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Hector Sosa Newsletter — July 13, 2026
📬 Councilmember Hector Sosa | District 2, Downey | July 13, 2026
Dear friends,
Fifty emergency calls in twenty-four hours, and not a single structure fire or fireworks injury anywhere in Downey. That is how our Fire Department's Fourth of July shift ended, and it is the kind of quiet statistic that deserves a loud thank you. The week ahead gives us plenty to gather around too: the Council meets tomorrow night, our school district just showed off what its young performers can do, and on Saturday, this community gets the chance to say a proper goodbye to Darrell Jackson. Here is your update.
🚨 Public Safety
🔹 How Downey's Fourth of July Went by the Numbers: Fire Chief Anthony Hildebrand reported that our firefighters logged 50 emergency responses over a single 24-hour holiday shift, from 6:30 AM on July 4 to 6:30 AM on July 5. Seven were fire-related: three vegetation fires involving grass and trees, and four rubbish fires in dumpsters and trash cans. Downey crews even rolled on mutual aid calls in Compton. Through all of it, the city recorded zero structure fires and zero fireworks-related injuries.
→ 📊 What those numbers tell you: A holiday built on open flames and airborne explosives is the hardest test a fire department faces all summer, and ours passed it with every Downey home still standing and every family intact. Results like that come from planning, training, and full staffing on a night most people spend relaxing. Keeping this city safe is the promise I weigh against every vote I cast, and shifts like this one show residents what that commitment buys.
→ 🙏 My thanks: To Chief Hildebrand and the crews who worked the holiday, and to every resident who chose the safe and sane route or skipped the backyard show altogether, you are the reason this report reads the way it does.
👉 Read the Fire Department's holiday report
🕊️ Saying Goodbye to Darrell Jackson This Saturday
🔹 Memorial Service Set for July 18 at Sussman Middle School: The service celebrating Darrell's life will be held this Saturday, July 18, from 10:00 AM to noon at Sussman Middle School, 12500 Birchdale Avenue. Parking is limited, so organizers are asking attendees to carpool. Before he became one of Downey's most devoted youth mentors and founded the 10-20 Club, Darrell pitched in the Major Leagues for the Minnesota Twins. He passed on July 5, at 70, after a battle with lung cancer.
→ 💙 A week later: I shared what Darrell meant to my family and me in last week's newsletter, and the loss has not gotten lighter. What has grown is my gratitude that so many of you reached out with your own stories about him. If Darrell coached you, mentored you, or pulled your kid back from a wrong turn, Saturday morning is the place to stand with his family and say so.
👉 Read the memorial service details
💰 Budget & Finance
🔹 The Council Meets Tomorrow, Our First Regular Session Under the New Budget: We convene tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14, at 6:30 PM in the Council Chambers at Downey City Hall, 11111 Brookshire Avenue. With the Fiscal Year 2026-27 spending plan now in force, this meeting begins the part of the budget cycle that matters most: turning an adopted document into delivered services, month by month and line by line.
→ 🎯 How I approach year one of a budget: Adopting a balanced plan is the starting line, not the finish. My job now is oversight, watching that every dollar performs the way we told you it would, and raising my hand early when something drifts. You are part of that oversight too. Review the agenda tonight, then attend in person, submit a written comment, or catch the livestream from your couch. Every route counts equally in the record.
👉 Review the agenda and city documents
💼 Economic Development
🔹 The New Kolar Family YMCA Draws a Congressional Visit: Construction on the new Kolar Family YMCA earned some high-profile attention this month, as Rep. Linda Sánchez toured the site with YMCA leadership, including capital campaign chair Steve Roberson, for a firsthand look at the progress. The facility rising on Downey Avenue will replace our former YMCA and expand what is possible here in youth programs, fitness, recreation, and community services.
→ ⚡ Why a site visit is bigger than a photo op: When a member of Congress walks a local construction project, it puts that project on the federal radar, where partnership and funding conversations actually happen. Community facilities of this scale get finished when local generosity and higher-level attention meet in the middle, and this month Downey saw both pointed at the same building. Momentum is a real currency, and this project keeps earning it. I intend to keep Downey's support squarely behind it until the doors open, and I hope you will be walking through them with your family when they do.
👉 Read about the congressional tour
🎓 Education & the Arts
🔹 DUSD's Summer Theatre Intensive Turns a Gym Into a Stage, and Students Into Stars: Downey Unified and the Downey Foundation for Educational Opportunities teamed up this summer on a Musical Theatre Summer Intensive that closed with free public performances of Frozen Jr. at Stauffer Middle School. District staff converted the school gym into a working theater seating more than 250, and teachers from across DUSD, in acting, vocals, and choreography, coached the young cast to opening night.
→ 🎯 Why this program has my full attention: Deepening the partnership between the City and Downey Unified is one of my core priorities, and this is what it looks like when that partnership stretches into summer. Daisy and I raised two boys through these schools, so I know a program like this does more than teach stage presence. It teaches kids to try something hard in front of a crowd, and that skill travels everywhere. Bravo to the students, and to the educators who built them a theater from scratch.
👉 Read about the summer intensive
📅 Coming Up
🔹 🏛️ City Council Meeting: Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 14, 6:30 PM, Council Chambers, Downey City Hall, 11111 Brookshire Avenue.
🔹 🎶 Concerts in the Park: Wednesday, July 15, 7:00 PM at Furman Park, 10419 Rives Avenue. The weekly summer series rolls on, and a blanket on that lawn is still the best seat in the city.
👉 View upcoming Parks and Recreation events
🔹 🕊️ Memorial Service for Darrell Jackson: Saturday, July 18, 10:00 AM to noon, Sussman Middle School, 12500 Birchdale Avenue. Please carpool if you can.
🔹 👮 National Night Out: Tuesday, August 4, 5:30 to 8:30 PM at the Downey Civic Center. Free food, entertainment, and a chance to meet the officers who serve your neighborhood, three weeks from tomorrow.
🔹 🎒 Backpack Giveaway at Golden Park: Saturday, August 8, noon to 2:00 PM, hosted by Gangs Out of Downey. Free backpacks and school supplies to get Downey students ready for the fall.
👉 Learn more about Gangs Out of Downey
📱 Stay Connected
Got a pothole to report, graffiti to flag, or a service request to submit? The Downey Connect App is the fastest, most direct path to getting things done. Available for both Apple and Android.
👉 Download the Downey Connect App
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Mid-July in Downey looks like this: firefighters running fifty calls so the rest of us could watch the sky, middle schoolers taking a bow in a gym turned theater, a congresswoman in a hard hat on Downey Avenue, and a Council chamber ready for tomorrow's work. A city is never one story. It is all of them at once, carried by people who care enough to do their part well. Whatever your part is this week, from a public comment to a lawn chair at Furman Park to a seat at Sussman on Saturday, I am glad we are in it together.
Questions, concerns, or ideas? Hit reply. I read every message.
