Gil Cedillo, a native of Boyle Heights, was elected Senator for California’s 22nd District in 2002, representing Los Angeles, Alhambra, Maywood, San Marino, Vernon, and South Pasadena, focusing on the issues immigrant and working class communities face. Prior to his election as a Senator, Cedillo represented downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, and Huntington Park in the Assembly. Read more about Cedillo below.
Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. A little bit of R&B, a little bit of jazz. Some Chet Baker, some bossanova.
Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A. A quarterback.
Q. What is your greatest extravagance?
A. It depends who you ask. Some people thing I live a very kind of Gandhian, modest life. I guess dessert is my big extravagance. There are others who think I live a glamorous lifestyle. I don’t agree with them.
Q. What is your favorite thing about Los Angeles?
A. The people, the smell, the geography. The physicality – that we built this city around hills and canyons and valleys. There’s a real energy here, and that’s part of many cities of the world, but ours is very unique. And obviously the food here is extraordinary.
Q. What is the last thing that inspired you?
A. I went downstairs during these budget cut talks because I heard there were some people in front of the governor’s office, all these recipients of [In-House Support Services], mostly women, mostly white, with a lot of challenges. They were there to express to the governor, and their government, things they thought were outrageous. It motivated me to continue our fight to protect them…. We were all moved to tears. I moved them to tears, they moved me to tears.
Q. What is your fondest childhood memory?
A. Sitting on not really a stoop, but some stairs, with my mom, waiting for my dad to get off the bus from his job… Those are my earliest memories and my fondest.
Q. What is the best advice you have ever received?
A. Follow your heart.
Q. What promise do you make to yourself that you break the most often?
A. To get up and run.
Q. Who is the one person living or dead that you’d most love to meet?
A. My wife.
To read more about Cedillo’s panel, on California’s Armageddon budget cuts, click here.
*Photo by Sarah Rivera.