There’s an open seat in this year’s Los Angeles City Council District 2 race because current Council President Paul Krekorian is leaving his longtime seat due to term limits.
Seven are running in the March 5 primary election to replace Krekorian, including: Jon-Paul Bird, a mental health professional; Jillian Burgos, a small business owner; Marin Ghandilyan, an attorney; Manny Gonez, policy director at TreePeople; Sam Kbushyan, principal of a public affairs firm; Rudy Melendez, a laborer and artist; and Adrin Nazarian, a former assemblymember.
The winner will represent San Fernando Valley residents in North Hollywood, Studio City, Sun Valley, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen, Valley Village and Van Nuys.
If no candidate captures more than 50% of the vote in next month’s primary, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff in the Nov. 5 general election.
The following information was compiled from written statements to a questionnaire that the Los Angeles Daily News asked candidates to fill out, their comments during a candidates forum last Tuesday, Feb. 6, via Zoom hosted by neighborhood councils in City Council District 2, and information published on the candidates’ websites.
The Candidates
Jon-Paul Bird, 41, is a marriage and family therapist. He said he’d be the councilmember to examine the mental health impacts in every aspect of the city. Bird previously worked in clinics and with socio-economically disadvantaged families and now has a private practice in Sherman Oaks, where he works predominantly with Blacks, Indigenous people and people of color.
Being a therapist taught him to actively listen to people and to problem solve, he said.
“I have had the experience of counseling people from all walks of life and across the socio-economic spectrum,” he said. “I have learned how we can reform policing by being a therapist for officers as well as those who have been profiled or treated unjustly, improve mobility by working with people who depend…
Read the full article here
