Can political translation be effective in routine settings for deliberation that involve individual community members or groups versus institutional actors? Chapter 3 begins assessing this question by presenting a first case of local, participatory democracy in a town I call Santa Brigida, California. In Santa Brigida, a number of progressive city council members wanted to empower residents in a deliberation at City Hall about an urban planning project. Bilingual, in English and Spanish (being the language spoken by most residents), city council members saw themselves as political translators and acted, in essence, as facilitators, promising to be attuned to listen to local interested parties. However, decision-makers and bilingual facilitators ignored almost all of the questions about the project raised by residents and all alternative proposals. In fact, although some of the city council members had run for office to democratize City Hall meetings, their genuine attempts at political translation failed when, after assuming positions of power, they started to systematically ignore residents’ demands—a classic broker dilemma. The lesson for political translators is that maintaining power positions through cooperation with institutional elites often diverges from the needs of their actual constituents, those for whom they have dedicated their political lives and struggles.