Tensions boil over as candidate storms out of Council District 1 forum

This story was originally published by The LA Local.

It was the candidate forum meant to address some of the most pressing issues facing Council District 1.

Instead, Thursday night’s event at Benjamin Franklin High School devolved into disorder as tensions escalated over topics ranging from homelessness and immigration enforcement to policing and access to green space.

There were jeers from the crowd, heated exchanges amongst the candidates, and at least one person was escorted out for disrupting the event. 

The race arrives as Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, elected in 2022, is nearing the end of her four-year term representing North East Los Angeles, Chinatown, Pico Union, parts of Koreatown and Westlake, which includes MacArthur Park.

The disruptions came after candidates underscored what is at stake in one of Los Angeles’ most consequential local races in one of the most densely populated districts and home to largely working-class and immigrant communities. 

The district faces overlapping challenges: high housing density, a large population made of up renters vulnerable to displacement, visible homelessness, and limited access to parks and open space.

The district is also a focal point for immigration-related concerns, with many residents closely affected by federal enforcement activity, as well as ongoing debates over policing and public safety.

Toward the end of the evening, the debate finally got out of hand.

“I’m sorry, say that again,” Raul Claros, a candidate and longtime organizer in Pico Union, yelled out at someone he thought was heckling him from the audience. 

“No, we’re not. We’re not responding to the crowd,” moderator and Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano said in an attempt to calm the room.

The crowd didn’t look surprised because they had been hearing hecklers and fiery exchanges amongst the candidates throughout. Claros continued to address the person in the audience.

“You want to be tough when you wanted to yell that out, right?” he said to the person in the crowd.

The outburst came after an earlier disruption, when a woman in the audience repeatedly yelled at the candidates in Spanish, and asking for a translator. At the time, Arellano told her to respect the process as she continued interrupting the forum. 

“Have respect for us too, we vote too,” she told Arellano in Spanish.

Security guards, who had been stationed throughout the auditorium monitoring disruptions, escorted her out of the auditorium. Arellano later clarified that he had not heard exactly what the woman was asking for.

Claros pointed to what he saw as a double standard.

“Gustavo, you just escorted a Latina lady out for asking for Spanish translations,” Claros said. “Do the right thing, Gustavo. This isn’t Irvine, Gustavo,” he said, referencing a recent column from Arellano, where he compared MacArthur Park to the Orange County city.

Moments later, Claros stood up and walked off the stage and out of the forum.

The chaotic ending mirrored a forum that, at times, struggled to stay focused on policy.

At least 100 people were in attendance for the forum organized by the Benjamin Franklin High School Parent Teacher Student Association. The event was moderated by Arellano and high school junior Emma Lee Del Hierro.

The candidates included the incumbent Hernandez, Claros and Sylvia Robledo. 

Hernandez grew up in Highland Park and attended Benjamin Franklin High School. Her background is in community organizing, including for organizations like JusticeLA, Reimagine LA County and Students Deserve. 

Meanwhile Claros grew up between Pico Union and Koreatown. He is the former executive director of the American Red Cross and also a longtime community organizer in the area, especially the El Salvador Corridor.  

Robledo is from Northeast Los Angeles and is a former field deputy for former CD 1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo. She has also been involved in community health initiatives and others to get more women into elected office. 

Two candidates — Nelson Grande and Lou Calanche — did not attend Thursday’s forum.

Grande said he declined to participate due to questions about the neutrality of the forum, while Calanche expressed similar concerns. 

Even as tensions dominated the night, candidates addressed major issues in the district including homelessness, immigration enforcement, policing and public space.

The candidates on homelessness

When it came to homelessness, Hernandez focused on housing and resources her office has already delivered for the district. 

“No one deserves to live on our streets. No families deserve to have to walk through encampments to get to school, to get to home. We should have clear neighborhoods,” she said.

She pointed to new beds in Cypress Park and efforts to house people living along the 110 freeway.

Claros framed homelessness as a crisis needing enforcement.

“The way that I plan on addressing the crisis that we have, which is a drug addiction crisis, is to enforce the current laws,” he said.

He cited LAMC 41.18 and Proposition 36, arguing both should be more aggressively implemented to move people into treatment, shelter or jail.

