Alejandro Vega can’t vote yet — he’s just 17 — but he already knows exactly the kind of councilmember he wants representing his home community in LA City Council District 9.
“I want someone that will fight for more affordable homes so that I can continue to live in our district,” said Vega, a high school junior.
Vega and classmate Francisco Mendoza spent their Friday evening alongside a crowd of about 50 at a District 9 candidate forum in the gym of Alliance College-Ready Middle Academy in South Park.
Six candidates are running to replace termed-out Councilmember Curren Price in the district, which stretches from downtown LA through South Central. The district includes LA landmarks like USC, the LA Memorial Coliseum and Crypto.com Arena, but as of 2020 had by far the highest poverty rate in the city.
The race, which also includes a qualified write-in candidate, is one of LA’s most crowded.
You can read about each candidate and their plans in The LA Local’s District 9 voter guide.
Five of the candidates — Elmer Roldan, Estuardo Mazariegos, Jose Ugarte, Jorge Nuño and Martha Sánchez – joined Friday’s forum and answered questions about housing, environmental health and federal immigration enforcement.
David Solis, chair of the CANNDU Neighborhood Council, spearheaded the forum. He said District 9 residents tend to vote at low rates, and he wants to get people more civically engaged.
“This was about getting the community to hear from the candidates,” he said.
Maria Sanchez, the mother of a student at the school where the forum was held, asked candidates how they plan to protect immigrant families.
The district has had a high concentration of reports of federal immigration agents over the past year, according to data gathered by the Pueblo Project Foundation and People Over Papers.
Candidates shared largely similar plans to build up safeguards against federal immigration raids, including apportioning funds to resources like legal support and restricting the Los Angeles Police Department from working with federal immigration authorities.
After the forum, Sanchez said she wants a councilmember who will help the district’s large Latino community.
“I believe it’s great that the candidates all came here and shared what they want to do,” she said in Spanish. “But in reality, I don’t know any of them more than Jose Ugarte.”
She said she’s seen Ugarte, a longtime staffer for the outgoing Price, do a lot of work in the community over the years.
Vega, the high school junior, arrived at the forum wearing an Ugarte T-shirt. He said he likes the candidate because of the support Ugarte has given student groups that Vega is involved in. “Jose supported us a ton,” Vega said.
Meanwhile, Juan Carlos Venegas, a supporter of Roldan, said he has reservations about Ugarte, who he believes should be doing more to direct resources to things like street clean-ups.
Venegas said he wants a councilmember with a concrete plan to address homelessness and protect homeowners and renters.
“It’s keeping corporate and development interests out of the community,” he said.
Carla Barron has lived in the district for 15 years. She came to the forum, she said, because she’s the mother of a son with autism and hopes to find a champion who can help round up help for children with developmental disabilities.
She said she also wants a council member who will push for more consistent policing.
“When we call the police, sometimes they don’t come,” she said.
Solis, the neighborhood council president, said the neighborhood needs more resources, from basic services to crisis response teams that are trained to respond to situations like mental health crises.
Whoever ultimately represents District 9 needs to keep that in mind when they take office, he said.
“When they vote on the mayor’s budget, their vote has to reflect the needs of the community,” Solis said.
