Global Courant
With the fate of yet another Los Angeles City Councilman up in the air following allegations of criminal corruption, a group of his constituents said they are clear about the way forward: Curren Price should step down.
A small crowd of about a dozen gathered outside the gates of Price’s district office in South Los Angeles on Saturday to demand the council veteran’s resignation. They said they already felt sold out by Price, whom they accused of favoring developers over his constituents during his three terms in office. Misdemeanor charges this week alleging that Price had a financial interest in development projects he voted for had reinforced that belief, they said.
“We are here today to ask Curren Price to step down while he pursues his legal challenges,” said Adriana Cabrera, a longtime activist who has run against Price twice to represent the city. 9th council district. “While the community was here trying to survive, he was stealing money from the public – and that, to many of us, is a reflection of what it felt like to live in this community with his leadership.”
Cabrera was flanked on Saturday by about a dozen people holding signs decrying the corruption they say pervades City Hall: “South Central is not for sale,” one such sign read. “Renuncia Curren Price Hoy” read another – Curren Price is resigning today.
A small crowd gathered outside the district office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price on Saturday morning to demand his resignation. The call for Price to resign comes days after the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office filed a corruption charge against Price.
(Rebecca Ellis / Los Angeles time)
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office on Tuesday indicted Price on 10 counts of embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest, making Price the fourth councilman in three years to be charged with corruption. Prosecutors say Price violates state conflict of interest laws by voting for projects developed by companies associated with his wife. They also claim that he received tens of thousands of dollars in medical benefits from the city for the woman who is now his wife before they got married.
Price has denied the allegations, calling them “unwarranted”.
Price is a longtime black leader in a predominantly Latino area of the city, representing the South Los Angeles district since 2013. wage earners.
Price’s district includes some of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods. During his tenure, the councilman has pushed for raising incomes for low-income voters by supporting a citywide $15 minimum wage, legalizing street vending and advocating for a pilot program to put money directly into the bank accounts of struggling families. Alberto Retana, president and CEO of Community Coalition, a South LA-based nonprofit, recently called Price a “champion for working-class Angelenos.”
But speakers at Saturday’s press conference traced some of the neighborhood’s ills — evictions of long-term residents, rising rents, police brutality, too little green space and too many potholes — to Price’s alleged corruption, which they accused of destroying the neighborhood.
“We live in this community, we walk our streets, we know something is wrong, we know the councilor is not prioritizing the needs of our community,” Cabrera said.
Alberto Tlatoa, a South Los Angeles community organizer, said he felt that during his tenure in the municipality, Price was too focused on large development projects that provided little benefit to the area’s lifelong residents.
A small crowd gathered outside the district office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price on Saturday morning to demand his resignation.
(Rebecca Ellis/Los Angeles Times)
“I have lost faith in many of our elected officials,” he said.
Like the others in attendance on Saturday, Tlatoa said the best way forward was for Price to resign. If he steps down, the council has the power to call a special election for his replacement.
Price has resigned from his committee seats, but remains on the board. Council President Paul Krekorian has begun the suspension process for Price, although he has also urged councilors to weigh the “real consequences” of his suspension.
If convicted of a felony, Price would permanently lose the seat.
