With Krekorian facing term limits, Valley candidates begin jockeying to replace him

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Dakota Smith, Julia Wick and David Zahniser sweating it out this week.

It’s hard to fathom in these dog days of summer, but the 2024 primary election for several L.A. City Council seats is just seven months away. One council race is especially noteworthy, not just because of the big money being raised but because it is the only race guaranteed to have no incumbent, leaving a wide-open contest.

City Council President Paul Krekorian, who represents part of the east San Fernando Valley, will step down after 15 years, due to term limits.

Krekorian, who is Armenian American, oversees a district that that has the highest percentage of Armenian American voters in the city (about 9%, according to Political Data Inc.) At least two Armenian American candidates in the race are raising significant funds.

Former state Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, who jumped into the race last year, has pulled in more than $432,000. Sam Kbushyan, a former union organizer and business owner, got in the race this spring and quickly raised more than $222,000, according to Ethics Commission reports.

Kbushyan previously ran for the City Council in a Hollywood-area district in 2013 and came in third. He also ran unsuccessfully in 2015 for a spot on the Los Angeles Community College District board of trustees. Nazarian previously served as chief of staff to Krekorian, both in the Assembly and at City Hall.

It’s an established fact that Armenian American voters turn out in big numbers for L.A. elections. In the recent City Council District 6 primary race, Armenian Americans made up about 12% of all those who returned ballots, despite making up about 4% of the district’s voting population.

Rose Grigoryan, a marketing consultant who is also Armenian American, ran in the recent race to replace former Council President Nury Martinez and came in fourth. She ultimately backed the winner, Imelda Padilla.

In the March 2024 primary election, Kbushyan and Nazarian could help split the vote between Armenian American voters.

Other candidates running include Manuel Gonez, an executive at Tree People and the husband of school board member Kelly Gonez; Jon-Paul Bird, a marriage and family therapist; healthcare worker Jillian Burgos; and talent agent Willie Fort.

Political consultant Eric Hacopian, who represents Narazian, shrugged off concerns about vote-splitting among Armenian Americans, taking some jabs at Kbushyan.

“You’re not talking about two equals,” said Hacopian, pointing to Nazarian’s work representing the eastern Valley in the state Assembly. He also called Kbushyan a “person no one has ever heard of.”

Kbushyan, for his part, said Hacopian must be “desperate” for making such comments. He then went on to label Nazarian “a recycled politician” and part of the “political machine.”

“We need new thinkers and new elected officials,” Kbushyan said.

Krekorian’s District 2 takes in North Hollywood, Studio City, Sun Valley, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen, Valley Village and Van Nuys.

The election in the district is one of seven council races scheduled for next March. City Councilman Kevin de León has yet to file paperwork to run for his seat on the city’s Eastside. If he does run, the Council District 2 seat would be the only wide-open council contest.

State of play

— GIVING COPS RAISES: Mayor Karen Bass announced that she and the city’s negotiating team have struck a deal with the union that represents about 9,000 police officers that would increase starting pay at the LAPD by 13% and provide four year-to-year pay increases of 3% through 2027. The tentative agreement still needs a ratification vote from the union’s memberships and approval from the City Council.

— REUNION OF RIVALS: Former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso met with Bass at City Hall on Tuesday. Bass initiated the meeting, according to a Caruso spokesperson, who said the pair had a pleasant and productive conversation, discussing how to make L.A. a better place. Bass’ team confirmed the meeting happened but declined to comment further. (Bass and Caruso had a warm rapport for years before the election, though things did get ugly in the final stages of campaigning.)

— NEW ZOO APPROVED: The City Council on Wednesday backed a major renovation for the Los Angeles Zoo, a plan opposed by neighborhood and environmental groups over concerns about construction within Griffith Park.

— FOR THE CRITTERS: L.A. is poised to pass tougher regulations for building in the hillsides between the 101 and 405 freeways. Supporters want to limit growth to protect wildlife habitat. Gwyneth Paltrow is among the measure’s opponents, who argue that the new building rules will unfairly limit how much they can build and hurt property values.

— DROPPING OUT: The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has begun reporting numbers from Bass’ Inside Safe program, which has been moving homeless people off the streets and into hotels and motels. One figure that jumped out: one out of six have left the housing provided as part of Inside Safe. In some cases, LAHSA said, those unhoused residents are being “served from the streets” — no longer in city housing but remaining in contact with outreach workers.

