Gloria Molina

Infobox_Politician
name = Gloria Molina

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imagesize = 250 px
caption = Gloria Molina, 1997
birth_date =
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
residence = Los Angeles
office = Member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
from District 1
term_start = 1991
term_end =
predecessor = Peter F. Schabarum
successor = Incumbent
party = Democrat
religion =
spouse = Ron Martinez
children = Valentina
website = http://molina.lacounty.gov

Gloria Molina is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the current chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. [ [http://www.mta.net/news_info/2006/metro_113.htm metro.net | Transit Services and Information for Los Angeles County ] ] Molina grew up as one of ten children in the Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, California, U.S. to a Mexican-American father and Mexican mother.

Background

Gloria Molina was first elected to office in 1982 as State Assemblywoman for the 56th District. In 1987, she was elected to the Los Angeles City Council where she served as the Councilwoman of the First District until 1991. In February 1991, she was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, representing the First Supervisorial District. Ms. Molina is the first Latina in history to be elected to the California State Legislature, the Los Angeles City Council, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Prior to being elected to public office, Ms. Molina served in the Carter White House as a Deputy for Presidential Personnel. After leaving the White House, Molina served in San Francisco as a Deputy Director for the Department of Health and Human Services.

One of Molina's significant achievements was her involvement with the Mothers of East Los Angeles, a group formed to organize against a proposed plan to build a prison in the barrio of East LA. As city councilwoman, she found government unresponsive to her concerns of yet another proposal to build a prison near schools in the predominantly Chicano and Mexican neighborhood.

In April 2006, Molina was honored as the "Hispanic Business Woman of the Year" by Hispanic Business magazine.

Controversy

In April 2008, Molina introduced legislation to the Board of Supervisors which would severely increase penalties on food vendors in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, including East L.A. The new rules would punish parking of a food truck for more than 1 hour with a $1000 fine and/or six months in jail. This move is specifically targeted at vendors operating taco trucks, a cultural institution in East L.A. as well as the county as a whole.

Newspaper editorials decried the move, and a petition was quickly set up to attempt to force a repeal of the legislation. The taco vendors have also hired a lawyer to fight their cause. [ [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tacotruck14apr14,0,4600263.story Putting the brakes on East L.A.'s taco trucks - Los Angeles Times ] ] [ [http://saveourtacotrucks.org/ Carne Asada is not a Crime ] ]

The popular shock jock Tom Leykis brought the Taco Truck Issue up in the 4 o'clock hour on 8/29/08. Asking owners of large flat areas in Los Angeles to contact him so he could host a Taco Truck Party for all Taco Truck owners and listeners of his show to come to.

Personal

Molina is married to Ron Martinez, a businessman. They have one daughter, Valentina.

ee also

*NALEO

External links

* [http://molina.lacounty.gov/ Gloria Molina] - County of Los Angeles Website

References