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Los Cerritos Community News endorses candidates Jennifer Hong, Anna Titus, and Rocky Pavone, while also urging residents to vote yes on Measure C.
This newspaper does not take these choices lightly, but believes these are the best candidates to guide the city into the future and the best way to stop Los Angeles County from taking crucial tax revenue from the City.
Ms. Hong is one of the most experienced candidates this newspaper has seen in two decades.
She is endorsed by State Senator Bob Archuleta, Local 619 AFSCME, Mayor pro tem Frank Yokoyama, and City Council members Grace Hu and Mark Pulido. An experienced businesswoman, she has successfully run her multi-million dollar business for decades. And she knows the inner workings of the City, holding the position of planning commissioner since 2017, including as Vice Chair and Chair.
Ms. Titus, a 48-year resident and current Fine Arts and Historical Commissioner appointed by current Cerritos Mayor Solanki, has always been a “community active” person. She knows Cerritos, and knows practically everyone in the area. Her knowledge of the City and the area would be invaluable. Like any organization, the City Council needs a person experienced in public relations and governance, Titus would fill the position perfectly.
This newspaper chose Rocky Pavone because he is a seasoned business executive with extensive business experience in finance, which is always on the top of the list of controls for Cerritos residents.
Pavone teaches financial literacy workshops, educating and consulting individuals, families, businesses, and organizations in all aspects of finance.
Unlike Edwards and Vo, who have never signed the front of a check as a business owner, he knows how to run a business and will bring “outside of the box” thinking to the City Council.
Pavone would round out an impressive team of elected officials complementing the legal background of Mayor pro tem Frank Yokoyama, and the extensive successful business background of Councilwoman Grace Hu.
The choice for Measure C is simple, Los Angeles County will eventually take the increment that is available, leaving Cerritos with no available increase, losing out on $11 million, much of which is generated from people who live outside of Cerritos.
Why lose out on that money for 75 cents per $100 dollars spent?
Both current Mayor Solanki and perennial candidate and conservative in name only Chuong Vo are against Measure C.
How could someone be against a measure that would bring so much money to the city if you were truly concerned about the city?
Give Solanki credit, he has always been against any kind of tax increase, but Vo’s stance shows his utter duplicity.
Measure C will bring in over $11 million to the city which will go towards, among other things, more cops on the street.
A good question for Vo: would he be against a Torrance sales tax increase if it added more police to his workforce in Torrance? The answer is no, which indicates he is against Measure C only to pander to Cerritos’ neo-conservative voters.
The money would also go towards infrastructure improvements, and program & support services, with many Senior programs and support for the Senior Center receiving funds.
Is Vo against helping Cerritos’ seniors? The answer is yes if he is against Measure C.
Then there’s the revelation by this newspaper that Vo took $7,500 from the Southern California Motor Car Dealers Association, which the majority of members are dealers in the Cerritos Auto Square.
The amount is nearly 30% of his campaign total. That is a lot of money for a City Council race, and raised many eyebrows among former elected officials that HMG-LCCN contacted.
Did Vo meet with them, did he promise anything for the money, did they talk about Measure C?
Those are questions sent to both Vo and the spokesperson for SCMDA, as of time of publication, both have not responded.
The choice is clear, go with the old-guard endorsed candidates who want to keep cutting services, who vote no against using the City library for education of others, and who will take a anti-city stance to pander for votes and garner thousands of dollars in campaign donations, or bring new blood into the City Council, those who are more open-minded and more inclusive of residents, who advocate for safety, infrastructure, program improvements, and Senior services… while keeping an eye on the city’s finances.
Whatever your choice is, please exercise your right as an American and vote March 3.
