Voters Will Soon Choose Who Will Replace Nury Martinez, Plus Other News

It’s been about five months since the City Hall tape scandal threw a bombshell into L.A. city politics — you know, the time when three city councilmembers and the president of the L.A. County Federation of Labor were caught on tape making racist and derogatory remarks while discussing how to amass more power in L.A.’s redistricting process. City Council President Nury Martinez, who was part of that conversation, resigned days later under public pressure.

Why this race is a 'big deal'

Now, voters in her San Fernando Valley city council district will be choosing her replacement. There’s a special election scheduled for April 4. If you’re a registered voter in Council District 6 — which includes Arleta, Panorama City, Van Nuys, Sun Valley, Lake Balboa, and parts of North Hollywood and North Hills — you should be getting a mail-in ballot sometime this week. (Input your address here to double check whether you’re in District 6.)

Choosing a new city councilmember is a big deal. These seats are so powerful they’re sometimes referred to as “fiefdoms.” Not only do councilmembers make laws that affect the entire city, but they have a lot of influence over how things are run in their individual districts — whether and what kind of housing gets built, how to enforce (or not enforce) L.A.’s anti-camping law against unhoused people, whether and where to install protected bike lanes or new traffic lights, and a lot more.

And of course, in this race, there is a major opportunity to elect someone to restore some of the trust that was broken in the aftermath of the leaked tape.

There are seven candidates in the running for the April 4 special election: Marisa Alcaraz, Rose Grigoryan, Isaac Kim, Imelda Padilla, Marco Santana, Antoinette Scully, and Douglas Sierra. Three of the candidates have worked for local elected officials at some point in their careers, while the other four have never worked in government at all.

I’ve spent the past few weeks watching many hours of candidate forums and interviews, and I put together summaries of each candidate’s stances on some of these topics.

They actually agree on quite a few issues — most of them support building more housing and temporary shelters to address homelessness in L.A. and on expanding the L.A. City Council, for example. But they also differ on big topics like whether to increase or decrease the number of LAPD officers.

You can check out our full CD6 special election voter guide here.

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Wait... One More Thing

Top Three Tea-Spping Trends

Manager Tommy Lasorda of the Los Angeles Dodgers applauds his players during the Dodgers versus Philadelphia Phillies game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on June 11, 1995. This weekend a stretch of road on the 5 Freeway, near Fullerton, was named in honor of him. (J.D. Cuban/Allsport via Getty Images)

It’s the start of the week. Time to review what people were talking about over the weekend.

3. Chris Rock’s Selective Outrage — It appears Chris Rock is still pretty angry about that slap last year. The reaction to the Netflix comedy special “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage” has been mixed after he dropped an eight-minute expletive-laden tirade against Will Smith and his wife actress Jada Pinkett. Some fans gave him what is in essence a high-five on social media for the roast while others questioned why he got the space to rant and, as some pointed out, punch down on Black women.

2. Tommy Lasorda Memorial Highway —Former Dodgers managers Tommy Lasorda now has a stretch of road named after him, on the 5 freeway near Fullerton, the city where he lived after the team came to California. The dedication took place on Saturday morning. Lasorda helped the Dodgers secure two world championships, four National League titles and eight division titles.

1. Why Jamie Lee Curtis Is Skipping The Nominees’ Dinner — One of the reasons we all love Jamie Lee Curtis is that she keeps it real. The Oscars are around the corner and she has been nominated for the first time for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Still, she is not going to the exclusive nominees’ dinner on Thursday. Why? A need for sleep. Here she is explaining her reasoning. Oh, and another recent classic moment, her “nepo baby” remark during her “I’m an actor” speech at the SAG Awards.