Pasadena Mayor & City Council Swearing In Ceremony: Dec. 7, 2020

Good afternoon everyone. Can everybody hear me I guess? Thumbs up or honk if you can hear. I'd like to. First off, welcome everyone here today particularly the council members who are going to be sworn in and their families. The city clerk informs me the first step is to administer the oath of office to council members. And so I'll ask the city clerk mark chomsky to do that. At this moment, raise your right hand. >> repeat after me. I state your name. Hi, william. Do solemnly affirm affirm that I will support and defend defend the constitution of the united states that God did not every day and the constitution of the state of california and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies, against all enemies, foreign and domestic for anything that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith allegiance to the constitution of the united states to the constitution the united states and the constitution of the state of california and the constitution of the state of california that I take this obligation freely but I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully that I will be able to discharge the duties of the members of the city council members of the city council upon which I'm about to enter when you come to enter. Congratulations. At this time we would call forward newly sworn in council member williams to make a few remarks. >> it is an amazing feeling after so many years of planning to finally fulfill my goals and take my seat on the city council. Thanks to the voters who have put their trust in me to my family and friends and supporters some of whom you hear honking here but I can't do this. >> but I can't do this alone. So I look forward to working with a great team of council members to create the policy of the people and talented staff to implement that policy. My number one priority right now is to safely reopen the city with practical rules that apply to everyone whether you are a small business or a big business, a house of worship, a school or a fitness studio. We should have the same rules so everyone's on an equal playing field during this time of uncertainty the very least the government can do is provide some certainty to our businesses so that they can plan get people back to work and this will also help us stabilize our city budget so we can continue to provide much needed services to our residents. Looking beyond cove. My priorities are number one to enhance our social services and our job opportunities so that everyone has an equal chance of having a great quality of life in our city. Number two addressing our housing needs based on what is specific to pasadena. Based on our particular needs and lastly returning pasadena to a leadership role in environmental stewardship. Above all I am committed to respecting different points of view and bringing consensus to the city. The only way that we can address these very big problems is together as a community and as a region. So I hope to see you there at the table with me. Thank you so much to everybody who has supported me for so long. Happy holidays and everybody everybody please be safe. >> and now we call forward newly sworn in council member hampton vise mayor hampton council members. >> fine. I'm only vise mayor for a limited period of time. Hello everybody. It is so amazing to be here with each and every one of you. I know today looks like a gloomy day and this year's look like a gloomy year. But I will say that we have a very bright future in front of us as council member wills. Williams just mentioned we will make sure that our business is open responsibly and safely for all the residents of the city of pasadena. I have to thank all those who played a big role in me being here again today. Being elected to the city and thank you to each one of you honking in your cars for participate aiding in our election process to make sure that our city council has the tools that they need which is you you are the biggest tool that they needed you the people but also supporting us. So with that being said, I want to thank my wife, my wife, my daughter tara. They're over here on the side. They're waving. They're trying to keep their distance. They said they're gonna do 50 feet but as I was driving yesterday, the support from your wife and your family as much important as I was driving yesterday I was talking to my wife about something. She's a time round. You've mentioned that to me 20 times. And so it's so important that you have supportive spouses, supportive family members who are here to listen to you and also reiterate those things that you said you were going to do. I also have to thank my field liaison also. My feeling is on cue. Sean bell is here with our son. Thank you so much for all the work that you've put in for the past five years. My promise to the district is in the promise that I stand so dear to myself is every day I can be better. And as always, I have people that continuously push me and support been doing that. Our district will be the best district watch our city will be the best city. Not just district. Our city will be the best city that we possibly can live in for all. I also want to thank my parents. One thing that we have seen in the times that we're in right now is a lot of division, a lot of divisiveness. But one thing my parents told me at a young age they said that hate can be taught but so so can love. And I have to say that I sent victor a text actually a couple of days after he got elected. And I am going to read a part of that text that I sent him in that text said to mayor victor if you serve with care, compassion and concern not. And don't forget love for each and every person regardless if you believe in what they have to say. You listen. You're going to be a great mayor. I promise to each and every one of you regardless if you live in my district or not, I'm always here and willing and able to listen. I have to thank you know, campaigns are hard and always always something that you know, you have to bring a lot of people in with my parents over here on the side. Now I see my dad, my mom, my niece is my campaign consultant. Martin, thank