Pasadena’s newly selected Vice Mayor Andy Wilson says he’s ready to leave 2020 in the rearview mirror and focus on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as divisive politics, in 2021.
Wilson was unanimously appointed by his City Council colleagues to fill the position last month, taking over for Councilman Tyron Hampton.
“I don’t know about you, but we burned our 2020 calendar in hopes of putting that behind us,” he said. “I have to confess the first seven days of 2021 have not been a lot better… My view is: It’s always darkest before the dawn.”
While by the ongoing distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, much work lies ahead, Wilson said.
“We’ve got to survive before we can recover,” he said. “We’re, hopefully, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with respect to getting through this. But I think the recovery is going to be a long, concerted effort to help businesses and residents get their feet back on the ground.”
“So I think you’re going to see a lot of our work trying to support people who have been disproportionately impacted, whether that be food security, [or] ongoing focus in terms of tenant protections and evictions,” Wilson added. “I’m hopeful that we can start that transition sooner rather than later.”
The pandemic has strained the city’s budget, which will also require attention, he said.
“I give Mayor Tornek kudos for making sure that we were putting dollars away for a rainy fund,” Wilson said. “It’s been more of a hurricane than a rainy fund.”
While revenues are sharply down, “we also need to provide more services than ever, so that really squeezes our budget,” he said. “I’m hopeful that we have sufficient resources… but the financial strain on the system is quite significant.”
From a social justice perspective, “The world had a wake-up call with the, the killing of George Floyd and then our own local tragedy of Anthony McClain,” Wilson said. “And I think there’s still a great deal of work to be done in the area of social justice and police reform.”
Wilson said he was optimistic that the new year will also bring an increase in cooperative spirit.
“I’m really hopeful that we’re gonna see a new leaf and a new attitude,” he said. “I think the city of Pasadena has generally been trying to stay above the fray with respect to acrimony and civility. I like to think we’ve maintained our civil engagement, but I think that the country has suffered a loss of civility and forgot what holds us together and really focused on what makes us different, not to bring that as an advantage, but as a way to separate people. So I’m hopeful that, um, you know, under in 2021, um, that we will continue to embrace it kind of a collaborative mindset.”
“The challenge for 2021 is to figure out how to turn this into an opportunity to rebuild and make the world and our community better than it was before,” Wilson said. “And that can only happen if we’re all pulling together.”
Wilson, who serves as Executive Director for The Alliance for Southern California Innovation, was first appointed to the City Council to fill a vacant seat in 2015, then elected as councilmember for District 7 in 2017.