Marcos Oliva sees one benefit to the salary scandal that rocked the Bell City Council: It brought the community closer together.

It used to be that he didn’t even spend much time with his own neighbors.

“I would go off to work and not even know who my neighbor was, I didn’t even know their names,” he said.

Now, he not only talks politics with his neighbors, but he sees civic-minded people lining up to run in the March 8 City Council election. He’s one of 17 candidates, far more than he has seen in previous years.

“We didn’t have that many people running,” he said. “They were afraid that they were going to get attacked, that their families would be trashed.”

Oliva, a programming analyst for a Burbank hospital, is running for a four-year term. He has lived in Bell for more than 20 years and says his primary goal is to win back a sense of trust in the city government. While he has gone so far as to call voters his “neighbors and friends,” he adds that this is a two-way street, and that residents need to get involved.

“Change starts with yourself,” he said.  “It starts from when you get up from that sofa and take action.  Your problem is my problem.  This is not just my people’s government, this is everybody’s government.”

Oliva says he decided to run for City Council because he wanted to get off the sofa and take action, saying that it is a “logical step”.

“Even just regular people like us, we’ve already made a difference,” he said.  “But I’m a concerned resident. I’m a taxpayer, and it’s my responsibility to take action. You can’t be a spectator, you have to be an active participant in change, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m running.”

In keeping with his overarching message of encouraging residents to get involved, Oliva says he would hold a series of town hall meetings where residents could get to know each other over coffee.  He says as the new council is elected, council members would go in groups to talk to residents.

“Come out of your homes, stop watching the soap operas, come out and let’s talk amongst ourselves,” he encouraged, adding that this would increase the council’s visibility in the community.  “We’ll take turns every week, and we’ll even be available at City Hall if they want to speak to us.”

Oliva seems optimistic about the future of Bell.  Even if he is not elected to the council, he says he will remain active in the community because he believes change must start with the individual.

“If you don’t want to participate because you don’t believe in [change], then don’t be complaining about how you don’t get information,” he said. “It takes you to take action.  And we’re going to be willing to be receptive on the other end to listen to you.”

Reach reporter Josh Woo here.