Photo: Team Santana / Courtesy
Four months before the special election to elect the successor to former Councilwoman Nury Martínez, a candidate with Mexican roots is determined to represent District 6 of the City of Los Angeles.
This area is located in the San Fernando Valley and includes areas such as Arleta, Lake Balboa, North Hollywood, North Hills, Panorama City , Van Nuys and Sun Valley.
Marco Santana, of 33 years old, is a native of the San Fernando Valley. His parents and two older brothers were born in Mexico, while he and his two younger brothers were born in California.
Santana said that from a very young age he learned the importance of hard work. His grandfather was a farm laborer in Oxnard in Ventura County, while his father began working in construction at a very young age.
He assures that if elected as councilman, his priorities will be access to affordable housing and living wages for working families.
“We have to build more housing for everyone,” Santana said. “There are many families that work but their salaries are not enough for the high cost of living.”
In his experience, being a representative in the San Fernando Valley is an added responsibility since despite being part of the In the city of Los Angeles, residents have a feeling of not belonging because their representatives are too far away. , but he realized that this is the place where he grew up and lives up to now.
“I thought, someone is going to jump in and I think I have all the necessary credentials to occupy the position”, said the young Millennial.
Your experience
Santana worked for Congressman Tony Cárdenas and Senator Bob Hertzberg focusing on making constituents’ voices heard and addressing their concerns. ions.
He currently works as director of engagement at the non-profit organization LA Family Housing, where they focus on providing solutions for the homeless and people facing the prospect of losing their homes to create safer communities and neighborhoods.
Santana also serves as a board member for the Mid-Valley YMCA to help youth, as well as Initiating Change In Our Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation (ICON CDC), that empowers local small businesses by providing them with the resources and training they need to succeed.
Has served as comptroller for the San Valley Democratic Party Fernando and Vice President of the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats.
Santana said her entire family is very excited to see that she is running for be a councilor A title that, until recently, they thought could only be requested by a worker with years of experience in the town hall.
The special election to fill the vacancy in District 6 is scheduled for April 4, .
In search of the culprit of the audios
The special election for the 6th district of the city of Los Angeles is the result of an audio recording where Nury Martínez and councilors Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León are heard making racist comments.
Although the audio was recorded in October 1258, it was published just weeks before the November elections. Almost immediately, the Los Angeles Police Chief (LAPD), Michel Moore, announced that an investigation would be carried out to find whoever published the audios.
Under California law, illegal recording can be considered a felony. Latinos accused of racism have repeatedly indicated that they did not know they were being recorded.
The LAPD recently executed several search warrants to gain access to communications from social media accounts, including one where the audio was originally leaked in September, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Among the most offensive comments for many people was the fact that Martínez said that the adopted son of African-American descent Councilman Mike Bonin, who is white, “looks like a monkey” for jumping on the float where several political figures were going. The Oaxacan community was also enraged when Martínez called them “ugly” and neither Cedillo nor De León did anything to stop the conversation.
Martinez and Ron Herrera, then president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and who was also present at that meeting, were forced to resign from their posts.
Meanwhile, De León and Cedillo refused to resign, but were suspended from leadership in the commissions they headed in the city council. Cedillo’s position ends next week after losing the elections in June to the new councilor Eunisses Hernández.