Nazarian Takes Early Lead in Race for L.A. City Council District 2

Former Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian held a nearly 17-point early lead Tuesday evening over business owner/political newcomer Jillian Burgos, who are vying to succeed longtime City Councilman Paul Krekorian for his Second District seat on the L.A. City Council.

Nazarian received 26,616 votes, about 58.48% of the vote, while progressive challenger Burgos received 18,896 votes, or 41.52%, according to early results released by the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Nazarian and Burgos are vying to represent the Second District, encompassing the East San Fernando Valley neighborhoods of North Hollywood, Studio City, Sun Valley, Valley Glen, Valley Village, Van Nuys and Toluca Lake. Krekorian, who has served nearly 15 years, will be vacating his position due to term limits in December.

On Oct. 18, Nazarian sat down with City News Service to talk about why he thinks CD2 voters should elect him.

"My goal and desire, my personal mission, is to make Los Angeles a sustainable city," Nazarian said. "Sustainability, to me, means a place that continues to prosper as it's growing."

Nazarian said he supports building more housing while protecting the city's limited green open spaces, and would like to invest significantly in public transportation.

Immediate issues he'd work to address, he said, are the dual crises of homelessness and a lack of affordable housing, as well as bolstering public safety.

Nazarian acknowledged the Los Angeles Police Department's challenges with low morale and its dwindling rank-and-file.

"What I'm seeing, when I'm talking to constituents and voters, I see that people care for their public safety officers," Nazarian said. "They want to have more police. They want to have more firefighters."

He said he hopes to unburden LAPD officers from such responsibilities as calls related to homelessness, mental health and addiction, while expanding unarmed response teams.

"Los Angeles needs to be a place where it is so safe, where young families want to raise their families here and not move away," Nazarian said. "Dreamers and entrepreneurs want to invest in Los Angeles. But if people don't feel safe ... they're not going to want to do that."

Nazarian served as an aide to Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Los Angeles, from 1997 to 1999. Then-governor Gray Davis appointed him as a special assistant to the California Trade and Commerce Agency, and he served as Krekorian's chief of staff from 2006 to 2012.

On Oct. 17, Burgos sat down with CNS on the patio of La Rochelle, a bakery and coffee shop in North Hollywood. The candidate emphasized housing, homelessness and protecting small businesses as among her priorities if elected.

"We've seen a ton of small businesses getting pushed out here in District 2," Burgos said. "This used to be TeaPop, which thankfully, they (La Rochelle) came in, which is a beautiful space. But for a couple of months, the community was really hurting."

Burgos also made a case for an expansion of rent control — both for small businesses and renters who, she said, are the quickest to fall into homelessness.

She also believes the city has not been doing well by CD2's unhoused population.

"I am a big advocate for housing," Burgos said. "Housing is a human right, and I think that we need to prioritize getting people directly into housing with wraparound services."

While the candidates both aim to reduce homelessness, their approaches differ. Burgos would like to limit or end the use of the city's anti-camping law, while Nazarian said he would continue to use it to get people housed.

"We're just moving them around," Burgos said. "Two, three weeks later, they're back, and I've been out there knocking on doors and it's a concern of people that the unhoused population is not being properly cared for."

She also supports unarmed response teams, similar to Nazarian.

"I think that we really just need to invest in our communities with care and preventative services, and that will make us safer," Burgos said.

Both candidates also support governance and ethics reform.

Nazarian said the difference between them lies in the three key areas: focus, experience and integrity.

"In my first election in 2012, I ran against someone who spent more than $2 million in money that he raised and independent expenditures that benefited him," Nazarian said. "I wasn't even supposed to be in office, but I stayed focused. I got a lot of things done. I was reelected four times after that."

On the other hand, Burgos — seeking elected office for the first time — said her experience as a business owner, renter and someone who's been impacted by city policies would enable her to fight on behalf of constituents.

"If we keep choosing people who are beholden to corporations, establishment politicians, the status quo — if we keep choosing those people who don't have our best interests in mind, we're going to keep suffering," Burgos said.

"It's time for us to choose ourselves. I will always keep what's in mind for people. Everything I do is people-centered, people-powered."