Join the University Sunrise Rotary Club for a program featuring Seattle City Council Candidate Maritza Rivera.
The program will be presented in person and on Zoom on Thursday morning with the Zoom line opening at 7:00 a.m. The formal meeting including the program runs from 7:30-8:30 a.m. No registration is required, and the program is free.
The in-person meeting will be at the Wedgwood Community Church at 8201 30th Ave NE, Seattle. Doors open at 7:00 a.m. and the program begins at 7:30 a.m.
The meeting will also be available via Zoom. Click here to join the meeting Thursday morning. The Zoom line will open shortly after 7:00 a.m.
A mom of two teenage daughters, Maritza Rivera will never forget the hours waiting and worrying outside Ingraham High School as her girls were in lockdown after a student was fatally shot inside.
At that moment, Maritza knew she had to take action. She never expected to run for political office, but Maritza is running for City Council to restore Seattle to the safe and vibrant city she moved to more than two decades ago.
Maritza’s parents moved from Puerto Rico to New York in search of a better life. Maritza grew up in a tough neighborhood in the Bronx, on the 5th floor of a five story no elevator building. Her dad was a welder and proud union member; her mom worked at a factory.
Maritza went to Bronx High School of Science, Skidmore College on a full-ride scholarship, then Fordham Law School.
Maritza went to work in the White House as President Clinton’s Hispanic liaison, later served as a Vice-President of the National Hispanic Chamber of Commerce where she worked closely with Hispanic small businesses from across the country.
In Seattle, Maritza has had the privilege of working at the ACLU post 9/11 to protect Muslim communities from xenophobia, at City Hall working for Former City Council Member Tom Rasmussen, for Mayor Durkan and now in the Harrell Administration, as Deputy Director of the Department of Arts & Culture.
Maritza is running to make restoring our public safety system a priority, because she knows from personal experience that failing to take public safety seriously harms low income and underserved communities the most. She won’t rest until we get to 5-minute response times for priority 911 calls, take home and car break-ins seriously, get guns off our streets and out of our schools and shut down open air fentanyl markets.
Maritza loves Seattle, the small businesses, food, arts, music and diverse populations that make up our city’s rich fabric. Maritza is committed to listening to everyone and working with everyone – to find real solutions to real challenges we cannot ignore any longer.