Andre Quintero, SEIU 721 Member and Mayor of El Monte

Government and politicians create expectations in the electorate and we need to meet those expectations and if we can’t we owe it to the people to explain why so we can build back trust in government.
People are disillusioned about our state government and our federal government. They’re feeling beaten down and they want to know we have good, hopeful leadership that will be honest and transparent so they can have confidence in government again.
I am trying to be different.
In El Monte we are making the city sustainable and that means a long-term economic plan that includes creating a reason for folks to stay in our community. We need to look at the future, not fight the battles of the last 30 years, but look forward to the next 20 years.
So many residents are frustrated that they have to go outside the city to shop.  There are very important service s that our residents have grown accustomed to having, but in order to continue providing them we have to have a budget that is sustainable. We have to look at budget critically and look at our city’s investments, we have to attract businesses.
We also have a brain drain. We want to bring transformative change to El Monte that encourages people to stay here. One initiative I am supporting is guaranteed college for the first two years including text books for kindergartners starting the next academic year.  It’s a very ambitious plan and I get that, but we have to be thinking like this in order to prepare for the future.
This is the kind of commitment I want El Monte to make to the residents of our community. We want to distinguish ourselves a city that cares about education. This will help bring about positive change for an entire generation. It will also help us encourage those students to come back to El Monte to raise their families here.
We put a man on the moon we can make sure our kids are educated and our communities are strong.