LA on the Record: Who are council members supporting in the Valley race?

Good morning and welcome to LA on the Record, our City Council newsletter. They are Dakota Smith and Jim Rainey, assisted by David Zahniser.

A handful of Los Angeles City Council members are throwing their support behind the April 4 special election to fill the San Fernando Valley seat left vacant by nury martinezthe resignation of

Council members Actual Price and heather hutt are endorsing Marisa Alcarazwho is Price’s deputy chief of staff and director of environmental policy.

Councilor nithya raman backed up Marco Santana, who works as a director at LA Family Housing. Raman called Santana a “deep thinker in policy, especially when it comes to real solutions to end homelessness.”

hayes davenport, a senior Raman adviser who volunteered in her 2020 council campaign, co-hosted a fundraiser for Santana last month. former councilor mike bonin was present during the event at the Davenport home, according to the Santana campaign. Bonin he has not endorsed anyone in the race.

Meanwhile, the councilor Monica Rodriguez backed up imelda padilla, who has worked for the nonprofit organizations Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and Pacoima Beautiful. He cited Padilla’s “long record of service to the San Fernando Valley.”

Padilla also has the endorsement of two former Valley council members: joy picus and Tony Cardenasnow a member of Congress.

Of course, political endorsements don’t always matter much to voters. And let’s not forget that being a member of the City Council can be seen by some as a responsibility.

However, some of the District 6 candidates aren’t shy about weighing in on which council members they admire. Bonin on his podcast has interviewed each of the candidateswith the exception of rosa grigoryanand asked which member of the City Council they think they are most politically aligned with.

Santana complimented Bonin on saying, “I wish I had you there,” before naming harris-dawson canopywhom he called a “really smart guy”, and Raman.

isaac kim He replied: “I like it very much. Eunisses (Hernandez) and Hugo (Soto-Martinez).”

Alcaraz said she would be politically more aligned with Price and “probably Katy (Young) yaroslavsky.”

Padilla said Rodríguez, while antoinette scully responded with, “Probably Eunisses Hernández and Hugo Soto-Martínez and a bit with Nithya too.”

sierra douglas it was with Harris-Dawson.

Look for more endorsement from politicians in the coming days, but don’t hold your breath for some of those big progressive groups to step in. As we reported last week, Ground Game Los Angeles and others are staying out of it.

Status of the situation

— I’M KATY: mayor karen bass announced on Wednesday that it had chosen Yaroslavsky to fill a vacant seat on the 13-member Metro board. The other contenders for the position were hernandez and Rodriguezas we explained last week.

— SUBWAY MESS: Speaking of Metro, Rachel Uranga of The Times offered an up-close look at the rise in drug use and passenger overdose deaths on the agency’s tracks and train platforms. A train operator gave an assessment of the situation with a single word: “Horror.” Meanwhile, Steve Scauzillo of the Daily News investigated the classical music on the rise being inflicted on customers at the Westlake/MacArthur Park station, where Metro is trying to tackle crime and loitering.

— LOW TO 100: Hosting a roundtable on homelessness at City Hall, Bass reported that he expects 4,000 people to have been housed during his first 100 days in office, a milestone that comes Tuesday. She hopes 1,000 of them will involve her Inside Safe program, which moves homeless people into motels and hotels. The vast majority of the rest involve programs that were in place before she took office.

— MISTRIAL MOVEMENT: Former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles Raymond Chan has asked a judge to declare a mistrial in his federal corruption case, saying one lawyer is too sick to continue representing him and the other is inexperienced. US District Judge John F Walter He set a hearing on the matter for next week.

— 2024 MOVEMENTS: Consultant Kerman Maddoxwho played a major role in getting Bass to run for mayor, was appointed by President Biden to the Advisory Committee on Policy and Trade Negotiations. Bass, meanwhile, was selected to serve in the advisory council for the early re-election of Bidenreported the Washington Post.

– REVISION: The Los Angeles Mayor’s Fund has a new leader and a new board. leader against poverty Conway Collis now he is president the non-profit organization announced.

Garcetti Shipment

The US Senate this week voted 52-42 to approve the former mayor eric garcetti as ambassador to India, ending a nearly two-year process delayed by the Republican opposition and suspicions over his handling of alleged sexual harassment in his office.

“Ultimately, Biden’s unwavering loyalty to Garcetti likely saved the former mayor’s confirmation,” The Times reported in a story detailing how the vote unfolded. Another Times story looked at the fallout from the scandal.

In the short term, the Senate vote helps Garcetti’s political career. The Times’ earlier review of the nine and a half years of him running the city had some political observers giving him a grade of B and a new survey of Loyola Marymount University residents seem to agree with that assessment.

About 1,000 respondents were asked to choose a grade for Garcetti and responded like this: A, 19%; B, 31.1%; C, 24.8%; D, 12.3%; F, 12.8%.

The six-week survey concluded last month and asked people in person, online and through phone calls.

“I’m not a grade ripper,” was one of Garcetti’s most memorable phrases. jokes – a comment he gave in response to a C rating he earned from The Times in 2015.

quick hits

• Where did Inside Safe go? The mayor’s homeless initiative went to two places this week: Skid Row, which has by far the highest concentration of homeless residents in the city, and Echo Park.
• On schedule for next week: On Monday, the City Council committee on City Hall reform is set to launch a plan to review lobbying rules and decide if and how those rules should be applied to nonprofit groups.