Deja vu: Gomez running for council

Josh Kleinbaum

Traffic brought Glynda Gomez into city government a decade ago, when

she fought to have a stop sign placed on Adams Street. Now,

neighborhood issues such as traffic are keeping Gomez involved.

Yet another prosecutor named Gomez with a law degree from Stanford

is running for Glendale’s City Council. Seem like deja vu? Maybe it

should. Gus Gomez, Glynda’s husband, served on the council from 1999

until January, when he resigned to become a Superior Court judge.

Glynda Gomez is trying to follow in her husband’s footsteps. She’s

running for City Council in the April 5 municipal election, with the

possibility of serving the remaining two years on her husband’s term.

Like Gus Gomez did in the past, she’s running on a quality-of-life

platform, promising to address neighborhood issues like park space

and potholes.

The top three vote-getters in this election will serve four-year

terms, and the fourth-place finisher will finish Gus Gomez’s term.

“There are a lot of things we were working on that we want to

follow through on,” Glynda Gomez said. “We want to make sure that

there’s someone there who would look after issues of open space,

traffic and basic quality-of-life issues.”

Glynda Gomez didn’t even think about running until November, when

her husband won his judicial election, she said. But it became an

easy decision. She looked at Amanda, her 4-year-old daughter, and

knew she wanted to have a say in the city in which Amanda grows up.

“She’s intelligent, she’s extremely dedicated to her family and

her community,” said Gus Gomez, who is not allowed to endorse his

wife because of his judicial post. “When she makes up her mind about

how she feels about an issue, she will very strongly push for that

agenda. As a neighborhood leader in Adams Hill, she was extremely

tenacious and outspoken about making concerns of Adams Hill known,

not only to Homeowners Coordinating Council, but to the community at

large.”

Issues like park space have always been important to Glynda Gomez.

She grew up in Conley, Ga., a small town outside of Atlanta, where

open space wasn’t an issue. Her family had an acre of land for her to

run around on, and they had a pony in the stable down the road.

The culture shock came at 10, when her parents divorced and she

moved to Pomona with her father. A jungle of concrete replaced the

acre of green space.

“I wasn’t used to all the concrete,” Glynda Gomez said. “I like to

think it’s character-building when you have to make a major

adjustment.”

She believes the city needs to continue pushing for park space in

southern Glendale, which was always a priority for Gus Gomez.

Glynda Gomez met her husband at Stanford Law School, when they

were partnered up for moot court, and they’ve been partners ever

since.

They worked together at the attorney general’s office, and she ran

his two City Council campaigns.

But their personalities are very different.

“Gus is much quieter than I am,” Glynda Gomez said. “His emotions,

he plays closer to the vest. That’s a product of him and his

experiences. You’ll find me walking up to people, talking to them and

patting them on the back.”

She’s already looking to avoid one of the major criticisms of her

husband. As a deputy attorney general, Gus Gomez had the most

demanding full-time job of the council members, and he often missed

daytime meetings and study sessions. In February, Glynda Gomez quit

her job as deputy attorney general.

“I had to make sure to preserve some balance for my family,” she

said.

Some friends believe that Glynda became distracted after Amanda

was born, but quitting her job will allow her to be an effective

councilwoman.

“The driving force behind Gus was Glynda,” said John Cianfrini,

president of the Adams Square Merchants Assn. “The reason that I

supported him so ferociously was because of Glynda. If Glynda now has

had her baby and got her domestic issues straightened out, if she can

be that same fireball, I’m with her 1,000%.”