Northeast LA neighborhoods organize holiday celebrations during City Council transition

The traditional tree lightings many in Northeast Los Angeles have come to expect may not happen following a bitter City Council race. 

The affected communities are in outgoing Councilmember Kevin de León's District 14. In a statement, a spokesperson from de León's office denied assertions that the councilman's office canceled the events. 

"The assertion that our council office "canceled" holiday events is maliciously untrue," the spokesperson wrote. "The fact is that Councilmember de León does not have the authority to extend the necessary contracts required to put on this year's tree lightings." 

The spokesperson attributed the gap in holiday celebrations to the City Clerk restricting "the extension of council office contracts" past Nov. 30. 

However, incoming Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado blamed the changes on the "outgoing administration's failure to plan."

"Let's be clear: these holiday cancellations are the result of the outgoing administration's failure to plan, and they highlight the need for the cross-departmental, cross-district collaboration and accountability that has been missing in CD-14," she wrote. 

De León said he will continue to organize turkey giveaways and toy drives before he leaves office. Community members said they will step up to plan events in place of city-sponsored holiday events.

"That's not going to bring me down," Memphis Perez said. 

Perez is the co-owner of a shop in Lincoln Heights. 

"We're going to fight for our Christmas for the community and we're going to make it happen," he said. 

Perez said he also started a toy drive. 

Other partnerships are also making tree-lighting ceremonies possible, including in Highland Park and Hermon. 

"Ysabel and her team reached out and asked what could be done so they were a huge asset in making sure we were connecting to the right people," Hermon Neighborhood Council member Sara Vasquez said. 

Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce President Michael Nogueira said the neighborhood will also transition to their backup plan. 

"I've organized getting the hot chocolate donated, cookies donated," he said. 

He said that organizations such as Uptown Gay and Lesbian Alliance offered to partner with the Chamber of Commerce and Noguiera's own business. 

"It's going to look beautiful," he said. "I just wanted to continue doing what we've done since the mid-60s.