Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez is seeking to quickly address what she described as a backlog of city services in her district as she takes over this week for Gil Cedillo, who was rarely seen in his capacity as a council member over his last two months in office after refusing to resign over his involvement in the City Hall racism scandal.
Hernandez filed a motion on Tuesday seeking for a report on the status of all open 311 cases in the 1st District, which is in northeast Los Angeles. Residents can dial 311 to request city services.
“I’ve been hearing from lots of folks who have had trouble accessing basic services like street repairs, bulky items pickup and broken street lights,” Hernandez said in a video posted on Twitter.
In the motion, seconded by Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, the district is described as being “without an active council member for many months, leaving residents of an already historically under-resourced and underserved (community) without an elected representative to address their needs.”
There were over 1.4 million service requests made through 311 and other sources in 2021, according to the motion, which cites data from former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office. But the motion claims that “wealthier parts of the city continue to be those that receive the most municipal service attention,” with a majority of the calls being made from districts consisting of residents that make “higher average income.”
Hernandez sought reports on any potential roadblocks for resolving the open cases in her district and how to address them.
She also filed a motion seeking reports on the condition of streets in the 1st District, for funding sources to repair streets with a “poor” Pavement Condition Index score and to coordinate bicycle infrastructure construction simultaneously with street repairs. The motion was seconded by Councilman Bob Blumenfield.
“If you drive in LA, you probably know that our roads are in need of a lot of love, especially in CD 1,” Hernandez said.
