The primary election for Los Angeles City Council District 2 in the eastern San Fernando Valley was stacked with seven candidates seeking to fill the soon-to-be-vacant seat now held by Council President Paul Krekorian. We chose the person with the most legislative experience (former Assembly Member Adrin Nazarian) and are recommending him again for the Nov. 5 runoff.
Nazarian served in the state Assembly for a decade until 2022, and his district overlapped with much of Council District 2, which stretches from Toluca Lake and Studio City in the south through North Hollywood and Valley Glen to Sun Valley in the north. He also served as Krekorian’s chief of staff, first in the Assembly and then on the City Council when Krekorian took office in 2010.
He is deeply familiar with the district's challenges and opportunities, and has the relationships and knowledge to be an effective board member immediately.
Nazarian describes himself as a problem solver — an elected official who spends time listening to constituents, understanding their concerns and then working collaboratively to solve problems. That’s not always easy, especially with deep-rooted issues like housing affordability, homelessness and street safety that arose from decades of bad decisions and inaction.
Nazarian has shown persistence in fighting for change, even when it’s difficult. In the Assembly, he repeatedly introduced bills to increase seismic safety, even after governors vetoed his efforts. Still, Nazarian didn’t give up and passed minor reforms, including opening up financing programs to help people retrofit their properties, knowing that even modest measures could help make homes and businesses more earthquake-resistant.
Nazarian is an advocate not only of building a lot more housing in the district, but also of diversifying the types of new development. That means he will encourage a mix of affordable, middle-income, market-rate, rental and for-sale housing in this district. He wants to see more housing on major corridors and near transit, which is a good thing. But Nazarian should also be willing to consider opening up single-family zones near commercial and transit corridors for low-rise apartments, townhouses and bungalows, which will facilitate the kind of diversified housing portfolio he promotes.
Nazarian said he is committed to a humane approach to addressing homeless encampments, including working with Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program to move people into temporary housing and then into permanent housing. He supports hiring more mental health and crisis intervention workers to respond to nonviolent calls for service instead of police. But he also supports hiring more police officers so the department has enough staff to respond to community concerns and investigate and solve crimes.
Nazarian faces Jillian Burgosoptician and theater company owner who joined the North Hollywood Neighborhood Council in 2021. Burgos has helped organize support for tenant protections and unarmed response pilot programs. Like Nazarian, she wants the city to spend more money on civilian teams that can respond to calls about mental health and homeless issues, but supports Reallocation of money from the police budget to pay for these services.
Burgos is a smart and committed grassroots advocate, but Nazarian is the stronger of the two candidates due to his on-the-ground experience, long record of service, and demonstrated ability to collaborate and deliver for the community. We believe he will be a strong representative for the district and a valuable voice at City Hall.
