do a great job for community and I will work hard to make sure that we keep them local to continue to serve our citizens. Downey loves having its own Fire and Police Departments. We appreciate them and value what they do for us. They are a big part of who we are as a community.
City Wide Fire Response Times
City Wide Reponse
FYTD 2011 = 1466 calls with average response time of 4:58
FYTD 2012 = 1548 calls with average response time of 5:19
Average Turn-out Time
July 1-Aug. 31, 2011 1:04 minute average turn-out time (City Wide)
July 1-Aug. 31, 2012 1:13 minute average turn-out time (City Wide)
Average Drive Time
July 1-Aug. 31, 2011 3:03 minute average drive time (City Wide)
July 1-Aug. 31, 2012 3:10 minute average drive time (City Wide)
Turn-out Time = Receipt of alarm by Firefighters and leave station.
Drive Time = Enroute to the emergency until they arrive at the scene.
DOWNEY CRIME STATS
FBI Index Through end of August 2012
Motor Vehicle Thefts - 14% Decrease
Larceny / Theft - 16% Decrease
Burglary - 18% Decrease
Aggravated Assault + 3%
Robbery - 3% Decrease
Overall FBI Crimes for Downey - 15% Decrease YTD
UNEMPLOYMENT NUMBERS
* Downey 9%
* Gateway Cities 12.6%
* LA County 11.2%
* California 10.4%
* U.S. 8.1 % |
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Guerra Family Update...
The entire Guerra family has had a fun and busy summer...
Several big events happening in our family starting with the upcoming wedding of our oldest daughter Lynne. Her wedding in November will be in Lake Tahoe where she and big Ryan currently live. Her fiance is a great guy and has integrated himself into our loud and fun family. He is a great guy and we welcome him..With her shower in Downey last month and our family trips up north the last few months it has been an exciting and fun time for our family..
Back to school this year involved getting Haley moved into her dorm at LMU and getting her situated. She is enjoying herself right now and we think she is at a great school. She spent the summer living with Lynne in Lake Tahoe and working up there..The sisters seemed to really enjoy being together...
Ryan just started his 8th grade and final year at St. Raymond Catholic School.. A little sad for us that after having all 5 kids graduating from St. Raymonds this will be our last..We recently laughed at " Back to School Night " remembering that it was our 26th consecutive one and our last...Ryan is on the football team and it is fun for us as parent seeing him happy and enjoying his classmates..He is adjusting to life being the only one at home these days with the " old " folk, but Ann and I enjoy treating him like an only child. He seems to be enjoying the extra attention too...Ha.
Mario Luis is happy in Virginia and recently spent some time vacationing in Florida with Tia and is looking forward to seeing the entire family at Lynnes wedding in November...Matt has done a lot for himself this summer and is doing great. Loving life and preparing himself for his future. Just scored a great number on an important math test..The Guerras seem to do good with numbers.
Our summer consisted of traveling on a few weekend getaways but basically stayed in town. Backyard pool construction was finished and we all enjoyed staying home and grilling..A lot of events happened and our family enjoyed them all...
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Lynne at her wedding shower recently at the Whitney home. |
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Haley during her parent orientation day at LMU...What a great place. Expensive, but great..Ha. |
I was honored to represent California last month as a delegate to the GOP convention in Tampa. And after the initial scare with Hurricane Isaac it was an interesting and exciting event in my life. It was a lot of hard work actually but you feel very patriotic participating in the process. I truly enjoyed being there..Somebody sent my this picture during Governor Romneys acceptance speech. I think you can see me right in the middle ( the California delegation was right behind Massachusetts on the floor )...David Ono, anchor from Channel 7, is right in front of me kneeling. Meg Whitman is to my left and you can see Ann Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan behind me ..Regardless of party, everyone should participate and vote in this upcoming election. It is democracy at work in its true form.
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Scanlon Guerra Burke becomes SGB-NIA Insurance Brokers |
On a business basis, we recently celebrated our one year anniversary of Scanlon, Guerra, Burke Insurance Brokers welcoming NIA Insurance to the SGB family. We combined our strengths..Clout, size and added expertise are some of the things we acquired with NIA. It has been a great business year and we are doing some very innovative things.. Providing new jobs and careers to so many also makes us proud. We sponsored ( paid ) for 4 interns this summer to learn about the insurance industry. They were college young adults and I think we all learned and benefited by our experiences.
And at a time when many other brokers have not experienced much success, SGB and NIA are moving ahead. We are now one of the largest privately owned insurance brokers in California, representing more than $125 million and over 80 employees in our Woodland Hills office. We will also continue to have an office in Ventura..I am proud of the work and success we have had and I enjoy all of my business partners.
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Welcome to UCLA Coach Jim Mora. Off to a great start ! Go Bruins !! |
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We recently celebrated our 10 year ordination class reunion at the same place we were ordained, Padre Serra Parish in Camarillo..We spent a lot of time together during formation studies at St. Johns Seminary..4 years together. Great group that will forever be a part of who we are. |
Overall, we are blessed and happy and just pray for health and well being for the Guerra family and for your family as well..I hope you had a safe and fun summer and I welcome your thoughts, questions and comments. I really look forward and appreciate hearing back from you.
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Our great City is here to serve our residents
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As always, I appreciate your comments and feedback and ideas...And please forgive the grammar, errors and wordiness as this was all done by yours truly..And as you have seen unfortunately, I write as I speak..Ha..
We are blessed to have a great staff in our city and I want you all to know that we are all working very hard to make sure Downey is a community we continue to be proud of. I love Downey and I do know that our future really is bright.
A future with a legacy of accomplishments that has helped change the world. I am proud to represent and serve the City of Downey. I look forward to the opportunity to continue to make our City a great place to call home...An All American City in every sense.
I hope all is well with your family and friends..May you and your family have blessed fall.
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I look forward to hearing from you.. And feel free to look me up on Facebook at Dn. Mario A. Guerra. Faith, Family and Friends, happiness is that simple. All my best..God Bless Mario A. Guerra |
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