Los Angeles polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday, and by 10 a.m. less than 15 people had voted at the downtown Los Angeles Job Corps. The majority of those voters had strong beliefs in mayoral candidate Jan Perry and showed that she might have more a chance than the favored candidates Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti.

“I’ve seen [Perry]’s involvement and her true caring for the people downtown, and not just downtown but all over L.A.," said Jim White, Paramount Pictures human resources vice president. "She’s hard working, she’s smart, she gets it.” 

White moved from New York City 12 years ago and has been a downtown resident ever since. He has seen the city grow from 18,000 to 50,000 residents and recognizes the pros and cons of gentrification. To him, Perry sees the entire picture unlike her competition. 

“Unfortunately, with gentrification comes a lot of issues," White said. "But with gentrification comes a lot of awareness to the issues like homelessness and chronic poverty, so I’ve seen more of a spotlight on those issues and people trying to get involved."

He admires Perry’s investment in the city’s emergency shelter program and support in affordable housing development for chronically homeless people.

Kevin Sharkey also agrees with Perry’s focus on the homeless, but said he voted for her because he was simply underwhelmed by the other candidates.

“Unfortunately, she’s from the City Council and they’re the ones who got us into the mess we’re in right now," Sharkey said. "But we’re absent of a more dynamic candidate that I hoped would’ve entered the race, so I’m going with her."

Along with being uninspired by the other candidates, Sharkey said he believes they haven’t laid out a convincing enough plan of what they’re going to do. A plan, he believes, that needs to identify a future of bankruptcy in Los Angeles.

“We’re going to be bankrupt in a few years,” Sharkey said. “Everyone can be in denial about it but that’s where we’re going."

Although pro-union, Sharkey said he believes the city needs to renegotiate their contracts with the union, as the pendulum has flown too far in the wrong direction. But the financial situation, according to Sharkey, will not be addressed until it’s too late and that going bankrupt will force the hand of people having to chip in. 

“It’s a participatory democracy and if people don’t participate, we’re in trouble,” said Sharkey.

Michael Annabi said he recognizes the importance of participation but his choice for mayor came down to the last second.

“There’s a lot of hype of people wanting to come to the presidential election and the federal election but usually the midterm election and smaller elections do more for your community,” said the recent law school graduate.

Annabi woke up unsure if he was going to vote for Garcetti or Perry. It came down to the connection he felt with Garcetti. 

Annabi chose to vote for Garcetti, Carmen Trutanich for city attorney and Dennis Zine for city controller.

“Greuel, although she was a city controller and conducted a lot of audits, she’s a little more political in nature," Annabi said. "Garcetti knows the city well, he has an understanding of what we need here."

Like White, Annabi has faith in Perry’s decade of involvement in the progress of downtown. But he finds Garcetti’s background and soft-spoken style, although lackluster to voters like Sharkey, to be reassuring and the type of leadership the city needs.

“Jan Perry was a close second, she was almost the one that I was going to vote for instead of Garcetti," Annabi said. "But it’s refreshing to have a candidate who is less aggressive. It was a tough last second call.”

He said he found Garcetti’s consistent votes since his place on the city council and endorsements from the Democratic Party to be promising. In addition, Annabi, who has done legal study abroad programs, believes Garcetti being a Rhodes scholar who studied at Oxford brings another well-rounded perspective to the table.

 

Reach Staff Reporter Cortney Riles here.