Agustin Estrada
From: Faraz Aqil
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2025 7:33 AM
To: Downey City Clerk - Public Comment
Subject: Item #1 Public Hearing - Downey City Council Meeting (Jan. 28 2025) Hello Downey City Council.
My name is Faraz Aqil, and I'm a resident of Downey and I live in the Apollo Park neighborhood. I support the transition to a 5-district system (which I think is better than the 4-district + 1 mayor system). I know in the last meeting all 5 council members already agreed to transitioning to the 5-district system, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on why the 5- distrcit system is the better option:
1) 1 enjoy having the current 1-year rotation of a council member becoming a mayor (so each council member shares the responsibility of being a mayor instead of the responsibility being burdened on 1 person). I enjoy how currently being a mayor is more of a ceremonial role, so that all 5 council members have to continue working together to pass items for the benefit of all Downey residents. Plus if there's a mayor and only 4 council members, it makes items harder to pass (especially when a council member has to recuse themself on an item or be absent from the meeting). Or if a 5-district + 1 mayor system was adopted (as some in the public were proposing) the mayor would get veto powers, so a supermajority (4/5) will be needed to overturn the veto, which would make it harder for things to get done in the city. 2) 1 believe the 8-years term limit is a great balance and keeps Downey's system of government healthy. Allowing for a mayor seat that has its own term limit separate from the city council's term limit will allow for previous Mayors/Council Members to insert themselves back in charge of Downey City Hall and they will be in power for much longer than the balanced 8-years term limit. Having politicians in charge of city hall for too long will severely hurt Downey's creativity and ingenuity.
3) 1 do agree that if there was a Mayor, the role of the City Manager would be diminished. From what I've seen, Downey having a strong City Council -City Manager relationship has worked well for Downey.
Lastly, please make sure that when the demographer creates the new district map, the 5 new districts have geographical contingent boundaries, and have a fair representation of the city's demographic diversity. My personal recommendation to the demographer is that the 5th district be placed in the center of the city.
Thank you for your time
Sincerely,
Faraz Aqil