09/01/2026
STATEMENT FROM Concerned Citizens of Cerritos
On Monday August 31, the Cerritos city clerk’s office counted all the petition signatures for the Recalls of Lynda Johnson and Frank Yokoyama. Unfortunately, we came up short of the required 7,279 signatures required to hold a Recall election.
Our Goal from the beginning was to repeal and replace the exorbitant Water/Sewer rate increases. Those increases were imposed on us by Frank Yokoyama and Lynda Johnson. They led the charge by ignoring the 6,400 Prop 218 protest forms submitted by Cerritos residents. Those signatures were gathered one at a time through volunteers walking neighborhoods, staffing signing locations, talking with neighbors, and asking residents to physically sign a petition. However, we faced Lynda advising her appointees not to participate in the process and Frank was going to our signing stations and intimidating our signature collectors. He called city appointees and told them they were wrong for participating in the repeal and Recall efforts. Could we have gathered the number of signatures we needed if Frank did not interfere? Possibly, but many residents told us they worried about retaliation or retribution from Frank or Lynda for signing the repeal or recall petitions.
Lynda had ~73% more recall signatures than votes she received to get elected in 2022.
Frank had ~61% more recall signatures than votes he received to get elected in 2022.
Reaching 7,279 residents meant gathering signatures from ~81% of the active voters (8,932) in the 2022 election. That amount is almost double the votes either of them have ever received.
The Road to Recall gave us many WINS: While we didn’t collect enough signatures to hold a Recall vote, we did minimize other actions they wanted to take before their Recalls began.
-Stopped their pursuit of a Sales tax increase
-Stopped their pursuit of a Utility tax
-Stopped their attempt to update the city charter and remove council’s term limits
-Forced the council to nominally cut CCPA expenses
-Validation that Cerritos voters want a change in city leadership
Now, our attention turns to the Water/Sewer initiative at the March 2027 election. The next election is our opportunity to turn frustration into action and signatures into ballots. If nearly 6,000 residents are willing to sign a recall petition, imagine what can happen when those residents — and their families, friends, and neighbors — show up and vote.
To every resident who signed, volunteered, donated, hosted petitions, or helped spread the word: THANK YOU!
— Concerned Citizens of Cerritos
