Councilman Honored by Family and Thanked by City

David Toro has been involved with the community of Colton for 26 years and since November 2006, has served on the city council. Toro shares, “I feel appreciated by the City of Colton because I went on the council to support the neighborhoods and what people expect out of a representative, and it feels great to be respected.“ In 1987 Toro married and moved to Colton with his wife and raised two children, Michael (21), and Nicole (17) and has resided in the city since then. Toro is a veteran of the Marine Corps who served from 1978 to 1982. While visiting other cities, he saw banners hung recognizing service members from the military and thought it was a great idea and decided to form a committee to bring banners honoring service members to the city of Colton. The committee consisted of past council member, Alex Perez, current city council member, Susan Oliva, and Eileen Gomez, who currently serves as City Clerk was helpful in, “all the footwork of bringing it all together and once we got the program together, after creating the protocol for the banner and came up with the design, the city council approved it”, Toro said. The, City of Colton Hometown Heroes Military Banner Program, was created for the purpose of “honoring our Colton military currently active and deployed with a Hometown Heroes Military banner that pays tribute to veterans and deceased veterans with Veteran and Memorial banners and promotes the recognition of our military currently serving,” according to the City of Colton website. It took Toro a year from 2012 to 2013 to see his idea become a reality swaying above the streets of Colton. Toro shares, “As a council member, it’s always an awesome feeling when you initiate something and see it come to fruition and it’s something that people really appreciate. It’s something that everybody can participate and be a part of.” Toro stated, “It represents the freedom of the United States, and the people who serve and protect our freedom and our way of life. It’s a way to honor the people who have done that. The city of Colton has a lot of active duty veterans, and memorial military members and it’s a proud city for those who serve. I’m sure anybody would be honored to have someone sponsor a banner for someone who could not afford to have one.” The city of Colton’s website has more information on how to sponsor a banner for someone who is serving or has served in the military.