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“I’m looking for a place now,” Márquez. “It’s not been easy, but I will make that happen and I will be here in seven weeks living in Pasadena where I plan to live and work for the rest of my career for sure. If not the rest of my life.”
As part of his contract Márquez will receive nearly $40,000 to relocate and a $2,000 month housing allowance.
According to several real estate sites, the media price for a home in Pasadena is about $1.2. million.
Márquez will make $330,000 annually.
If Márquez does find a home in Pasadena, he will be the first in nearly 15 years to call Pasadena home since Cynthia Kurtz ran City Hall.
Kurtz successor Michael Beck, and former City Manager Steve Mermell who succeeded Beck, already lived in Southern California when they were hired. Neither moved to Pasadena.
A move to Pasadena was almost a foregone conclusion for Márquez, who currently resides in Northern California.
Márquez has already taken some time to check out the city and its diversity.
“I saw diversity in that Latino supermarket,” Márquez said. “I saw an African-American gentleman speaking Spanish and the Latinos who were there say, ‘Hey, he speaks Spanish.’ And it was just such a beautiful thing to witness.”
“And I said, this place is special. I think later, as we were talking, Vice Mayor Wilson mentioned that he had the role of trying to work with me to come here ultimately. And he said, diversity is our superpower. That really resonated with me because I think it really is. So, absolutely it knocked it out of the park.”
Márquez is scheduled to begin at City Hall in late August.
Prior to his current role in Santa Clara, Márquez served as an associate justice of the California Sixth District Court of Appeal, as the county counsel for the County of Santa Clara, as the general counsel of the San Francisco Unified School District, and as a deputy city attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office.
He began his public service career as a deputy county counsel in San Mateo County.
Márquez has also worked for two private law firms (Cooley Godward LLP and Remcho, Johansen & Purcell), and as a management consultant at KPMG Peat Marwick, where he was part of a national financial and organizational consulting practice.
A native of Sacramento, Márquez received his law degree from UC Berkeley Law School, his master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and his bachelor’s degree in public policy from Stanford University.
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