Less than a month before she takes office, Councilmember-elect Ysabel Jurado has her sights set on running things a little differently in L.A.’s Council District 14.
Jurado’s victory over embattled incumbent Kevin de León marked a series of firsts: The political newcomer will be the first woman and the first openly queer person to lead the district, the first Filipino American to sit on the L.A. City Council and first person of non-Latino descent to represent CD 14 since 1985.
But Jurado spends less time talking about the history she’s making and more noting how she got there. She credits a “community-centered campaign” as the strategy that won her the votes needed to represent more than a quarter-million people from Eagle Rock to Boyle Heights.
“That’s who we’re beholden to. That’s a testament to who we’re going to answer to when we’re in office,” Jurado, 34, said in an interview with Boyle Heights Beat days after her historic win.
The tenant rights attorney and first-time candidate didn’t let her lack of political experience deter her from community leadership. She said she first ran for office because she was “tired of these same career politicians using City Hall for their personal profit and career ambitions.”
As Jurado prepares to take the reins on Dec. 9, she’s promising a new era of leadership for CD 14, one that staves off the scandal and corruption that has plagued this district for years and makes way for a more transparent relationship between representative and constituent. That new direction, Jurado said, is what is needed to restore trust in local government and address a slew of community issues that have long gone neglected.
“People are tired of the status quo,” she said.
For Boyle Heights resident and business owner Guillermo Piñon, having a newcomer representing the district feels like a fresh start.
“I think a lot of us understand that she’s not going to come in with a magic wand and some fairy dust to make change immediately,” the 50-year-old said outside of his bar, Distrito Catorce. “But I think that we, with the same energy that it took to get her elected, have to keep that energy, to support her, to make sure that she succeeds. Because if she succeeds, we succeed.”
Piñon said one of the reasons he voted for Jurado was because of her pledge to improve government transparency. Jurado said she backs expanding the City Council, establishing an independent redistricting commission and supporting ethics watchdogs. She also seeks to demystify how her council district is run and wants to bring residents into the decision-making process to engage and collaborate with her constituents.
“What this does is that it gives us a real seat at the table with the people that are making the decisions that affect us,” Piñon said.
Having that open line of communication has been key for Jurado. During her campaign, it was on listening tours where she heard about the district’s most pressing issues, including the need for basic city services.
Among her top priorities when sworn in is addressing those “bread and butter issues,” supporting L.A.’s sanctuary city ordinance and fixing streetlights, including those on the iconic 6th Street Bridge.
Jurado calls fixing lighting across the district an essential “first step in making our community safe.”
While many voters saw investment in police as a step toward community safety, Jurado offers a different perspective. Jurado told LAist she would have voted against Mayor Karen Bass’ budget for this fiscal year that funded an increase in the size of the LAPD. Her vision of reimagined community safety involves reinvestment in libraries, parks, youth development, and gang intervention programs.
“I know there are Boyle Heights residents that do want more policing, but on the same note, don’t want to be over-policed. So I think we can have a mature conversation about public safety and police accountability,” Jurado said, noting that many of the services she has suggested have been historically underfunded in CD 14.
Jurado is not alone in reimagining the role of law enforcement. She joins several progressive candidates such as Nithya Raman of CD 4, Hugo Soto-Martínez of CD 13 and Eunisses Hernandez of CD 1, who all voted against pay increases for the L.A. Police Department.
Fernando Guerra, a professor of political science and Chicano/a studies at Loyola Marymount University said if these councilmembers act in concert, ”they may have tremendous impact on various policy arenas.”
Vivian Escalante is a little more skeptical. The Boyle Heights native and leader of Boyle Heights Community Partners, a nonprofit focused on historic education and cultural preservation in the neighborhood, fears Jurado’s lack of experience will ultimately undermine existing relationships the council office has with community groups like hers.
“She’s never been a part of a neighborhood council or any other political arena that her job requires,” Escalante said. “How many years are we going to have to wait until she can figure everything out?”
Escalante said she hopes she can meet with Jurado to educate her office about the importance of historic preservation, clean communities and how to recognize subtle signs of gentrification she has seen creeping into Boyle Heights.
Jurado, a single mom who grew up and currently lives in Highland Park, is familiar with those concerns.
She’s poised to lead a majority Latino district facing challenges ranging from homelessness and gentrification to affordable housing and a severe lack of parking infrastructure. She also knows that each neighborhood may require a different approach. A plan for community safety, a top concern for CD 14 residents, may look different for Boyle Heights than it does for other, more affluent neighborhoods like Eagle Rock, she said.
During her campaigning, she often spoke about moving back home with her dad after law school and seeing neighbors and businesses pushed out of Highland Park due to skyrocketing rents. “I really love this place. I don’t want it to change in ways that would hurt my community,” Jurado previously told Boyle Heights Beat.
QUESTIONS FROM OUR READERS: We asked our readers on Instagram what they wanted to ask Councilmember-elect Ysabel Jurado. This is how she responded.
Q: I’ve seen an increase in RVs around Evergreen and 1st Street. What’s your plan to ensure that the area around Evergreen Cemetery remains safe and accessible?
A: I’m going to be working hand in glove with Supervisor Solis to address our homelessness crisis problem here in the district. That is one of the first orders of business, especially in the eastern part of our district, in Boyle Heights and also El Sereno. We don’t think sweeping people off the streets into housing that doesn’t exist and criminalizing poverty is really the way…These RVs don’t have a safe place to park, and in this district, you do not have a safe park site. And so looking at where these folks with RVs can park, because that is an issue.
Q: How would your office engage with Executive Directive 1 development projects?
A: I’m all for development without displacement and making sure that the development process is transparent and open to the public, and that the community is involved as part of it. [I’ll be] looking more critically at these processes and co-governing with our constituents and stakeholders to make sure that when something is happening in their communities they have a stake in deciding what gets built in their neighborhoods and how.
