Ten candidates to replace outgoing LA City Councilmember Curren Price Jr. took the stage of a South Central church for a candidate forum on Sunday afternoon.
The event at Zion Temple Community Church was the first time the candidates gathered to share their platforms and field questions from community members since filing official paperwork to run.
The race to fill Price’s District 9 seat remains the most crowded in the city’s June 2 primary election other than the mayor’s race, according to city clerk documents.
Voters in the district — which covers Historic South Central, Exposition Park and surrounding neighborhoods — will select a new councilmember for the first time in more than a decade as Price is term-limited. It could also be the first time since the 1960s that the ninth district is not represented by a Black councilmember.
And, voters do not yet have an official list of candidates. By Sunday’s forum, just six candidates — Estuardo Mazariegos, Jorge Nuño, Jose Ugarte, Elmer Roldan, Martha Sánchez and Jorge Hernandez Rosas — had met the city clerk’s standard to be on the ballot. The LA City Clerk’s office told The LA Local on Friday the list of candidates would be finalized soon.
Adriana Cabrera, Michelle Washington, Enrique Hernandez-Garcia and Chris Martin joined the forum despite not qualifying. Martin and Cabrera each told The LA Local they plan to challenge the city clerk’s decision on their nomination petitions in court.
Most of the group on Sunday voiced similar perspectives on the top problems in the district, including illegal trash dumping and a general lack of city resources, but diverged on how exactly to tackle thornier housing and public safety troubles.
Here’s what the candidates said about some of the top issues facing Council District 9:
How they would tackle high rents
Candidates were all over the map on the best way to make housing more affordable.
Sánchez took aim at state housing development regulations that she said prevented the city from building a more livable community.
Ugarte, who worked in Price’s office for 13 years, said he’d start with an eviction moratorium. Later in the forum, he said the district has some of the cheapest housing costs in the city.
“I think we’ve done a good job,” he said.
Roldan said he’d work to rezone the district and enable more mixed-use development.
“We need to transform all the empty lots in South Central Los Angeles,” he said.
Washington and Martin each said they’d use funds already in city coffers to build more affordable housing.
How they would ensure public safety
Ugarte touted previous city efforts to hire more Black and Latino police officers to patrol South Park.
“That’s the kind of thing we want to see. We want to see more officers that look like us,” he said.
Others countered with alternatives to policing. Mazariegos and Roldan each pitched unarmed personnel who could respond to incidents like mental health crises.
Nuño said he doesn’t think more police are the best bet for public safety.
“When I think of public safety, I don’t think of more police. “I think of more resources for young people, I think of youth employment,” he said.
Cabrera said she doesn’t believe the Los Angeles Police Department is doing enough, considering its share of the city budget, and that some of its funding should be reallocated.
Some directed their attention to issues aside from crime, such as inaccessible sidewalks and dangerous street intersections. Hernandez Rosas said residents have grown accustomed to broken street lights, dirty streets and unenforced illegal dumping.
“We need to fight back,” he said.
How they would boost the local economy
A few candidates pointed out that the economic engines of the district — Exposition Park, L.A. Live and the L.A. Convention Center — are concentrated in the northern end, with less commercial opportunity further south.
Roldan said he’d demand more of the profits from events in those areas, especially those that could be brought in by the 2028 Olympics, be invested back into the district.
Mazariegos said he’d try to replicate local success stories like Mercado la Paloma, the nonprofit food market home to the Michelin-starred Holbox.
“It’s an excellent choice to have throughout the district, small business development that truly does uplift the community,” he said.
Martin and Nuño each said they would invest in revitalizing Central Avenue, once the Black entertainment capital of LA.
