Between a heated candidate forum and flurry of attack ads, the race to represent LA City Council District 1 is a lively one. And there are consequential issues at play in the district that includes Koreatown, Pico Union, Westlake, Chinatown, University Park, Highland Park, Cypress Park and many other pockets of the city.
The densely populated district is known as a home for renters, immigrants and working-class families. And since the LA’s councilmembers hold most of the city’s policy-making power, whoever represents them will need to tackle issues from broken streetlights to visible homelessness, housing, pedestrian safety, access to green space and parking tickets.
Vote centers open May 4, and mail-in ballots are arriving at voters’ homes. Ballot drop boxes open May 5, and the primary election is June 2. If no candidate wins a majority of votes in the primary, the top two vote-getters will go head-to-head in November.
Maria “Lou” Calanche
About the candidate: Maria “Lou” Calanche was raised in Ramona Gardens, Boyle Heights, where she witnessed firsthand the impact of limited city services and systemic inequity. A lifelong community organizer, Lou founded Legacy LA in 2007, a nationally recognized youth development and gang-prevention nonprofit serving 350+ youth annually. She has served on the LA Police Commission, LA Housing Authority Commission, and currently leads ExpandLA, building a network of 500+ nonprofit organizations across Los Angeles. A former political science professor, Lou holds a BA from LMU and an MPA from USC. She lives in Montecito Heights with her rescue poodles, Paz and Courage.
What is one policy you would implement in your first year to reduce homelessness in the district, and how would you measure whether it’s working?
In my first year, I will establish a District 1 Homeless Outreach Coordination Hub — a centralized command that aligns LAPD, LAHSA, mental health clinicians, and nonprofit service providers so that every encampment in the district receives a consistent, accountable response.
I will immediately push to hire 100 mental health clinicians dedicated to responding to the needs of unhoused residents, and expand co-response teams that pair police officers with clinicians so that every call gets the right responder. I will also advocate for homeless funds to be redirected toward hospital beds and treatment programs for residents suffering from mental health and substance-use disorders, because a shelter bed alone is not a solution.
Too often, residents watch the same corners cycle through cleanup and re-encampment because there is no coordinated follow-through. My hub will change that by assigning dedicated case managers to every individual contacted during outreach, tracking their pathway from street to shelter to permanent housing.
I will measure success through quarterly public dashboards reporting encampment resolution rates, shelter placement numbers, clinician deployment data, and 90-day housing retention figures. Residents will be able to hold me accountable by name; not just a city department.
What specific actions would you take at the city level to make sure that immigrant communities in Council District 1 are protected while still ensuring that other residents still feel safe and supported?
District 1 is home to some of the most hardworking immigrant families in Los Angeles, and they deserve both protection and dignity… not fear.
As Councilmember, I will push to fully fund and expand the City’s Angeleno Card program, ensuring undocumented residents have access to municipal services without risk. I will work with the City Attorney to strengthen legal defense funding for residents facing deportation proceedings and establish a Know Your Rights rapid-response network through trusted community anchors like Legacy LA and ExpandLA’s nonprofit partners.
I will also ensure immigrant families benefit directly from my policy agenda. Free childcare, free before and after school programs, free summer camps, and apprenticeship programs connecting young people to union jobs; these investments lift every family in District 1, regardless of documentation status. Free community transit and shuttles will connect immigrant communities to jobs, schools, and services without relying on a car.
At the same time, I will ensure public safety is not compromised. My support for restoring LAPD to 10,000 sworn officers, paired with co-deployment of mental health clinicians, means all residents, documented or not, live in neighborhoods where they feel safe walking to the corner store or sending their kids to the park.
Protection and public safety are not opposites. In District 1, we will have both.
What else will you promise to people in the community?
I promise to show up, not just at ribbon cuttings, but when things are hard.
I will fight for safe, clean parks and green spaces where families can actually enjoy their neighborhoods, and I will enforce graffiti removal within 24 hours so our streets reflect the pride our communities already have. I will push for street and sidewalk repairs that make every block in District 1 walkable and accessible.
I will deliver free childcare for all families, free before and after school programs, free summer camps, and enrichment opportunities so that no parent in District 1 has to choose between going to work and knowing their child is safe and supported. I will fund intervention programs for at-risk youth to reduce gang involvement, because I have spent my career doing exactly that, and I know it works.
On housing, I will fight for new development at all income levels, protect Section 8 and public housing, enforce rent control, and increase public awareness of tenant rights. I will champion apprenticeship programs and summer jobs for young people so they have a real pathway to economic opportunity right here in their own community.
And I promise to be honest with you. When something isn’t working, I will say so. District 1 deserves a Councilmember who fights as hard for them as they fight for their families every single day. That is exactly what I intend to be.