you so much for the support over all these years in taking a chance in a in a young green guy. I'm still green. I tell you that. And also I just want to reiterate, you know, the support that my wife has given me has been just amazing. And so I want to start with her and with her again because I love you, baby. And with that being said, pasadena. We are there will be a brighter future come into each and every one of us. God bless each and every one of you. And remember, hate is taught but love conquers all. I love each and every one of you. God bless. >> and now I would like to call the honorable william a crow foot judge superior court of california for the county of los angeles. A former vise mayor and pasadena city council member himself representing district 5 to come forward and to administer the oath of office to the new mayor of pasadena. Victor m. Go or gordo? >> victor m. Gordo do solemnly affirm that I will support and defend the constitution of the united state, the constitution of the state of california, the constitution of united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic. Against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution and to the constitution of the united states constitution of the state and the constitution of the state of california. Then I take this obligation really that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation without any mental reservation or purpose or purpose of evasion and that I will well faithfully. And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties discharge the duties of mayor of mayor of pasadena upon which I am about to upon which I am about to enter gradualism. Thank you as let me first and foremost thank all of you for being here today whether it's virtually or here socially distanced you see I'm with my family pod combination of kelly and my kids will introduce later and my father and stepmother of failure. >> but let me begin by thanking the honorable judge crawford for his friendship, for his support and mentorship over so many years. In fact over decades. A better friend. One simply cannot find. Thank you, your honor. Thank you to my brothers and sisters and nieces nephews to my father and mother in law. Suzanne and Dr. John van are here with us in their car and all of the cousins and aunts who have supported me and my family. Thank you also to the voters of pasadena for having the trust and confidence in me and of course thank you to the hundreds of volunteers and contributors who supported my campaign. Unfortunately that's a very long list and we'd be here all day. But I want to thank each of them. Individually and all of them collectively. I want to give special recognition to a few people who co chaired my campaign. And let's start with Dr. Vere bigness, a former superintendent, lifelong educator whom I've learned quite a bit from and who was a real pillar of my campaign. Our campaign doug crane winkle who is a statesman, a a top notch lawyer but most of all a good friend, great adviser and comes with a tremendous sense of humor. Next hour, mayor of pasadena bill bogart. >> you know, let me just tell share with you a story about mira bogart. About 10 years ago in 2010 the rumor was that he May not be running for office again. Some guy named martin sent an e-mail pic of martin any martin and said do you want to be mayor of pasadena? And my response was we have a mayor of pasadena. Thank you very much. But I was a little honored and humbled by someone even asking the question and I too had heard the rumors that Mr. Bogart May not run for reelection. So that night I went home and was putting michael by now very tall 50 year old who at the time was 5. Putting him to bed and he'd rolled over and I said annie hall, what do you think of dad running for mayor of pasadena? And he rolled over, looked at me and said dad, you'll never beat mayor bogart. >> that was a short lived campaign that ended appropriately at that moment. But I can't say enough about mayor bogart in his service dedication to our city, to his friendship, his mentorship, his encouragement to this day I seek his counsel on if not every many issues and he always gives me great guidance and advice and I appreciate Mr. Bogart's willingness to support my campaign and together with doug and viera guide the campaign. So thank you. Thank you. Mayor bogart. Thank you, doug. Thank you, Dr. Vagueness. I'd also like to thank and recognize my field representative sonya coover who many of you know what what what some of you May not know that vanya and I actually attended elementary school together at madison elementary and then wilson junior high. >> she then went off to the wrong high school blair high school. But I went to pasadena high school and we remain friends and we've worked together to try and benefit the people of district 5 and beyond. So thank you vanya for your great service and friendship. During the mayoral campaign I was reminded time and again of mayor toward its capabilities in serving our city and meritorious energy and commitment. And I want to thank him and council member margaret lee kostin for their service to our city over some so much time. 20 years ago I came to city hall as the council member from district 5 and I asked for the residents of district 5 to support me to help me get things done. Today pasadena. I come to city hall as mayor of pasadena and requests the support of the people of our great city. I was elected to stand up for pasadena and bring our community together. I'm humbled by the trust and confidence that you the voters have placed in me. Thank you. Everyone who participated in the election. You know I've said often that pasadena is in fact the center of the universe. Pasadena is in fact the center of the universe and you should get used to hearing that. And if you haven't said say it out loud because our city is the center of the universe. How many cities our size can you go to and visit and if you want to explore or learn about the universe you go to caltech . >> if you want to explore the universe you go to jpl. We don't have a football game. We have the granddaddy of them all. We don't have a stadium. We've got america's stadium, the rose