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Voters in this southwestern San Fernando Valley L.A. City Council district are choosing who will replace Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who is termed out. Their choice in the general election runoff is between Tim Gaspar, who describes himself as “the most moderate” candidate, and Barri Worth Girvan, who says she will work to “restore people’s faith in government.”
Los Angeles' 3rd Council District spans Woodland Hills, Tarzana, Canoga Park, Winnetka and Reseda. The hills south of Ventura Boulevard and the Ventura Freeway include iconic ranch-style single family homes, which in the flatter areas to the north are joined by multifamily housing and commercial strips on major streets.
Rocket engines were formerly built on Canoga Park land that once was envisioned as the new downtown of the West Valley, but the parcel remains empty pending environmental clean-up.
Adjacent land in Warner Center is slated to become Rams Village, a training facility for the NFL team and a new shopping complex to replace the Woodland Hills Promenade, which was recently demolished. The development is to include much-needed housing, as well as offices, a hotel and retail.
Voters here historically have sent centrist (for Los Angeles) Democrats and Republicans to represent them on the nonpartisan City Council.
What’s at stake in this race
This election will help determine the ideological makeup and effectiveness of the 15-member City Council.
This election is a runoff between the two candidates who got the most votes in the June primary. No candidate got the more than 50% needed to win outright.
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Citywide challenges on the agenda for the next term include federal immigration enforcement, homelessness, the city’s readiness for the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Summer Olympics and continuing city budget shortfalls.
What do City Council members do?
Council members have three distinct roles:
- Each member curates their district by identifying local problems and opportunities and working with more than 40 city departments to steer needed services to residents and businesses. They may work to bring in non-city resources in the form of county, state, federal or philanthropic grants. They serve as intermediaries between their constituents and City Hall. Members play a vital role in shaping development in their districts.
- As part of the full-time, 15-member council, they set citywide policy, adopt ordinances, commission studies and provide a counterweight and oversight to the mayor and city departments and bureaus. They adopt an annual city budget ($14.8 billion in 2026-27) based on a proposal provided by the mayor, divvying up money among the Los Angeles Police Department, homeless services, libraries, parks, sidewalk repair and tree-trimming, among other services. They approve or reject the mayor’s appointments to city commissions and to lead most city departments. They focus on areas such as policing and public safety by leading or serving as members of council committees.
- Council members often work outside their formal roles through appointment to other governmental boards such as Metro and the Metropolitan Water District and by providing leadership in their communities through assisting charities, schools and civic institutions.
Fast facts about the L.A. City Council
- Each City Council member represents about 260,000 Angelenos.
- Annual salary is $244,727.
- A term lasts four years. Members may serve a maximum of three terms.
- City elections are nonpartisan.
The candidates
Tim Gaspar, entrepreneur
Tim Gaspar
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Courtesy Tim Gaspar
)
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In deep-blue Los Angeles, centrist Democrat Tim Gaspar stands out for his business orientation. He finished first in the June primary with the help of heavy independent expenditures (not controlled by Gaspar or his campaign) from Airbnb, Uber, the California Apartment Association and the L.A. Police Protective League, the politically powerful union of rank-and-file Los Angeles police officers.
Gaspar grew up in Woodland Hills and Canoga Park and became an entrepreneur in high school and attended Pierce College before graduating from Cal State Northridge. He trained to become an insurance broker and built Gaspar Insurance Services. He recently sold the business.
He said he is running for the City Council because he is concerned about the direction of the city, and he cited insufficient investment in youth services, calls to defund the police and the election ofGeorge Gascón as district attorney in 2020 (Gascón was defeated in 2024). Gaspar said that were he on the council now, he would not have voted to approve the current city budget because it did not allocate enough money to law enforcement.
He said he would have voted against some tenant protections and opposes rent control because it “creates slumlords” and “drives prices up.”
“The city needs somebody who comes from the outside,” with business experience, he said.
At a Winnetka candidate forum in September, Gaspar laid the blame for much of the city’s ills on the state, for adopting a law to override city zoning laws and permit denser housing construction, and the county, for failing to meet its duty to provide treatment for people dealing with addiction, mental illness and poverty.
If the county did its part, he said, the city could spend much of its current $700 million annual expense for homelessness on hiring more police officers.
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He criticized Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program for homelessness, saying the job could be done better and at lower cost if contracted out to organizations like the Salvation Army.
Gaspar calls himself moderate and “a Democrat through and through” who opposes ICE raids and wants to support immigrants “working their tail off to make life better.”
Website: TimGaspar.com
- L.A. City Council members Bob Blumenfield, Monica Rodriguez, Tim McOsker and John Lee
- Kathyrn Barger, L.A. County supervisor
- Rick Caruso, L.A. businessman
- L.A. Police Protective League
- IBEW Locals 18 and 40
- See full list here
Go deeper:
Barri Worth Girvan, Valley community advocate
Barri Worth Girvan
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BarriForTheValley.com
)
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In a race between two moderate Democrats, Barri Worth Girvan brings a longer public sector resumé, the backing of the L.A. County Democratic Party and support from some of the larger public sector labor unions, and private sector unions as well. The carpenters’ union is backing her with an independent expenditure in the runoff. (Independent expenditures are not controlled by the candidate.) She had independent backing from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor in the primary.
Worth Girvan’s interest in government began when she was a UC San Diego student and interned for Rep. Brad Sherman in Washington, D.C. After earning a master’s degree, she worked in the field office for California Assemblymember Lloyd Levine, was West Valley area director for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and later was district director for state Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg. Most recently, she was community affairs director for county Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, a job in which she focused on fire recovery and constituent services. She also was government affairs and community engagement director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.
She said she would use the relationships she has built in city, county and state offices to better serve residents and businesses in the district.
She said she would also seek deeper involvement from the county departments of Public Health and Mental Health to move homeless people from encampments to shelter and permanent housing.
“We have an obligation to restore people’s faith in government, even if it’s not my jurisdiction,” she said.
She said she would make use of Sec. 41.18 to remove homeless encampments in sensitive areas, and streamline the permitting process to speed housing construction, in part to ensure the city does not lose control of development to the state.
She called ICE raids “unconscionable” and said she would work to protect communities from ripping apart families.
She has called for expanding the number of Los Angeles police officers, currently at under 9,000, to 12,000.
At a recent candidate forum, she called constituent services her “bread and butter” and said she would employ a “strike team on steroids” to deliver what residents of the district need.
She said she would work to provide more housing without negatively affecting existing residents.
“This is threading a needle,” she said, “and this comes from [my] close communication with our communities. This is how I have always done my work. This is my approach to governing over the last 20 years.”
Website: BarriForTheValley.com; LinkedIn page
- Lindsey Horvath, L.A. County supervisor
- Jeffrey Prang, L.A. County assessor
- Antonio Villaraigosa, former L.A. mayor
- L.A. County Federation of Labor
- L.A. County Democratic Party
- Democratic Party of San Fernando Valley
- SEIU Locals 721 and 2015, and UHW
- The Sierra Club
- See full list here
Go deeper:
- Insulin Ninja Skills and Other Lessons I Have Learned Loving Someone with Type 1 Diabetes (Jewish Journal)
- Airtalk interview with Larry Mantle
- Los Angeles Times: Business and labor square off in West Valley’s 3rd District council race
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