Los Angeles City Elections 2013 Report

by Andrew Garsten

The proposed development at Barlow Hospital remains a central divider between the candidates in CD1 and CD13 in the upcoming run-off election, and may be representative of the type of direction these council offices will take on future issues of concern to the community. Echo Park residents need to pay attention to these candidates, evaluate their positions regarding community issues, and make sure to actively get out the vote on May 21st.

In the March election results for CD1, Gil Cedillo garnered 49% of the votes just barely missing winning the election outright. Cedillo is unequivocally supporting the development at Barlow. His campaign is heavily backed by labor unions. He will be facing the runner up – Jose Gardea, who from the beginning of the campaign publicly promised that he would oppose the Barlow development plans.

In CD13 the campaign had 11 candidates. With so many candidates dividing the electorate, a run-off was almost inevitable. Mitch O’Farrell was The March 5th election had very poor turnout throughout the city – less than 20% of registered voters participated. It is expected that the May 21st Run-off will see an even small percentage of the electorate. The EPIA believes that who runs our council offices can make a huge difference to our immediate quality of life issues as well as the long term quality of our community.

We urge our members to learn more about the candidates and evaluate their suitability to serve the communities they represent. We also urge our members to actively strive to get out the vote for the May 21st Run-off.the winner of this election, with second place coming to John Choi. O’Farrell, like Gardea, publicly promised that he would oppose the Barlow development plans from the beginning of the campaign. Choi on the other hand denied sufficient knowledge to take a position on Barlow during candidate forums until very close to the March election, when he said he was opposed to the Barlow plans as currently presented. These denials of sufficient knowledge were simply untrue. Before the campaign began in earnest, many community leaders including myself, discussed in depth the Barlow project to John, and its importance to the community. Choi’s campaign, by-the-way, is backed by exactly the same labor unions as Cedillo.

The March 5th election had very poor turnout throughout the city – less than 20% of registered voters participated. It is expected that the May 21st Run-off will see an even small percentage of the electorate. The EPIA believes that who runs our council offices can make a huge difference to our immediate quality of life issues as well as the long term quality of our community. We urge our members to learn more about the candidates and evaluate their suitability to serve the communities they represent. We also urge our members to actively strive to get out the vote for the May 21st Run-off.

Published in the April-May 2013 issue of EPIAn Ways