Rick Cole Kicks Off Campaign for Pasadena District 2 Council Seat

Rick Cole, former Pasadena Mayor and Councilmember and a current Planning Commissioner, launched his campaign for the Pasadena District 2 Council seat on Saturday morning in MacDonald Park. Cole, who is also the Chief Deputy Controller of the City of Los Angeles, was joined by nearly 100 enthusiastic supporters.

Cole is aiming to fill the seat held by Vice-Mayor Felicia Williams, who is vacating it to run for the State Assembly in next year’s March election.

Following his tenure in Pasadena, Cole served six years as City Manager of Azusa, nine years as city manager of Ventura and most recently five years as city manager of Santa Monica. He resigned that position in the midst of the pandemic, as city officials faced a projected $72 million shortfall  through the 2020 fiscal year, and an additional $154-million shortfall for the following year.

“I left Santa Monica because we were going through a wrenching economic crisis,” Cole said before his campaign speech Saturday,  “and I felt like whoever came in, would have to make some very harsh choices, and the City Council and I didn’t necessarily see eye to eye on how that ought to unfold.”

Cole was supported at the event by District 5 Councilmember Jess Rivas and former Mayor Bill Paparian. 

Paparian recalled how in the late 80s, as Mayor and Councilmember, he and Cole barred low, close-formation helicopter flights, effectively excluding Pasadena from the aerial spraying of Malathion to battle the Mediterranean Fruit Fly and defying then-Governor George Deukmejian. 

Rivas also told supporters how in 2020, the Pasadena City Council could not muster the votes to approve “hero pay” for a number of workers, including supermarket workers, during the pandemic.

“If Rick Cole had been on the Council then,” she said, “that would have passed in Pasadena.”

Cole was introduced by his daughter Lucia, who recalled how Cole would read to her and her twin sister Antonia every night from classics like Pride and Prejudice and To Kill a Mockingbird.

“We would always ask for one more page,” Lucia recalled, “and when he said it was late, he would hum or sing to us.”

Cole told supporters said, “We need to be planning for 2050, not 1950. The city is growing and it needs to grow. We need to have the same high standards for new construction as we’ve had for the great landmarks of the past.”

“We should stop putting up shoddy construction that will not hold its value and will create problems down the road,” he added. “We need to build the infrastructure, the parks, the libraries, the water, and the energy so that this can continue to be an inclusive community.” 

Cole continued, “Right now, we face a crisis today and tonight that we need to mobilize the entire community to solve. And that is the issue of homelessness.

 “Tonight, 300 of our fellow Pasadenans will sleep out on the streets,” he said. “That’s not okay. That is unacceptable. 

“We are better off than in Los Angeles where they have encampments and tens of thousands of people,” he said, “but that’s not a reason to be complacent. That’s not a reason to pat ourselves on the back when 300 people are sleeping outdoors tonight, because every night that they sleep outdoors is a drain on their health, their mental health, and our community when it comes to planning.”

During his long municipal career, Cole was honored as one of Governing Magazine’s “Public Officials of the Year” and has been recognized for his achievements by the American Society for Public Administration, the Municipal Management Association of Southern California and Government Technology Magazine.

Following his speech, Cole was handed a cupcake by daughter Lucia, as supporters sang “Happy Birthday,” to celebrate his 70th birthday last week.

Cole smiled and in response, sang a verse of Johnny Mercer’s “Young at Heart” to the gathered crowd.

The municipal election will be held in March of 2024.