History was made in the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts today when a new mayor took office.
Joshua Garcia became the first Latino to serve as mayor in Holyoke’s history.
The 35-year old took the oath of office in a brief ceremony in the City Hall Auditorium in front of about 200 people who included elected officials, city workers, Holyoke residents and business owners. The new mayor’s mother, his wife and their two young children sat in the front row.
“I feel humbled by the challenges ahead,” Garcia said. “I feel proud to be a Holyoker and I feel ready to be your mayor.”
In a speech that lasted less than 5 minutes, Garcia pledged to “work relentlessly” to make good on his campaign promises to bring sound municipal management skills to the mayor’s office to tackle the city’s immediate problems while keeping a long term vision.
“The Holyoke I foresee has excellent schools that are locally controlled, attractive housing options and beautiful parks,” Garcia said. “My vision also includes restoring existing mill structures to attract even more business and industry while maintaining the character and history of our unique city that I was born and raised in.”
Garcia is serving out the remaining weeks of the term of former Mayor Alex Morse. He will have a larger inauguration ceremony in January when he will begin his own four-year term.
Throughout the campaign, Garcia warned that Holyoke faced a structural budget deficit of $2 million. Now it is his job to fix it.
“I want to go in and finally have some time to do an honest assessment of what’s happening and communicate that to the public as we navigate the next steps forward,” Garcia told reporters.
With less than two weeks between the election and the new mayor taking office there was not enough time to finalize a transition team, but Garcia told reporters he expects to announce the appointments within days.
That team will help him screen candidates for numerous vacancies in City Hall among department heads as well as on boards and commissions.
“I want to be transparent in this process as much as possible and make it competitive. I believe that is where we can start changing the morale across our city,” Garcia said.
Among the many well-wishers at Monday’s ceremony was Samuel Mateo, a Holyoke business owner who said he mentored Garcia at the Holyoke Boys & Girls Club and knew then he was destined for great things.
“To see him up there as the new mayor of Holyoke, it’s awesome, just awesome,” Mateo said.
The swearing in of Holyoke’s first Latino mayor was witnessed by prominent Hispanic politicians from throughout the region including Hampden County Register of Deeds Cheryl Coakley-Rivera (the first Latina to hold that office), State Senator Adam Gomez of Springfield, and also from Springfield State Representatives Orlando Ramos and Carlos Gonzalez.
“As goes the city of Holyoke today, we will see this in the near future in other cities in western Massachusetts where a Latino mayor will be running cities,” Gonzalez said.
Over the last decade, the Hispanic population in the region has grown faster than any other ethnic group, according to the 2020 Census.
Almost 54 percent of Holyoke’s population is Hispanic. Latinos account for 45 percent of Springfield’s population.