Eunisses Hernandez Wants to Continue Pushing for Progress

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As she launches her reelection campaign, Los Angeles City District 1 Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez says she is eager to continue fighting to bring the resources and efficiencies her community and all of Los Angeles badly need.

In an interview conducted before the immigration raids carried out by ICE, District 1 Councilmember Eunisses Hernández spoke with Parriva about her campaign for reelection to her current position.
While the councilmember did not address the ICE raids in this interview, she has since expressed her disagreement with Trump’s measures during the raids. Her presence has been visible on the streets and at demonstrations, and her stance has been voiced in the halls of City Hall.

As she launches her reelection campaign, Los Angeles City District 1 Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez says she is eager to continue fighting to bring the resources and efficiencies her community and all of Los Angeles badly need.

Her priorities continue to be expanding affordable housing and protecting tenants, stopping the “eviction to homeless pipeline” that comes from 100 eviction filings per week, and advocating for the “most vulnerable community members on the chopping block” for budget decisions.

“It’s what drove me to run,” says Hernandez, who replaced long-time representative Gil Cedillo in 2022 and will now be the incumbent against at least three declared candidates: community advocate Elaine Alaniz, former Red Cross executive Raul Claros and former Cedillo field deputy Sylvia Robledo.

In 2026, they’ll be vying to represent a District 1with 248,000 residents (64% Latino) that covers Glassell Park, Highland Park, Chinatown, Mount Washington, Echo Park, Pico Union, Lincoln Heights and MacArthur Park (one of the densest population areas in Los Angeles County).

The youngest member of the City Council also wants to support small business owners “who are getting crushed” and tackle the delays in city resources: 10 years to fix sidewalks that ends up costing the City between $7 and $8 million in liabilities over fall lawsuits, and a year to fix a streetlight, which she wants to reduce to weeks.

“Our city is so broken,” Hernandez says, adding that she’s not only looking to improve her district, but set standards for “long-term and sustainable solutions” for the entire city.

“WE NEED TO USE OUR MONEY BETTER”

To achieve this, Hernandez stresses that the City must use its money better and force corporations to pay their fair share.

“Why are we not charging robots making deliveries utilization fees?,” she wonders. Or charge the companies behind the scooters that litter sidewalks throughout the metropolis to improve safe street infrastructure.

It also involves tackling the City’s budget. The Los Angeles City Council is waiting on Mayor Karen Bass to sign its revised $14 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2025-26.

Facing a roughly $1 billion deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, the revised plan reduces the initial 1,647 layoffs to 647 and eliminates of more than 1,000 vacant positions.

“The proposed budget; it was not a good budget,” Hernandez says, who voted for the revised plan and is proud of saving hundreds of positions, including workers who do crime scene photography and DNA testing.

“I had a big hand in amending and fixing and making it better. I’m 100 percent proud of this budget,” she says. “it’s the only budget I’ve voted yes.”

“We saved critical services for our city, we’ve invested more into the fire department,” she notes, though she cautions that it may not be what everybody wanted.

More importantly for her, the budget expands the unarmed crisis response system to three new Los Angeles Police divisions: Rampart, Mission, and Harbor.

This system is connected to 911 and allows for the deployment of mental health crisis experts for certain issues in the community instead of police.

“For them to answer a call is $35 while for police to respond is $85,” says Hernandez, whose mission is to make this program respond to a city-wide level, and “we’re closer to that.”

Besides the savings, the program saves lives.

“People in my district get killed by LAPD when in the middle of mental health crisis,” she says.

The youngest member of the City Council also wants to support small business owners “who are getting crushed” and tackle the delays in city resources.

PUSHING FOR A PUBLIC BANK

To improve City coffers, Hernandez and fellow Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Ysabel Jurado are pushing to revive an idea that voters shut down in 2018—a Public Bank. Each has destined $15,000 of their discretionary funds to assess the viability of such an institution that Hernandez says would be financially beneficial to the City.

“We pay tens of millions of dollars to private financial banks to hold our city money,” she says.

Under a public bank, the city wouldn’t pay exorbitant fees and would have more money to invest into affordable housing and other endeavors that private banks may deem “too risky.”

IMPROVEMENTS TO MACARTHUR PARK

Hernandez is also proud of the work she’s leading to improve MacArthur Park, “the only green space” for thousands of Latinos, which has been uninvested in for years.

“There was no leadership for six months and the park had deteriorated,” she says of her arrival to the City Council.

The lack of investment and disregard for the park led it to become the epicenter of overdoses in Los Angeles County– 83 people died there in 2023.

Since 2023, Hernandez’s council office, secured millions of dollars to improve the park and enhance safety for nearby residents, including at least $25 million in grants at the county, state and federal levels. Additionally, the councilwoman provided $1 million for dedicated clean teams six days a week and $950,000 for peace ambassadors seven days a week.

“We brought in money from LA County to have a mobile overdose response team that drives around the neighborhood. They’ve saved over 50 lives, and they pick up hazardous materials like picking up needles, condoms,” she says.

So far, over 13,000 hazardous items have been picked up from that area.

Peace Ambassadors also work with the community to de-escalate violence.

“We recognize that police alone can not solve the problem,” Hernandez says of these efforts that she sees as part of the “public safety ecosystem.”

She’s still looking for funds to open a respite center near the park where people can have access to healthcare, food, and other resources.

One source may be the “opioid dollars,” funds distributed to state and local governments across the United States as a result of settlements reached with various companies involved in the opioid epidemic. Los Angeles received some of that money and Hernandez wants to use it to fund her vision of a “clean, beautiful park, where people can find rest, shade, and where there can be aquatic activities.”

“We’re working towards that because the community that lives there deserves that,” she notes.

IMMIGRATION PROTECTIONS

Undocumented residents also deserve help amid the ongoing immigration raids.

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a sanctuary city ordinance in November 2024, that prevents city resources from being used to assist federal immigration enforcement, including the Los Angeles Police Department.

But immigration raids continue in the City.

On Friday, June 6, federal agents detained multiple people outside the Home Depot in the 1670 block of Wilshire Boulevard, between Burlington and S. Union avenues, very near MacArthur Park.

Hernandez warns that even with the Sanctuary City ordinance they approved, “the federal government can do what they like. They can come in here and they can take people.”

So, she helped secure and save $1 million for the Represent LA Program, which offers legal services for undocumented people in Los Angeles, in the newly revised budget.

She also encourages people to participate in the “Know Your Rights” events that seek to teach people what to do in case immigration agents knock on their doors, and also to build a block-by-block program where people can share information instantly on raids.

It’s better to practice and be prepared for what may happen than to be completely off guard, she says.