Gloria Molina

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Gloria Molina
Gloria Molina

Gloria Molina, 1997


Los Angeles County Supervisor
Incumbent
Assumed office 
1991
Preceded by Peter F. Schabarum

Political party Democrat
Spouse Ron Martinez
Children Valentina
Residence Los Angeles
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.[1] 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.

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[edit] 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 of 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 of 2006, Molina was honored as the "Hispanic Business Woman of the Year" by Hispanic Business magazine.

[edit] Controversy

In April of 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. [2][3]

[edit] Personal

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

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References


Political offices
Preceded by
Peter F. Schabarum
Los Angeles County Supervisor
1st district

1991 - present
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Howard Finn
Los Angeles City Councilwoman
1st district

19871991
Succeeded by
Mike Hernandez
Preceded by
Art Torres
California State Assemblywoman
56th District

1982–1985
Succeeded by
Lucille Roybal-Allard