Two weeks before the March 8 City Council election, the disconnect between government and citizens is evident in District 10, which includes part of downtown Los Angeles. No one mentioned a candidate’s name, a platform, or a cause they were personally advocating. 

Peter Wiggins, like many, is indifferent about local elections (Julia Gabrick)

Only Proposition L addresses something residents who were surveyed would like to improve. “You don’t want to perpetuate this stereotype… that L.A. is shallow, or not as focused on education,” said Sasha Wiseman, who works at the Library Foundation’s gift shop at the Central Library.

If passed, Proposition L, would increase the amount it dedicates to the Library Department to 0.03 percent of the value of all city property over four years without creating new taxes.

Bernard Parks, the current city councilman running for reelection, proposed the measure after Los Angeles libraries were forced to reduce their schedule to only five days a week and cut other services last year. Neither of his opponents, Forescee Hogan-Rowles or Jabari S. Jumaane, has outlined plans for the libraries if they are elected.

All gift store profits go to back the central branch. Business is going “surprisingly well,” Wiseman said. He offered an explanation: “Maybe if people don’t have a lot to spend they want the money that they can spend to contribute to something they believe in.”

The small store looks exactly like a museum gift shop, with inventory Wiseman described as “things where the use isn’t immediately apparent because it’s kind of quirky.” She’s right. It’s packed with items no one needs: posters, magnets, coffee mugs. But each object is appealing anyway.

Wiseman is not sure which district she lives in - she’s on the border with Echo Park and downtown but knows what she would change about L.A. if given the chance.

“I wish that the trains came to my neighborhood. I would totally use the train all the time,” she said, but since they don’t, “I drive places I don’t need to drive to."

Public transportation has also been on Brandi Hassouna’s mind recently. She and her husband moved downtown from Pasadena last week. Her husband’s employer, HMC Architects, stopped paying for his transit pass to save money, and the cost to commute by car was higher for them than it would be to live downtown and walk to work.

Although she wishes public transport options “connected the spokes of L.A.,” she is not following the city council election. She tends only to vote in presidential elections, admitting, “I don’t really keep pace with much else, sadly.” But there is nothing about transportation on the March 8 ballot.

So far Hassouna is pleased with their decision to move. The homeless population does not prevent her from walking her dog, Basil, in most parts of her neighborhood. In fact, she wishes others would move past that issue and move downtown to continue breathing new life into the area.

Octavio Huerta is deeply involved in that revitalization trend. He’s a leasing agent at Title Guarantee Building on West 5th St., a 74-unit apartment building. It opened in February 2008, and is 98 percent occupied. The residents, mostly bankers and lawyers who work nearby, are drawn by the nonexistent commute and can afford the rents that range from $1,450 a month for a studio to $9,600 monthly for the penthouse.

Huerta lives in West Hollywood, but believes the move back downtown will continue to grow over the years. “Will it be New York City, in two years? No, but it’s slowly going to start picking up,” he said.

Peter Wiggins could not be further removed from city government, although he works in the heart of downtown’s Civic Center. “I don’t know what district I live in. I don’t keep up with that type of thing. I don’t even know who my councilman is.”

For years, Wiggins worked part-time delivering mail in the Hall of Administration and shined shoes outside during his lunch break. When his contract was cut in 1997, he began shining shoes five days a week outside the Stanley Mosk Courthouse.

Dressed in a three-piece suit and a fedora, he passes time between clients feeding breadcrumbs to the birds and listening to his radio. When pressed on what he would like to see changed, he finally confesses, “I’m what you call an ex-convict, my vote don’t count. It don’t mean nothing.” Even when told that California law allows ex-felons to vote, he remains unimpressed.

Ballots, candidates and propositions simply have little bearing on his life. “I’m living for the day. I’m not really even worried about tomorrow until I finish with today.”

This story is part of our March 8 election preview series Irked and Inspired: Los Angeles Residents Speak On The Issues. 

Reach Julia Gabrick here.