ABC News spent some time getting to know Montebello’s new mayor, Vivian Romero, and we encourage you to watch the video. Her love of community is palpable.
Romero is the city’s first Latina and openly LGBT mayor and she has a fascinating background in music of all things. In addition to managing musicians, she once wrote scores for the hit TV show “The Shield.”
For most of her life, Romero said she never had a political bone in her body. But after a rash of burglaries in her hometown, she began organizing members of her community to ‘take back’ its neighborhood. Soon after, she spearheaded an effort to revitalize the city’s aging veterans’ memorial which launched her career in public service.
"I said, 'No, we've got to clean it up.' So I got a huge grant and I would say several hundred volunteers - the Kiwanis, the Lions Club, the vets, disabled vets came (to help).”
Romero is proud to have broken down barriers as an openly gay public official, but it wasn’t central to her campaign. At the end of the day, the mayor said, it’s the work you do on behalf of the community that truly matters.
"People accept you as long as you're making the right decisions and doing what's best for the community because that's who I work for. They elected me to make those decisions.”