Cacciotti ‘Humbled and Grateful’ to Serve Yet Again on City Council

As early results in elections to the South Pasadena City Council gave Michael Cacciotti a clear lead, dozens of his friends and supporters gathered in the cozy Berkshire Avenue craftsman home of Glen Duncan Tuesday night to celebrate.

As the guests—including Mayor Pro Tem Marina Khubesrian and Councilmember Bob Joe—feasted on an elaborate spread of Italian food, Cacciotti looked his typically cheerful self.

“I’m very humbled and grateful that people have the trust in me to elect me a fourth time,” he said. “It gives me more confidence to go out there, fight for people and be more responsive to issues.”

Cacciotti likened his election campaign to a marathon, several of which he said he had run.

“It’s been an exhausting, several months, almost similar to a marathon where you get down to 20 miles and you have five or 10 K left,” he said. “You’re coasting, with little energy left, and you just want to finish the race.”

Asked why, given his considerable popularity, he had spent so much time, energy and resources on the campaign, Cacciotti said it’s impossible to predict what will happen in a small-town election.

“There are a lot of new and reactive families—15-20 percent over the last five or 10 years,” he said. "I’ve been able to meet them—they may not know me, but I’ve been coaching their kids."

Other than the fact of elections, Tuesday was like any other day for Cacciotti. “I actually went to work, took calls from people, reminded them to vote and took care of their concerns,” he said, adding: “People complained about alleys, potholes, noisy generators adding pollution—I responded to all that.”

Besides continuing the city’s core mission of upgrading South Pasadena’s infrastructure, Cacciotti said he would concentrate on such issues as cleaner energy and building bicycle trails along the Arroyo river.