bowl if you want a parade. We've got the parade if you want to be a part of the small group of people designs. More than 50 percent of the cars in the world go visit art center college of design the banks of the arroyo. If you want to know where the first picture of the expanding universe was taken just up the street at lake in santa barbara at the carnegie observatories is where it was viewed. It was taken at mount wilson. We've got tremendous and beautiful neighborhoods that everyone across the country loves and would like to be a part of and of course a terrific civic center. What a beautiful civic center. A civic center that together with my newly elected council colleague felicia williams and vise mayor tyrone hampton and our colleagues are going to look to protect and enhance. You know, I feel so fortunate to have landed here in the center of the universe my parents. Some of you know, brought me to pasadena when I was almost five years old. We worked hard to make things and ends meet. I played little league in our parks. I attended our public schools as a monolingual spanish speaking student and we lived in a garage starting at age 9. I delivered the passing of star news and then worked my way in pasadena restaurants eventually working my way through law school. My vision for pasadena I think and I believe it to be a shared vision among the city council that all our residents deserve the best city possible. Every child should have the opportunity to be a successful and contributing member of our community and in my view this means safe and thriving neighborhoods clean and safe streets, strong schools, good housing parks and parks that welcome families together with my council colleagues. I know that we can work to achieve this vision. We should take a moment and have a moment of silence for all of those who have worked so hard to protect us from cove it but also those who have lost their life to kobe. We should also take a moment to recognize that today's December 7th pearl harbor day. This has been a difficult year as pearl harbor day was a difficult time for the entire country. 2020 has been a very difficult year for the entire world. And so I'm going to ask everyone to wherever you are value your head and reflect and honor those victims of covered and reflect on December 7th pearl harbor day and now as we gather ourselves and return to this moment, let our first thoughts be of gratitude to all those of our neighbors, friends who have labored third during the pandemic not just first responders, medical personnel, teachers, grocery store workers, restaurant workers, civil servants, all the many who can proudly say that they did report to duty during the pandemic. >> I'll say that we were reminded of many things that are great about pasadena, a dedicated city staff here at city hall, the water and power department, our health department, our fire department, every single department in the city of pasadena has served to swell and I'll say that we are fortunate the pasadena enjoys first rate city services and it's our job as members of the city council to ensure that that continues. I'm going to pause for a moment and ask my wife kelly to stand and be recognized. >> kelly, as you all know, has been very supportive together with my son michael who I'm going to ask to stand. He stands a little bit taller. Michael is 50 and then my daughter emma who is 13 and of course my father who together with my late mother rita brought me to pasadena at age 5 and his bride my stepmother ophelia failure who is also with us here today. >> I want to say something about my my parents, my father and mother because you have to remember that they left everything behind when they came to this country including me by the way, I was I was 2 years old when they initially left and then they sent for me when I was 4 but they left everything behind not for their own benefit. >> they left everything behind everything they knew their schools, their friends, their family, their homes for the benefit of my siblings and me. And that's a story that I plan to often retell and should be retold because that's the ultimate sacrifice. Imagine in your mind leaving everything that you know and you know that you are going to start at the bottom of the socio economic rung maybe living in the garages we did. My parents were in the pursuit of the american dream and they achieved and so I'd like to give my father a special thank applause from all of us. >> as we think about coded and the challenges before us, think about the very real health consequences that we all face and I commit to you that together with the city staff and my colleagues on the city council we are going to do everything that we can to keep the people of this city safe is we as we think about as we think about the economic impacts of coal to businesses, to many to seniors who are unemployed or underemployed. I commit to you that together with the dci and my colleagues on the city council and vise mayor carolyn hampton, all members of the city council we will do everything that we can to support our businesses. Let's not forget the very real impacts of it that the mental health impacts that we're seeing in children and families . The complexities and obstacles of turning our children into essentially remote knowledge workers has not been a happy experience for many and it's been a very difficult experience for kids and families alike. And there is evidence that kids are falling behind. And so we have to redouble our efforts as a city, as a region and as a country to help those children, to help them with the mental health aspects, to help them with their learning. We have to be prepared to become an early learning city helping kids even be prepared to enter school when they're between the ages of 0 to 5. So I'm taking a pledge I'm going to ask my colleagues to take a pledge to help in that regard to look at our libraries ,our recreation centers to ensure they're staffed to help kids catch up not just with education but with sports. Imagine all of the kids who like my kids have been denied the opportunities participate in those sports and the vise mayors young potter and so we have a responsibility as