LOS ANGELES — Carving out a space on 1st street in Boyle Heights near the historic Mariachi Plaza is seen as the pinnacle of success for many first-generation small business owners in East Los Angeles.
But in the last few years, some of those businesses – including La Casa del Músico, a music equipment store that operated on 1st street for the last 45 years – have shuttered. The owners of the music shop cited rising rent and waning customer support as the driving forces behind their decision when they finally closed their doors in October of 2023.
Newcomer to this block, Guillermo Piñon, who opened his restaurant Distrito Catorce in 2021, says he’s not surprised. This business corridor has been suffering for years, he says.
Piñon believes a recent spike in violence is one of the factors keeping customers away.
“If you go outside and walk on our sidewalk, there’s blood splatter, there’s blood droppings. We hear gunshots, or shootings,” Piñon says.
According to the Attorney General’s office, violent crime increased by 6.7% in California in 2021. Data from the LAPD showed a similar spike in Los Angeles, but since then, violent crime rates have been trending downward.
But for business owners like Piñon, the issue is still hitting too close to home.
“You know when you come here and you don’t feel safe, then that’s a problem for business,” he says. “There’s a lot of businesses that have closed down, a lot are struggling. It’s not cool to be having dinner and then all of sudden you hear six gunshots, which just happened the other day.”
The issue of crime and public safety is a defining one in the race for LA City Council’s District 14 seat, which includes all or parts of the Downtown LA, Eagle rock, Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, Highland Park and Hermon neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Incumbent Kevin de León is taking a more traditional approach on the issue – aligning with LA Mayor Karen Bass’s vision for an increased police presence, and additional funding for the LAPD to tackle crime.
His challenger, tenants’ rights attorney Ysabel Jurado, has a different plan. Instead of investing more in policing, Jurado wants to focus on programs that address the root causes of crime. Her proposal would redirect funds from the LAPD to initiatives in gang prevention, youth development, mental health and housing resources.
Political expert Dr. Raphael Sonenshein with the Haynes Foundation says the outcome of this issue could tip the scales in this tight race, but only by a razor-thin margin.
“I would put it this way, there’s a constituency for both the progressive view on limiting the budget share that goes to the police, and the more centrist view of Kevin de León that the police are an important part of public safety for the community,” he says. “It’s not as if one has a dominance of the district than the other.”
The issue is further complicated by a recent recording from a Cal State Los Angeles meet and greet event, in which first-time candidate Ysabel Jurado was heard quoting a rap lyric, “F— the police, that’s how I treat him,” in her response to a question about policing.
Jurado defended her comments in a written statement, saying “In a meeting with students at Cal State LA, I quoted a lyric from a song that’s been part of a larger conversation on systemic injustice and police accountability for decades.”
She went on the say “my commitment to public safety remains as strong as ever.”
Her opponent, Kevin de León called the remarks, “simply disrespectful.”
The student who posed the question to Jurado, and recorded her answer, and shared it with the press, is a part-time staffer of de León, according to sources. When asked if the part-time staffer was tasked by his campaign to fabricate a gotcha moment, de León said, “he attended that event like any other student that was invited publicly to be at that forum, and he actually got the answer that I’ve been asking for five consecutive debates.”
Both the issue of crime and public safety, as well as the controversial remarks, have left longtime East LA residents, like Piñon, with a critical choice – entrusting a familiar face to lead District 14, or betting on a newcomer who would mark a progressive shift.
For Piñon, the decision boils down to what’s best for his community. “There’s a lot of beauty here, there’s a lot of upswings... but there’s also some bad elements,” he says.
And whoever can address those bad elements best, he says, will have his vote come November.
