Garrett Gatewood is Rancho Cordova’s first Black mayor. Here’s his plan for the city
Garrett Gatewood was appointed mayor of Rancho Cordova this year, becoming the first Black person to hold the position since the city was established in 2003.
Gatewood was first appointed to serve on the Rancho Cordova City Council in 2017, also becoming the first Black council member to hold a seat. After running for re-election – and winning – he was eventually appointed to Vice Mayor in 2020.
The mayoral seat in Rancho Cordova is a revolving position that changes among council members annually.
Prior to becoming a council member and now mayor, Gatewood served on the board of directors for the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce for three out of his five years with the Chamber.
Gatewood is determined on setting the standard of what it means to lead. He sat down with The Sacramento Bee to discuss his plans for Rancho Cordova, what being mayor means to him, his approach to being a model for the next person of color to hold the position, and more.
Here’s an excerpt from our interview with Mayor Gatewood. This interview has been edited for clarity.
Q: What’s your agenda as mayor, what is your overall focus?
A: Rancho Cordova tends to be one of those quiet cities, everybody forgets about us. We’re ready to step out, we’ve been doing a lot of good things in the city and I think you’re going to see a lot of growth here. If we open up this new housing group, it will make us the largest city in the region. Larger than Elk Grove, larger than Folsom, we will be the biggest city.
My overall focus is first I have to protect. I have to protect the heart of Rancho Cordova: our churches and our citizens. I have to protect our soul which comes from our business districts. You’re going to see me bring jobs to the city. I’m going to go out and find all the businesses that have been mistreated, misrepresented, hurt, or told bad things and move those businesses into our city. The next thing I like to think about is education. My city was one of the first to give away free college. My grandmother believed education was the key to wealth and success.
Q: Was it a big deal for you to become the mayor and especially the first Black mayor of Rancho Cordova?
A: It was huge for me, it was huge for my kids. First, it’s an honor that the city actually wanted me to do it, because by electing me, they knew in two years I would be appointed the first Black mayor. Let’s be honest, being the first Black or minority anything, we have to be better than everybody else. So I can only hope I obtain that while I’m doing this. We just had the first Indian-woman elected too.
Q: The north side of Rancho Cordova is very different from the south. How do you plan to preserve housing and a sense of belonging for the longtime residents while also bringing new development to that area of the city?
A: The thing is we put $100 million into North Rancho. This new stuff that’s coming in is just the sugar layer on the top. You have to respect the northside because if you can pick the north side up, then the whole city grows. We don’t care about what side you’re on or what color you are. “You want to get a degree?” Cool, come here. “Oh you want to learn to lay pipe because it’s $20-$30/hour?” Great. We’re going to try new things to keep the community growing and together for as long as possible. I hate the idea of losing Rancho Cordova’s citizens.
Q: Cities across the country are reckoning with growing tensions between police departments and communities of color. How are you addressing policing in Rancho Cordova?
A: We believe in community policing. First, 4% of our cops are African-American, which means they are the exact representation of our city. Second, 20-30% of our cops are minorities, you can’t say that about other cities. Our police show up every time, good, bad, or indifferent. I need them to engage with my citizens. We adopted the community policing model here and our crime rate is down 61% since the creation of the city. Police need to be trusted members of the community because they work for the citizens and our citizens help them to achieve the goal of safety.
Q: What about the cases of Mikel McIntyre, Carlos and Thomas Williams, and Elijah Tufono?
A: Every community has a couple of bad things that happen. What happened with Tufono (a 14-year-old boy beaten by a police officer), that’s unacceptable. We told that officer that he’s not allowed to be a cop in Rancho Cordova. He is not a part of us. We have an agreement with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department that gives us the power to hire and fire anyone we want immediately. I was telling some of my friends with Black Lives Matter “the difference in our city is that he’s gone.”
The two brothers (Carlos and Thomas Williams, who have filed federal lawsuits alleging they were beaten and arrested outside their home), I can’t talk about because that’s in court right now and I want the case to go fair. And with Mikel McIntyre (killed by sheriff’s deputies in 2017), anytime there’s a loss of life, it’s horrible.
Q: To your community, what is your underlying message as mayor?
A: As mayor, I am here with you. The most important thing for me is for us to get through these hard times. I will be your backbone through this, I will protect you, I will do everything in my power to ease the pain as COVID goes away. I will be the first one to usher in the new era with COVID gone.
This story was originally published April 12, 2021 at 12:14 PM.