Enrique Aranda enters 2013 Norwalk City Council race

By Brian Hews
Norwalk resident Enrique Aranda has entered the campaign for two city council seats on Monday when he officially took out nomination papers from the city clerk’s office.

Aranda, 39, has been a resident of Norwalk since 1989 and currently works as the Director of Marketing and Development at the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
”It is time to bring business back to Norwalk, by returning to our values that made our city strong,” Aranda told Los Cerritos Community Newspaper in an interview on Monday afternoon.
Aranda will face incumbent Mayor Cherie Kelly and Councilman Mike Mendez, in addition to Darryl Adams, the current President of the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School Board of Education and community activist Candy Martinez. Other candidates are expected to enter the fray.
“There is a huge void, and disconnect between the current Norwalk City Council and the community,” Aranda said. While he says he is “very amicable” with both Kelly and Mendez, he said “we can do better as a community. Norwalk needs to become more vibrant.”
Aranda also said that he is “personally frustrated” with the growing number of violent murders that have plagued Norwalk during the past ten months.
“The best and only way to stop a bullet from a gang member is a good paying job, and hope,” said Aranda.
He also points to the election earlier this month of his “life partner” and future wife Dr. Sandra Salazar to the Cerritos College Board of Trustees over incumbent Tina Cho as an “indicator” that “voters at all levels want change.”
Aranda and Salazar are also currently planning for their wedding. “These are exciting times. Voters deserve better, and I am encouraged by the wide base of support I have already received,” he said.
The election will be held on March 5, 2013.