a city and you can you can bet that we'll be working hard to do that. Like it or not, ladies and gentlemen, we are the pandemic generation. We all of our neighbors, all of our friends and all of our children are scarred but we're also bonded we're bonded together by this difficult struggle and unfortunately it May yet get darker and more difficult. Some experts are predicting that. But here's something we all know and here's something we should all keep in mind spring will come. The days will get longer. The sun will shine brighter and warmer than it has before in our lives will be renewed in our spirits will once again soar and they'll sort together . So I'm asking all of us to take that view as we wind together and work together to get there and we will get there as I mentioned earlier. Today's pearl harbor day and I mentioned pearl harbor day because that too was a very difficult time. >> the loss of life expenditure such a dark time in our country's history but our country like pasadena came through that one of the greatest civil rights violations occurred during pearl harbor when when japanese americans were interned. And so today let me remind you that the city of pasadena has elected its most diverse city council and so we did come out stronger after pearl harbor. Just like we will come out stronger from cove. Not only did we you elect the most diverse city council pasadena but as council member masuda for example, takes his seat. Remember that it was his parents who were interned not too far from here during that time. And this great city that elect the son of japanese americans who were interned and I believe that's a very important thing to keep in mind today as we think about how we come through stronger from kovac as we did after pearl harbor. I'd like to recognize my new counsel colleagues and this is perhaps the best time to do that. I want to start by congratulating felicia williams and it is felicia williams. I want to congratulate and welcome felicia to the city council felice. Felicia is brimming with energy bristling with ideas. She shares them with me all the time as she should. And I'm convinced will push us along new paths and new initiatives. Welcome, lisa. And let me be the first to say welcome. Council member williams, you worked very hard to earn it and you should be very proud. As your family should be vise mayor tyrone hampton pasadena is vise mayor. He begins a new term as a council member having demonstrated a tremendous depth of insight and breadth of wisdom. We're fortunate that he continues to be a powerful agent for change and progress and I look forward to continuing to serve with you Mr. Vise mayor steve madison who is joining us virtually at the moment. You know and I have served together now for more than two decades. He returns to the council with a tremendous well very deep well of experience, a high capacity institutional memory more than anything will benefit from will benefit from his calm demeanor, quick wit and sound judgment. Steve, I look forward to continuing our work together council member masuda who I just spoke about. >> council member masuda and I have worked on many issues in east pasadena. And I can tell you that he is a council member who brings experience, brings compassion and is always dedicated to the best interest of the people of his district and the people of pasadena. I look forward to working with council member suda and council members kennedy and wilson. They weren't up for reelection this year but we'll certainly benefit from their their experience and the continuity that they bring to the council. So let me just say as I stand here today and I hope the only mayor of pasadena to ever ever preside over a drive in swearing in let me say this I look forward to working with all of you leading us to stronger, smarter and more united pasadena that is going to emerge after this pandemic. As mayor I'm conscious of the fact that I'm one person that I'm one vote on the city council. And so I look to my council colleagues to work with me and I consider it a privilege to be able to collaborate with them. I commit to listening to ensure a tone that is fitting of our city and to ensure that city hall is responsive to all residents of this great city. It's an honor to be here today. Our great city, the center of the universe has a very distinguished history created by residents, men and women much like the people who are here and who are tuning in and it's our job to nourish that this great city that we've inherited. But we now face challenging times. Now's the time for hard work. Now it's time to stand up for seniors, for young people to manage development, to build affordable housing, to house the homeless, to support public safety, to do all the things that we know need to be done. I am confident pasadena about our future and I hope you pasadena are confident about our future. As I'm thinking about the people of pasadena and pasadena resources, it makes me feel even more confident confident because I know that our capacity for success far exceeds the challenges that we face even today. Let's move this city forward with a rising tide of hope for those who do not share today's prosperity. I will tell you that it's with humility and determination that I commit to every resident capacity and that I ask and the support of this great community as we go forward from today pasadena. Let's all stand for pasadena. Let's all stand up for the great residents of this city. Thank you so much for the honor of serving as your mayor and I will do everything that I possibly can to earn that trust over the next four years. I ask for your help. I ask for your support. Thank you very much and God bless all of you next. >> thank you all very much. Next I am told by the city clerk that the council is going to recess this portion, the swearing in and return some some of us will return inside to cope to complete the reorganization meeting and vote in a new vise. Mayor as well as swearing council members masuda and madison virtually. So with that thank you all very much. You're all very special people not just to me, to our city, to my colleagues and we look forward to serving all of you. Thank you.