Learn more: Website
Raul Claros
About the candidate: Raul Claros is a community advocate and candidate for Los Angeles City Council District 1 focused on restoring safety, accountability, and dignity to neighborhoods that have been overlooked for too long. With a background in community organizing and coalition building, Raul works alongside residents, small businesses, and local leaders to address homelessness, public safety, and economic instability. Through initiatives like California Rising, he has mobilized people and resources around real solutions. Raul is running to bring urgency, coordination, and results to City Hall because District 1 deserves leadership that shows up and follows through.
What is one policy you would implement in your first year to reduce homelessness in the district, and how would you measure whether it’s working?
Los Angeles is in a state of crisis and homelessness must be treated with the urgency of an emergency response. In my first year, I would implement a District 1 One Stop Response System modeled after coordinated disaster response frameworks like the Red Cross. This means aligning outreach, housing navigation, mental health services, sanitation, and enforcement into one accountable system that operates in real time.
Right now, services are fragmented and people fall through the cracks while encampments grow. My approach creates a single pipeline where individuals are assessed, placed, and supported while also restoring public spaces for the broader community.
Measurement is critical. We will track reduction in unsheltered individuals in key corridors, number of individuals placed into temporary and permanent housing, time from outreach to placement, and cleanliness and accessibility of public spaces.
This is about outcomes, not intentions. If it is not reducing encampments and moving people into stability, it is not working.
What specific actions would you take at the city level to make sure that immigrant communities in Council District 1 are protected while still ensuring that other residents still feel safe and supported?
District 1 is home to immigrant families who contribute to the economic and cultural fabric of Los Angeles. They deserve to feel safe, not targeted. At the same time, all residents deserve clean and secure neighborhoods. These priorities are not in conflict when leadership is clear and accountable.
At the city level, I will ensure local law enforcement resources are focused on real public safety threats, not immigration enforcement. I will advocate for stronger coordination to prevent predatory crimes targeting immigrant communities, including kidnappings and extortion. I will expand access to city services, legal aid, and language accessible resources so families can engage without fear. I will push for accountability measures to ensure public safety resources are deployed where they are actually needed.
Protection also means presence. Clean streets, safe parks, and functioning infrastructure matter in every neighborhood. We cannot allow neglect in the name of politics.
What else will you promise to people in the community?
I will promise something simple but rare, accountability and action.
Our community has been told for years to be patient while conditions worsen. That ends now. I will show up consistently in the community, not just during election season. I will deliver transparent updates on what is working and what is not. I will prioritize safe and clean corridors, schools, parks, and public transit stops. I will fight for real access to resources like food assistance, rental support, and utility reform. I will build partnerships that bring services directly into neighborhoods, not buried in systems people cannot navigate.
Most importantly, I will not overpromise and disappear. If something is broken, I will say it. If something is working, we will scale it.
District 1 deserves leadership that treats this moment like what it is, a crisis that requires urgency, coordination, and results.
Learn more: Website | Instagram
Nelson Grande
About the candidate: Nelson Grande grew up in CD1, and today he’s raising his family here as a husband and father. He built a business for over a decade helping underserved communities access opportunities they were otherwise locked out of. His company supported over 400 projects, built internship pipelines with major universities and local schools, and helped create thousands of jobs and opportunities across the country. He’s running because this district deserves a councilmember who shows up, follows through, and fights for every neighborhood equally.
What is one policy you would implement in your first year to reduce homelessness in the district, and how would you measure whether it’s working?
The problem in CD1 is not that we lack programs. It is that nobody is accountable when they do not work.
In my first year, I would require every outreach team and service provider operating in CD1 to report on placements, not contacts. Not how many people they talked to. How many people are housed and still housed 90 days later. That one shift changes the incentive structure entirely.
If a provider is not performing, they do not get renewed. If a corridor is not improving, resources get redirected. The council office has to be the entity that enforces accountability, not the one that hosts ribbon cuttings.
Success looks like fewer unsheltered individuals in CD1 parks and public spaces, shorter time from first contact to stable placement, and a measurable increase in people who stay housed. Those are not complicated metrics. They are just ones nobody in this office has been willing to own.
Keeping parks safe for families and getting people the help they need are not competing goals. They go together.
What specific actions would you take at the city level to make sure that immigrant communities in Council District 1 are protected while still ensuring that other residents still feel safe and supported?
CD1 is one of the most immigrant-rich districts in Los Angeles. Protecting those communities is not a political position for me. It is personal. I grew up here. These are my neighbors.
When immigrant families are afraid to call 911, report a crime, or walk to the store, the whole neighborhood is less safe. This is not a tradeoff between communities. It is the same problem.
