On 7 March 2017, John J. Kennedy was elected to a second four-year term on the Pasadena City Council.  Over the past years, Vice Mayor Kennedy has earned a reputation as a principled, persistent and pragmatic policymaker, focused on some of the most important issues confronting District 3 and the City of Pasadena. He has emerged as a strong advocate for fiscal integrity; public safety; parks; affordable housing; local hiring, contracting, and supplies; and progressive social justice issues, including the environment.

​

Vice Mayor Kennedy believes that an honest day of work deserves a livable wage and that is why he supported the gradual increase of the minimum wage. Pasadena is blessed with being one of the few cities in all of California with its own Health Department. Vice Mayor Kennedy a short time ago served on a committee, with two of his colleagues, to help find solutions for health care delivery services in the wake of right-sizing the City’s Health Department. This effort was a success as the City had the vision to establish a deeper collaboration with two Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) to prevent the diminution in services to vulnerable populations. Additionally, before Kennedy was a member of the City Council, he served on the board of Community Health Alliance of Pasadena, now ChapCare, with two of those years as Chair of the Board of Directors.  Chapcare’s involvement was pivotal in preventing significant layoffs in the City’s Health Department.  

 

The Vice Mayor has demonstrated his support for Zero Waste policies and in fact wrote the City’s first recycling ordinance.  In 2014, the Mayor asked Vice Mayor Kennedy to lead a Sister Cities delegation to China and Taiwan on his behalf. Such an assignment was familiar and welcomed as Vice Mayor Kennedy had been a People-to-People Student Ambassador to several cities in Europe and involved in goodwill missions to a number of countries in Africa.  Speaking about Africa, Vice Mayor Kennedy lead a delegation to Dakar Plateau, The Republic of Senegal. In early 2018, the City Council of Pasadena adopted Dakar Plateau as its newest Sister City relationship; the first on the Continent of Africa. Just last month, at the request of Mayor Marc-Antione Jamet, Vice Mayor Kennedy, led a small delegation to Val-de-Reuil, France (The Area of Normandy) at their Mayor. Stay tune for: liberté, fraternité, and egalité!