Seven of the City Council's 15 seats will be on Tuesday's ballot, with Bernard Parks and Jose Huizar expected to face the toughest challenges among the six incumbents seeking re-election.
LA City Election Results | March 8 Ballot Measures
Councilman Greig Smith is not seeking re-election and has endorsed his chief of staff, Mitchell Englander, to be his successor in the 12th District.
If no candidate receives a majority in any race Tuesday, the top two finishers will meet in a runoff May 17.
Second District Election
Councilman Paul Krekorian is facing businessman Augusto Bisani in the Second District.
Krekorian took over the seat that Wendy Greuel vacated to become city controller in January 2009. He beat Paramount Pictures executive Christine Essel, even though she outspent him by a 2-1 margin.
A lawyer before going into politics, Krekorian spent three years in the Assembly.
At City Hall, Krekorian pushed for legislation intended to create thousands of jobs by giving local businesses preferential treatment when bidding for contracts with the city; offered incentives to the film industry to curb so-called runaway productions; called for reforms in the Department of Water and Power; and, most recently, questioned what he considered a ``rush'' to support the creation of a National Football League stadium downtown.
Bisani owns a specialty equipment business in North Hollywood.
The Second District stretches from Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills to Big Tujunga Canyon Road in the Angeles National Forest. It includes the communities of Lake View Terrace, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Sunland, Sun Valley and Van Nuys.
Fourth District Election
Councilman Tom LaBonge is being challenged by businessman Tomas O'Grady, and neighborhood council official and bicycling activist Stephen Box in the Fourth District.
LaBonge has been on the council since winning a special election in 2001 to succeed the late John Ferraro, whom he served as an aide for 15 years. LaBonge also served on Mayor Tom Bradley's Youth Council as a teenager, and was chief of field operations for Mayor Richard Riordan.
At City Hall, LaBonge has proposed regulating food trucks to keep them from becoming traffic hazards and enable them to better co-exist with brick-and- mortar restaurants. He also negotiated an agreement to move the Los Angeles Marathon back to a Sunday in early spring.
O'Grady, manages a small residential rental portfolio. He founded the all-volunteer organization Farm Feliz in 2008 to tackle environmental and educational issues.
O'Grady introduced recycling to area schools and community centers, and also helped establish a new magnet school for environmental studies at a local middle school, among other accomplishments.
Box is a producer of music videos and commercials who became a community activist. He served as an administrator for the city's Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, working with neighborhood councils throughout Los Angeles on outreach and communications campaigns.
The Fourth District stretches from North Hollywood through Griffith Park to the Miracle Mile.
Sixth District Election
In the Sixth District, Councilman Tony Cardenas is running against businessmen Rich Goodman and Jamie Cordaro, and code enforcement official David Barron.
A former assemblyman and chair of the state's budget committee, Cardenas is trying to win his final term on the council.
Cardenas helped create a comprehensive gang intervention program that is now being touted as a model for the nation; co-authored the city's mandatory spay/neuter ordinance; and created Los Angeles' first animal cruelty task force.
Goodman, at age 27, would become the youngest member of the council if elected. He had humble beginnings but worked his way through school and eventually launched a retail e-commerce business.
Cordaro has operated a successful electrical systems business in Van Nuys for more than 20 years.
Barron is a certified construction inspector for the California State Architect.
The Sixth District is in the San Fernando Valley, and includes Encino, North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Lake Balboa, Arleta, Pacoima and Sun Valley.
Eighth District Election
Forescee Hogan-Rowles, the president of a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution, and a former commissioner on the board overseeing the Department of Water and Power, is the main challenger to Parks in the Eighth District.
Hogan-Rowles has been the beneficiary of hundreds of thousands of dollars of support from labor unions because of Parks' backing reductions of the city government's workforce and the scaling back of retirement benefits in an attempt to eliminate the budget deficit.
Hogan-Rowles has promised not to balance the budget ``on the backs of workers.''
She also vowed to "bring forth a successful conclusion to the many economic development projects that have been stalled for so many years in our communities."
Parks is the chair of the council's Budget and Finance Committee, and a former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Parks has worked to provide constituents with healthier food options by regulating the establishment of fast food restaurants; protected tenants in foreclosed apartment buildings from having their utilities shut off; required banks to keep repossessed houses from becoming a blight; and is now pushing legislation that would expand the city's smoking ban.
The third candidate in the race is Jabari S. Jumaane, who has been with the Los Angeles Fire Department for almost 25 years and founded the African Firefighters in Benevolent Association, which has a center that hosts community meetings.
The Eighth District stretches from USC to the Glenn Anderson (105) Freeway.
10th District Election
The 10th and 12th Districts have the most number of candidates -- six each.
In the 10th District, Councilman Herb Wesson, a former state Assembly speaker, has a reputation for being one of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's closest allies on the council, and as a consensus-builder.
His challengers include Austin Dragon, an employment specialist and corporate recruiter. Another candidate is immigration and civil rights lawyer Andy Kim.
The other candidates are Luis Montoya and Chris Brown, both businessmen; and Althea Rae Shaw, who identifies herself as a victim advocate and is an aunt of the slain Los Angeles High School football star Jamiel Shaw.
The 10th District includes Mid-City, Koreatown, Little Ethiopia, LaCienega Heights, Jefferson Park, Wilshire Vista Heights and Regent Square.
12th District Election
Englander is touting his plan that stopped the Las Lomas Development; takes credit for creating a plan to end the city's dependency on landfills and for assisting the expansion of Providence Holy Cross Hospital in the 12th District race.
Englander's opponents are Brad Smith, an engineering project manager; businessman Danny Lakhanpal; restaurateur Navraj Singh; real estate broker Kelly M. Lord, Jr., and neighborhood council boardmember Armineh Chelebian.
The 12th District is in the northwest San Fernando Valley, and includes Northridge, Chatsworth, Porter Ranch, Granada Hills, North Hills, Reseda and Winnetka.
14th District Election
Another contentious race is in the 14th District, where Huizar is facing Rudy Martinez, a restaurateur and host of the show ``Flip This House'' on the A&E cable network.
They were friends until Martinez decided to run for Huizar's seat, and now the two are locked in an increasingly nasty campaign.
Huizar's former campaign spokesman issued an e-mail last month saying, "We are about to put a political bullet in between Rudy Martinez forehead," which led to his being fired.
Huizar's supporters also accused Martinez of having a badge belonging to the slain police officer and refusing to cooperate with detectives investigating the matter. They also highlighted Martinez' four misdemeanor convictions, which occurred between 1985 and 1992, for such infractions as loitering and reckless driving.
Martinez said Huizar is being investigated by the FBI about some private dealings.
Huizar won a special election in 2005 after Villaraigosa was elected mayor. He previously served as president of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Board of Education.
On the council, Huizar has spearheaded plans to improve Broadway in downtown Los Angeles; bring streetcars back to the city's historic core; expand a program to track graffiti vandals; and make it easier for city agencies to donate surplus food to the needy.
Martinez, meanwhile, promises "fiscal responsibility, public transparency, personal accountability and real access."
