Supervisors launch campaign to assess governance options in East LA

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on June 5, 2025.

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors has initiated a campaign to explore alternative governance options in unincorporated East L.A.

A motion authored by Supervisor Hilda Solis of County District 1 was unanimously approved on Tuesday, directing the County Chief Executive Office to hire a consultant to conduct community outreach. The goal: gather feedback and provide recommendations on forming a Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) or Town Council that would serve as a direct advisory body to the county for East L.A. residents.

The motion follows the recent release of a fiscal report from the County CEO, which assessed the feasibility of cityhood for East L.A. – the first financial review in over a decade. The study found that incorporating the area would result in a financial deficit of $27.8 million, suggesting cityhood is off the table, for now.

“The data reaffirms the findings from the previous report: cityhood isn’t financially viable for East L.A. at this time,” Solis said in a press release. “As the county continues to deliver essential services, this motion will ensure East L.A. residents have intentional and additional opportunities to share input, stay informed and engage with my office on the issues that matter most to them.”

During Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, County CEO Fesia Davenport detailed the report’s findings to the Board of Supervisors, emphasized the community’s economic shortcomings and broke down some of the top revenue sources and costly expenditures.

“At this level of deficit, the new city would have insufficient funding for necessary municipal services, staff, facility costs, etc. It would not be able to build any reserves… It would be in a financial crisis on day one,” Davenport said.

Solis, who has served East L.A. in different capacities for more than 30 years, acknowledged the challenges the community faces.

“It’s unfortunate because the community, I do believe, has been left behind. This started decades ago and it’s hard, I think, for us to move in a direction to establish cityhood at this time but I do think they need to have representation in terms of voices, but that’s advisory,” Solis said during the meeting.

As an unincorporated area, East L.A. relies on the county to provide services such as police, fire, solid waste, water and libraries. According to the financial report, the cost of county services surpasses the amount of tax revenue the area generates.

The analysis instead recommends the formation of a MAC or Town Council to give residents more advisory power about the unique issues in their communities.

Davenport described MACs as a “listening ear” for community residents, serving as a bridge to the Board of Supervisors and Solis’ office.

Town Councils are composed of volunteers, while MAC members are elected or appointed by the Board of Supervisors, something that raised concerns among some residents, like East L.A. resident Genesis Coronado.

“Our community doesn’t want an appointed body of residents, we want an elected body of residents and will not accept anything less than that,” Coronado said during public comment. “If Altadena, a community of approximately 40,000 residents has a town council elected by the community, why would East L.A. not be allowed to elect their community representatives?”

Another East L.A. resident, Shirley Rivera, said she has long benefited from the county investments in her community, but didn’t want incorporation to be off the table entirely.

“Although cityhood for East LA would be an eventual hope… I want to support the Town Council or MAC,” she said.

The outreach process will incorporate perspectives from East L.A. stakeholders in the communities of Belvedere/Obregon Park, City Terrace, Eastmont, Garfield, Maravilla, Saybrook, Union Pacific and Winter Gardens, along with local businesses and nonprofit organizations.

A report with findings and recommendations is expected within 180 days.