Meanwhile, Robledo called for dismantling existing agencies.

“I want to get rid of the Los Angeles homeless authority. I think they are irresponsible, almost to the point of corruption,” she said.

The candidates on immigration

On immigration enforcement, candidates offered some of the starkest contrasts of the night.

Hernandez pointed to policy and direct aid.

“I didn’t wait for Trump to get sworn in to take action against what the federal government was going to be doing to our communities, because this is not the first time that he’s been in office,” she said. “I’ve invested our CD1 discretionary funds in supporting families impacted by the raids and helping them pay back rent.”

She described building a “community defense network,” expanding food access, and restoring funding for legal defense programs for immigrants facing deportation.

“I put forward the sanctuary city ordinance that prevents LAPD from interacting and enabling federal immigration enforcement, and when it looks like they have been we put motions forward to hold them accountable for that,” she said. “We had to do the work to make that happen.”

Claros sharply criticized those efforts.

“Our people were still kidnapped. We’re still living in fear,” he said.

He then made one of his most striking claims of the night:

“Guess who ran ICE out of there by myself?”

He tied that claim to areas like MacArthur Park, Cypress Park and the El Salvador corridor, arguing the incumbent had not been present where enforcement was happening.

Robledo’s position on ICE came up earlier in the rapid-fire portion of the debate, and she would not support divesting city funds from companies connected to ICE.

The candidates on policing

On policing, candidates were asked how they would respond to concerns about excessive force against students and protesters.

Robledo emphasized reform and accountability.

“Well, excessive force is never acceptable, and neither is racial profiling. Every male member of my family has been subjected to racial profiling,” she said.

She called for reviewing tactics, changing policies, and removing officers who repeatedly engage in misconduct.

Hernandez highlighted legislative action.

“In the last 50 weeks of the federal immigration raids, I’ve submitted about 22 motions to hold LAPD accountable for the overuse of force,” she said.

Claros focused on leadership changes in the city more broadly.

“We need a new chief of police because we need a new mayor, and we need a new council member. We need a clean house,” he said.

The candidates on park spaces

Later, a question about community gardens expanded into a broader debate about safety and access to parks. Hernandez pointed to investments that her office has already made for Solano Canyon Community Garden, Highland Park Community Garden and the Cesar Chavez Community Garden in Pico Union – that’s currently going through a name change process.

“The creation of green space is really important to me,” she said. “Community gardens add to that green space.”

Claros fired back at Hernandez and pointed specifically to conditions in Cypress Park.

“So, Cypress Park and Cypress rec center, drive through there today: RV Central, homeless encampments everywhere, no usage of green space for our youth and families,” he said.

Robledo emphasized safety.

“It’s important that people feel safe, that the bathrooms are clean and that they are without encampments,” she said. 

Both Claros and Robledo also critiqued the $27 million Hernandez said has been invested into MacArthur Park for developing a health hub and providing street medicine.

“For all that money being spent on MacArthur Park, the women are with their kids in a little corner playing with the swings when there’s drug addicts and homeless all over the place,” Robledo said. 

But Hernandez pointed to her office’s work in MacArthur Park, including investments to deploy unarmed crisis response teams in the area.

The end of the forum

Towards the end, the event appeared to reflect the deep divisions in the race to represent the district. That’s when Claros walked off the stage, leaving behind the other two candidates to wrap up the conversation with the audience and the moderators.

After the forum, Claros told The LA Local he stood by his decision to leave, saying the situation was unfair and that he would not stay in an environment where rules were not applied equally.

In the audience, reactions reflected that divide.

Some, like Cypress Park resident Susan Rocha, said the forum felt chaotic but revealing.

“Hernandez is only concentrated on ICE and hasn’t concentrated on our community,” she said. “There’s no solution to the homelessness after four years. Look at MacArthur Park. It’s a disaster. 

Others, including Shannon Axe, 25, said Hernandez’s explanations of her work — particularly on housing and immigration — showed she was delivering results.

“I think that she’s been doing a lot of amazing work,” she said. “I think that oftentimes people are just so quick to be hateful and judgmental and don’t look at somebody’s record and see the work that they have done for the community.”

The candidates are expected to meet again on April 14 for another candidate forum.