Artesia Mayor Speaker at Democratic Club

Welcoming guests to the Oct. 18 Hubert Humphrey Democratic Club Meeting at Coco’s Cerritos were (l-r) La Palma Mayor Pro-Tem Ralph Rodriguez, HHDC President Gary Chomiak and Artesia Mayor Tony Lima.

By Larry Caballero

When Artesia Mayor Tony Lima was asked to be the keynote speaker for the Hubert Humphrey Democratic Club’s Oct. meeting, he decided to share with the members what he does as a city official.
“No one ever told me what my job requires me to do,” said Lima. He soon learned it included attending many functions of his city and of neighboring cities as well.
He has given numerous speeches at various ceremonies and events involving a multitude of ethnic groups and has learned a few introductory words in the process.
Lima said the worst time to be Mayor of any city is during rough economic times when there need to be budget cuts that require laying off workers and cutting back on salaries.
“Recently, I had my resignation ready to turn in so I could move to a nearby city with higher salaries for city councilmembers, but once the councilmembers were arrested, I decided against it,” Lima said jokingly.
Artesia is home to more than 17,000 people who speak 48 languages and live in the “Heart of Cerritos” on only 1.6 square miles of property.
Lima is never totally prepared for what may happen at any public event. He has been surprised when asked to speak in front of large audiences when he thought he was there to only be a guest. “Mark Twain once said that it took him about two weeks to make a good impromptu speech, so you can imagine how I made mine in 30 seconds.”
Once he presented an award to a foreign spiritual leader only to be awakened the next day with countless phone calls and emails from angry people all over the country.
Apparently the foreign dignitary had been accused on the Internet of being an insurgent and terrorist and charged with demolishing a mosque. “After that experience, I have instructed my staff to do a careful Internet search on anyone who is to receive any awards from the city.”
Lima has tried to run the city like a business in order to make Artesia more efficient, but he is not in favor of cutting important public services such as law enforcement, parks and recreation, and street maintenance.
“We are in the process of renovating downtown Artesia, to build a parking structure to service businesses and to purchase land to accommodate the housing requirements set by the state of California.”
Since there is no vacant land left in the city, Lima said the only alternative is to go up. “We also need to make better use of existing buildings to incorporate commercial, office professionals and residential components.”
During the past three years, Lima has worked diligently to bring back the Artesia Chamber of Commerce that had been out of business for nearly five years. A new Chamber is now up and running and in its beginning stages with lots of enthusiasm.
Congresswoman Linda Sanchez has agreed to be its keynote speaker at its Oct. 28 monthly luncheon to discuss the state of the nation’s economy and how the Congress is trying to support small businesses.
The location is the Great Seafood Harbor Restaurant at 18329 Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia from noon to 1:30. The luncheon is open to the public and everyone is invited to attend. To RSVP call 562-882-7734 or artesiacommerce@gmail.com.