‘Don’t move, improve,’ says Angeleno running to become the next councilman representing South LA

Social entrepreneur and community activist Jorge Nuño has lived in South Los Angeles his entire life and hopes to create bigger and better changes if he becomes the next councilman representing the area.

For the first time since 1963, it is very likely that the next Los Angeles Council seat for District 9 will not be represented by a Black person. So far, the six candidates are Latino: Jorge Nuño, Jose Ugarte, Estuardo Mazariegos, Elmer Roldan, Martha Sánchez and Jorge Hernandez Rosas. 

The latest demographics show that CD9 is composed of 78% Latinos and 13% Black. 

However, Nuño said he doesn’t focus so much on ethnicity as he does in the representation because any candidate that wins will be the councilman of all the residents of CD9 despite of political views or immigration status. 

Lead by example

The proud Angeleno’s motto is “Don’t move, improve,” and he has been leading by example for the past two decades. After he graduated from college, he started a lucrative design company, but refused to move out of CD9.

“I was the kid whose parents told me, ‘be a professional,’ but one thing my parents didn’t tell me is, ‘get out of the hood’,” he said. 

So he didn’t see a reason to move out of the area where he had lived all his life. In 2005, he bought his first home on 35th Street and Maple St. The three-story house was very big with 10 bedrooms and a large backyard. While he loved the house, he didn’t need all the space, so he turned it into a hub for the community. 

From hosting local meetings and community reunions, renting office space, creating a small skate park outside and a safe environment for the youth to even hosting Quinceañera parties, the Big House, which is the name many know the location by, became well known and respected in the community. 

The same attention and interest Nuño created for his community for several years in the Big House is what he wants to replicate at the local level as the elected official representing the area.

“I realized that’s my purpose: to bring people together,” he said. “I think that as I look forward, it prepared me for this moment because a councilmember is really about allocating resources, organizing folks, really bringing coalitions and making people work together and opening doors.”

The promises

Nuño said there are several priorities to address in CD9. He said he has encountered several voters who complain about the filthy streets, illegal dumping, lights that don’t work, cars parked on the same spot for months, unsafe parks and the lack of responsiveness from CD9, often  without providing updates.

“Things have deteriorated and we could point at so many things from bad policy to bad office to bad leadership, but everyone’s fully responsible,” he said. “To me, this is the moment that we can reset the direction. The problem is not that we should reset, but it’s getting a leader that’s willing to do that.”

That’s why, he said, it is vital to pay attention to home-grown community leaders who want the best for their communities instead of “made-up politicians” that are “cutting deals with the establishment.”

Nuño said this is the place where he raised his two children, where his parents own a home and where his dad has also forged a successful business. 

“I’m all about resources. I’m the son of a gardener, I like things clean,” he said. 

The difficulty of politics

Running for CD9 is not Nuño’s first rodeo. He ran for the district in 2017 against incumbent Curren Price Jr. After Price won, Nuño tried to become an ally; however, he felt deceived after seeing that Price wasn’t paying enough attention to the district.

“After we saw him performing and the things he was doing, the moves he was making, we realized ‘you are not really about us.’” Nuño said, explaining that they fought against Price’s plans to gentrify the area and instead focused on more affordable housing.  

While Nuño was being optimistic about positive changes, he also faced the reality of how important it is to be part of the political establishment instead of just being part of the community.

“In order to run for politics, the political community has to know you too,” he said.

This time he feels more comfortable because he has more experience than the first time he ran. He confidently said he’s not part of any “political clique” but keeps good relationships with several elected officials. 

Nuño assumes that people who come from the political establishment – like Jose Ugarte, one of his opponents  – don’t want anything to change.

“If you gain the full support from that office [CD9] they want things to stay the same. If [Ugarte] really wanted something to change, he would've done it while he was in office with Curren Price Jr.,” he said. 

Price  has been under such direct scrutiny after being charged with embezzlement, perjury and conflicts of interest in a corruption case. 

Nuño said he doesn’t care about the ethnicity of the next councilmember, but he cares more about the actions they will bring. 

“Pick the right candidate. Even among Latinos, you have to choose the right Latino,” he said.