Janitor’s daughter to administer oath at Garcetti’s inauguration

The person who will administer the oath of office to Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti is not a judge or another politician but a 13-year-old girl who first met him nine years ago.

Kenia Castillo, an eighth-grader at Luther Burbank Magnet Middle School, said she was 4 when she encountered Garcetti outside City Hall at a Justice For Janitors rally. She attended that event with her mother, a janitor, and more recently volunteered for his mayoral campaign.

Although she doesn’t remember much from that first meeting, the Westlake resident said she is excited to be taking part in Sunday’s ceremony.

Garcetti, appearing at a church in South Los Angeles earlier in the day, said he asked Kenia to participate to send a message to Angelenos.

“I wanted this city to understand that I know the power comes from you, from the least among us, from the most humble, from the forgotten, from those voices and those faces who aren’t even in the pews today,” he said.

Sunday’s oath will be ceremonial; the mayor-elect was officially sworn in by City Clerk June Lagmay on Friday.

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Twitter: @davidzahniser

david.zahniser@latimes.com