Three specific actions I would take at the city level.
First, I would push to close the enforcement gap on the Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance. Thousands of complaints have been filed. A fraction have ever reached the city attorney. Landlords using ICE threats to displace tenants should face real consequences, not an educational letter.
Second, every worker in CD1 deserves to be paid what they are owed. I would push for stronger wage theft enforcement across the district, particularly in industries where workers are threatened into silence.
Third, I supported the ICE siren network in CD1 because community-driven response works. That kind of coordination between residents, businesses, and local leaders is what I would bring to the council office every day.
A neighborhood where people are afraid to speak up is not a safe neighborhood for anyone. Holding bad actors accountable does not divide this community. It makes all of us safer.
What else will you promise to people in the community?
I promise to show up.
Not just to the neighborhoods that get the most attention or generate the most press. Every part of this district deserves a councilmember who knows their streets, attends their meetings, and answers when they call. Pico-Union, Westlake, Lincoln Heights, Chinatown, and every neighborhood in between has been waiting too long for that kind of representation.
I will be accessible. My office will be responsive. If you reach out, you will hear back. That sounds like a low bar. In this city, it has not been.
I promise to fight for clean and safe streets, to push for housing people can actually afford to stay in, and to make sure city services reach the neighborhoods that need them most, not just the ones that are easiest to serve.
Community pride starts with feeling like your neighborhood matters. I will make sure it does.
CD1 is one of the most diverse, resilient, and underestimated districts in Los Angeles. The people here do not need a councilmember who speaks for them. They need one who hears them, acts on it, and fights for every block equally.
That is the commitment I am making. And I intend to keep it.
Learn more: Website | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook
Eunisses Hernandez
About the candidate: Eunisses Hernandez is a lifelong Highland Park resident, community organizer, daughter of Mexican immigrants, and Councilmember for Los Angeles City Council District 1. She led efforts to pass the strongest tenant protections in 40 years, co-authored LA’s Sanctuary City Ordinance, and opened Northeast New Beginnings, an unprecedented interim housing model with wraparound services helping people transition into permanent housing. She has stopped harmful projects like a proposed trucking depot in Lincoln Heights, stood up to billionaire Frank McCourt’s proposed gondola, and launched a mobile overdose response unit in MacArthur Park that dropped overdose deaths among people experiencing homelessness by 32% in its first year alone. The only Councilmember to vote no on the City budget in her first year, she later helped reshape a $14 billion budget, saving over 1,000 city jobs and the municipal services they deliver, protecting day labor centers and immigrant legal defense, and expanding unarmed crisis response.
What is one policy you would implement in your first year to reduce homelessness in the district, and how would you measure whether it’s working?
We’ve already moved more than 5,300 people into interim housing since I took office by prioritizing connections to case management, healthcare, and housing navigation. We opened Northeast New Beginnings, a first-of-its-kind housing site that provides wraparound services and puts people on a pathway to permanent housing. In MacArthur Park, we’ve paired that with street medicine, overdose response, and outreach teams so people are stabilized and supported, not criminalized, and we’re building a Community Health Hub to bring that care under one roof.
The next step is scaling this model citywide using tools voters already approved, like Measure ULA, to fund deeply affordable housing and eviction prevention. The fastest way to reduce homelessness is to stop it upstream. In CD1, evictions have dropped 10% over three years because we’ve enforced tenant protections and invested in keeping people housed.
We’ll measure success by fewer people entering homelessness, faster placements into housing, and more people staying housed long term. We don’t need new theories or harsh criminalization, or to sweep people into housing that doesn’t exist. We need to scale what’s working and have the political courage to invest in it.
What specific actions would you take at the city level to make sure that immigrant communities in Council District 1 are protected while still ensuring that other residents still feel safe and supported?
Before Trump was elected for a second term, I co-authored Los Angeles’ Sanctuary City ordinance because I understood how high the stakes were. Over a year ago, in partnership with Mijente, my office launched a first-of-its-kind districtwide Community Defense pilot program. This program trains local residents as block captains and provides real-time, multilingual text alerts when enforcement activity is reported, so families can stay informed and connected to legal resources.
I also led legislation to launch a citywide Know Your Rights campaign on bus shelters and public transit, ensuring people can access critical information in their daily lives. We backed that up with direct support, including $500,000 in rental assistance and $500,000 in food aid for working-class and immigrant families.
Additionally, I’ve taken action to address harmful practices targeting immigrant workers, successfully advocating alongside IDEPSCA to shut down the use of mosquito noise devices outside the Cypress Park Home Depot that were used to harass day laborers. I’ve also introduced legislation to strengthen oversight, transparency, and due process when federal agents operate in our neighborhoods.
