Washed It!

Maywood Councilman Felipe Aguirre sees his small working-class city as “the Santa Monica of the Southeast” — a place built on activism, a healthy distrust of the establishment and compassion for the less fortunate.

But these days, Maywood is gaining a decidedly less romantic image.

Earlier this year, officials announced that they were firing the city workforce and outsourcing most municipal functions to the neighboring city of Bell. Then, Bell’s government imploded in a scandal over eye-popping salaries paid to the city manager and other senior officials.