L.A. MARCH 2024 PRIMARIES: RECAP

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It’s official! There are now just 136 days before it’s “high-key” time for elections again. This is because in California ballots for the election are sent to voters some 29 days before Election Day. So then, even if Election Day is on November 5th, many of us will have the opportunity to vote on L.A. City, LAUSD, L.A. County, and even California elections as soon as October 7th, or 136 days out. In this installment we go over certified L.A. City elections to see who won, who lost out, and what you can expect this Fall if you live and vote in Los Angeles. You can also see the graphics used in this recap here. And you can watch this podcast on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on YouTube so you don’t miss our recap for LAUSD and L.A. County elections.

(1:48) Council District 2: Adrian Nazarian vs Jillian Burgos
(6:06) Council District 4: Nithya Raman
(11:36) Council District 6: Imelda Padilla
(14:56) Council District 8: Marqueece Harris-Dawson
(19:54) Council District 10: Heather Hutt vs Grace Yoo (K-Town Is Oaxacan Korean)
(24:16) Council District 12: John Lee
(29:25) Council District 14: Ysabel Jurado vs Kevin De Leon
(38:20) Patreon Shout Out!

And remember, if you’re able to, you can make a one-time donation to my nonprofit work for working-class communities in The City here.

You can also check out my Patreon page at https://patreon.com/jimbotimes; each subscription plays a real part in supporting my independent research and journalism for the nearly 10 million people who make up L.A. County. Because yes, I am in fact doing it for every last one of you!

With that said, let the city know. This is 2024’s official Primary Election RECAP by JIMBO TIMES, the L.A. Storyteller.

J.T.

THE DODGERS: COLLEAGUES, OR COLONIZERS?

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Today the Los Angeles Dodgers are worth $5.4 billion. But for the land they took to play ball, Vincent “Chente” Montalvo’s family received what his grandfather John De Nava called peanuts. His grandmother, Adela De Nava–now 91 years old(!)–also continues to stand by this claim. It’s not just about the money, though. Earlier this year, California Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo introduced AB 1950, or the Chavez Ravine Accountability Act, which would order the city of Los Angeles to atone for its part in evicting nearly 1,400 Mexican-American families in the Bishop, La Loma, and Palo Verde communities to place Dodger stadium on top. Vincent and yours truly discuss AB 1950, as well as the meaning of “reparations” in the current political environment. To follow Vincent and his work at Buried Under the Blue, do so here. You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

(1:01) Welcome Vincent “Chente Montalvo” to J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, also known as Los Cuentos De Los Ángeles
(3:43) Vincent is a founding member of Buried Under the Blue, which seeks to hold the city of Los Angeles and the Dodgers responsible for evicting his grandparents and thousands more in “Chavez Ravine”
(6:35) Vincent acknowledges the Kizh nation as the aboriginal people in Los Angeles and discerns between claims of land back for his family and land back for First Peoples
(11:38) Approximately how many people were in Bishop, La Loma, and Palo Verde, called “Chavez Ravine”?
(22:29) Vincent himself grew up in Echo Park, and also went to nearby Belmont High School, for the record
(30:34) The communities of Bishop, La Loma and Palo Verde were self-reliant and even organized their own Little League
(35:25) Private property was the fulfillment of the American Dream for Vincent’s family, until a constitutional amendment robbed them of it for the sake of the Dodgers
(40:24) Assembly Bill 1950 by Wendy Carrillo, also known as the Chavez Ravine Accountability Act, was introduced in the California legislature’s Judiciary Committee just this past March 2024
(42:13) Why Buried Under the Blue is not on board with AB 1950 in its current form
(47:51) Vincent and his family are not simply seeking financial compensation but an official apology from the Dodgers
(50:54) Due to his work Vincent has heard increasingly from Dodger fans who connect with his story
(55:55) AB 1950 in its current form does not identify the Dodgers for their instrumental role in the eviction of Vincent’s grandparents and their more than 1,000 neighbors
(59:26) How to support Vincent and his work with Buried Under the Blue

Speaking of standing atop a piece of history, please also check out Areli Morales Lopez’s latest for Making a Neighborhood, “The Last Laundromat by Venice Beach,” here. And remember that Making Our Neighborhood: Redlining, Gentrification and Housing (2021), the magazine, is once again available for purchase. Grab your copy for you and your neighborhood, here.

Last but certainly not least, to make a one-time donation to my nonprofit work for working-class communities in Los Angeles, please do so here. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast for as little as $5 a month, check out my page at patreon.com/jimbotimes.

J.T.

P.S. I will for sure have a March Primary Elections recap before our next podcast episode on May 24th. You can quote me on that!

Jeremy Tong: A Remembrance for Demetrio Zuniga Farias, Mayor of Breed Street

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On December 2nd, 2019, a small, working class community in Boyle Heights experienced a sorrowful loss when Demetrio Zuniga Farias passed away at his home on Breed Street. He was 85 years old.

Born in 1934, Don Farias made Los Angeles his permanent home in the mid-1960s. In his long tenure in the city, Don Farias was an active member of his community who was constantly providing a lending hand. In 1987, he even earned recognition from the City of Los Angeles and Governor Jerry Brown for his commitment to the public good.

When Don Farias opened and managed his own mini-market in Boyle Heights, he showed much compassion for the community, at times helping families and single mothers in need with items such as milk, tortillas, and more at his expense.

Outside of Boyle Heights, Don Farias also traveled all over Europe, loved baseball, boxing, and Mariachi music. In fact, during the 1980s, he was actually associated with the Dodgers, working with the Spanish translation group for the prized blue franchise. Don Farias also had a network in the world of boxing and counted legends such as Julio Cesar Chavez and Don King among people he knew.

Don Farias was no ordinary man. He knew how to live life to the fullest at the same time that he counted his blessings. This led many members of the community to frequently gather at his home on Breed Street, making him constantly surrounded by people who had nothing but endearment for him. Breed Street was the heart of Don Faria’s pueblo, making him to locals the “Mayor of Breed Street.”

Although this great and honorable man is no longer with us physically, Don Farias’s legacy will always be the soul of Breed Street and a gem in our hearts.

J.T.

About the author: Jeremy Tong is a resident of Boyle Heights on the east side of Los Angeles and an avid supporter of grassroots movements in the community.

Tonight is that Night

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Tonight two cities glue themselves to the edge of their seats to watch history unfold itself before their eyes. While I might hail from just one of those cities, I root for all the people from all the cities of the world who treasure any game as a medium by which to bring people and their communities together.

There is much going on in the world, but to pretend that entertainment isn’t a fundamental part of what makes us human would be like walking through the school yard past a playground during lunchtime to note only that there are kids rather than that there are kids playing and laughing and jumping to the drum of their heartbeats as they make up the moments that will make them who they are.

Games are fun. They expand our imagination and allow us to live, and sometimes even to achieve greatness. Of course they also allow us to play, and so naturally one couldn’t expect me to be serious when claiming to root for both teams as they meet one last time for all the marbels.

In the end you can’t please everyone anyhow.

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GO LOS ANGELES! JIMBO TIMES IS ROOTING FOR YOU!

J.T.