— HITTING 100: Meanwhile, Va Lecia Adams Kellum, the executive director of LAHSA, marked her 100th day in charge, telling reporters that her agency is working to speed up the time it takes to get homeless Angelenos out of interim shelter and into permanent housing.

— REMAKING THE MAYFAIR: Bass pressed ahead this week with her effort to buy the Mayfair Hotel and convert it into interim homeless housing, a project expected to exceed $83 million. The city’s Municipal Facilities Committee backed the purchase, with Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso voicing the lone opposition. Tso, who advises the council, said later that she had several concerns, one of which is the city’s decision to keep research on the building confidential until the sale is finalized.

— J GETS THE OK: An appellate court ruled that the L.A. County initiative known as Measure J is constitutional, overturning a lower court decision from 2021. Measure J requires that 10% of locally generated, unrestricted county money — estimated between $360 million and $900 million — go toward social services, such as housing and mental health treatment.

— LABOR UPHEAVAL AT INSIDE SAFE: Workers at the L.A. Grand, the hotel providing about 480 rooms for the city’s unhoused population since the outbreak of COVID-19, went back on strike this week. Unite Here Local 11, which represents hotel workers, filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board alleging the downtown hotel’s management violated the National Labor Relations Act “by disciplining or otherwise taking reprisal against employees for expressing concerns about workplace safety.”

Russ Cox — a representative for Shen Zhen New World I, the Chinese company that owns the L.A. Grand — said hotel management did document “a counseling session” with an employee who had repeatedly spoken about her concerns cleaning rooms for Inside Safe participants during the morning pre-shift meeting, “delaying the other workers from going to their assigned rooms.” Cox also detailed the hotel’s safety procedures. Workers at the Grand previously went on strike from July 3 to July 5, as part of the first wave of work stoppages by hotel workers in Los Angeles and Orange counties earlier this summer.

— PADILLA DEFENDS A NEW HIRE: Councilmember Imelda Padilla has hired former state Assembly staffer Mark Lomeli as her new district director. An Assembly investigation previously found that he violated the house’s sexual harassment policy in 2016, Knock LA reports. “[My] understanding is that as a father of two daughters, Mr. Lomeli has spent the years following these serious allegations, focused on redemption through his church, family and professional therapy,” Padilla told the website.

Fraught meeting over interim homeless housing

A large and at times unruly crowd packed the community room at Temple Isaiah on Thursday night for an information session about a proposed interim housing project at the intersection of Midvale Avenue and Pico Boulevard in Westwood. The loudest in the crowd vehemently opposed the 30-bed project, with several yelling over Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky and at one point chanting “recall” at her.

Yaroslavsky represents one of the city’s more affluent districts, which has an extremely limited number of interim housing beds.

A few minutes in, Mayor Karen Bass, an unannounced guest, took the microphone and threatened to shut the meeting down if people weren’t willing to listen. “How many people want to have this meeting? Raise your hands!” the mayor shouted over the angry crowd.

“The people that do not want to have this meeting — because there is nothing that could be said that is going to even have them open their mind a little bit —-maybe they can leave,” Bass added.

Bass praised Yaroslavsky’s “brave stance” and said getting people off the street will require participation from all corners of the city.

Some in the room were opposed to the project outright, while others said they resented feeling as if it was being decided without their input. A handful were vocally supportive.

“This is the beginning of the process. We are very much interested in constructive feedback, and look forward to delivering a valuable, much needed asset to the community,” Yaroslavsky spokesperson Leo Daube said Friday morning.

A number of community members inside the synagogue wore strips of blue painter’s tape on their faces to show that they felt as though they were being silenced, they said.

In order to still be able to talk, some placed the tape on or just above their upper lips, creating an accessory that bore an unfortunate resemblance to Adolf Hitler’s mustache.

Another community information session will be held on Sunday over Zoom.

Quick hits

• Where did Inside Safe go? Bass’ initiative to move people out of encampments and into housing did not venture into any new locations. However, Councilmember Traci Park continued clearing out a massive RV encampment at the Ballona Wetlands. Park provided the Westside Current some details of that operation.
  
• On the docket for next week: The council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Governance Reform reconvenes on Thursday, receiving presentations from the L.A. Governance Reform Project, Common Cause and the OUR LA coalition.