Immigrants are welcome here. I will always fight to protect them.
What else will you promise to people in the community?
I promise to keep fighting for a city that puts people over profit. That means standing up to corporate interests and billionaires who see our neighborhoods as opportunities for profit instead of communities to protect. I’ve taken on these powerful interests to defend public land, support small businesses, and protect tenants, and I will not back down.
I also commit to telling the truth, even when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable. That means asking hard questions and being honest about why things feel broken. Why does it take a year to fix a streetlight? Why are we underfunding core services while overinvesting in a single department that isn’t delivering the outcomes people deserve? We cannot ignore the role decades of budget decisions have played in leaving our neighborhoods under-resourced. If we want different outcomes, we have to be willing to make different investments, and I will continue pushing those conversations forward to build a city that prioritizes care, transparency, fiscal responsibility, and accountability.
Most importantly, I will never throw people away. No matter how loud the dehumanizing or divisive rhetoric gets, I will keep fighting for policies that keep people alive, housed, and treated with dignity, because that is the foundation of a just city.
Learn more: Website | Instagram
Sylvia Robledo
About the candidate: Sylvia Robledo is a lifelong advocate for Los Angeles and a candidate for City Council District 1. With decades in public service, she has worked in Council Districts 1, 9, and 13, delivering results by prioritizing community needs, expanding services, and improving public safety. She also advanced community health initiatives at California Hospital Medical Center and later served as Western Regional Director for EMILY’s List, supporting women candidates across ten states. A UCLA alum, Sylvia has served on multiple civic boards. She is running to provide inclusive, transparent leadership, address homelessness, protect public spaces, and create safe, walkable neighborhoods.
What is one policy you would implement in your first year to reduce homelessness in the district, and how would you measure whether it’s working?
In my first year, I would implement a “Housing First, Block by Block” strategy that rapidly moves people from encampments into interim and permanent housing, paired with coordinated services. This approach would prioritize the most vulnerable and focus on specific high-need areas in District 1 to ensure visible progress.
But to truly make this work, we must fix the system itself. For too long, bureaucracy and broken systems have delayed action. I support replacing LAHSA with a city-led department focused solely on homelessness—one that is transparent, accountable, and delivers results. This new structure would streamline decision-making, improve coordination, and ensure resources reach the people who need them most.
The policy would expand interim housing by utilizing underused public land and accelerating modular and bridge housing, while strengthening partnerships to provide on-site mental health care, substance use treatment, and case management.
To measure success, I would track: (1) the number of people moved into housing, (2) housing retention at six and twelve months, and (3) reductions in unsheltered homelessness in targeted areas using regular counts and service data. I would also publish quarterly reports to ensure transparency and accountability.
What specific actions would you take at the city level to make sure that immigrant communities in Council District 1 are protected while still ensuring that other residents still feel safe and supported?
I would strengthen and fully enforce Los Angeles’ Sanctuary City policies by ensuring city departments, including LAPD, do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement in ways that erode trust. When families feel safe reporting crimes or seeking help, entire neighborhoods are safer.
Second, I would expand access to legal services by increasing funding for legal defense programs and “Know Your Rights” education, partnering with trusted community organizations, schools, and clinics so immigrants have the support they need to navigate legal challenges.
Third, I would support small businesses impacted by ICE raids by creating emergency grants and relief programs, as well as offering funding and rebates for security measures that help notify and protect workers. This ensures businesses can stay open while keeping employees safe.
I would also invest in community-based public safety strategies—such as unarmed crisis response teams and violence prevention programs—that build trust and reduce reliance on enforcement alone, while improving responsiveness to neighborhood concerns for all residents.
What else will you promise to people in the community?
I will promise to rebuild trust between City Hall and the people of District 1 by leading with integrity, transparency, and accountability every single day. Los Angeles has been shaken by scandal and corruption, and restoring public confidence requires more than words—it requires action. I will implement clear ethical standards in my office, reject pay-to-play politics, and ensure decisions are made in the public’s interest, not for personal or political gain.
I also promise to fix constituent services so every resident feels heard, respected, and supported. Too many people in District 1 have been ignored when they reach out for help. That is unacceptable. I will staff my office with trained, responsive professionals who are accountable for delivering results. Whether it’s addressing housing concerns, fixing street issues, or helping small businesses, my team will follow through—no more unanswered calls or unresolved cases.
I will also increase accessibility by holding regular office hours in neighborhoods across the district and providing multilingual services so all residents can engage with their local government.
At its core, my promise is simple: a City Hall that works for you. No delays, no favoritism—just honest leadership and real results for the people of Los Angeles.
