--- ![](https://mail.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Sept-2026/073i.jpg) CD3 members and candidates Tim Gaspar and Barri Gavin [ ELECTION 2026 ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=401) # CD3 Doesn’t Need Another Promise It Needs a Councilmember Who Can Deliver September 10 2026 Written by Mihran Kalaydjian. [](https://www.addtoany.com/share) THE BOTTOM LINE - Los Angeles voters have heard the promises before: safer streets, cleaner neighborhoods, more housing, fewer encampments, better services, and greater accountability. **But the questions that matter most are harder: Who is going to deliver? Who will be held responsible when government fails? And how much longer should taxpayers be expected to pay for promises instead of results?** Those questions were at the heart of the Winnetka Neighborhood Council’s City Council District 3 candidate forum featuring Barri Worth Girvan and Tim Gaspar. The forum was more than a comparison between two candidates. It exposed a larger question confronting Los Angeles: Can City Hall still deliver the basic government residents are already paying for? Stop Measuring Spending. Start Measuring Results. Both candidates acknowledged what residents across the West Valley already understand: the homelessness system is not delivering enough results. Girvan supported enforcement of Municipal Code 41.18 but argued that enforcement alone is insufficient. She emphasized mental-health treatment, addiction services, and wraparound assistance, while calling LAHSA “broken” and demanding greater accountability and measurable outcomes. Gaspar advocated a stronger “carrot and stick” approach offer services and assistance, but enforce the law, when necessary, rather than allowing encampments to become permanent fixtures in neighborhoods. But the debate over enforcement can obscure the larger failure. Los Angeles has poured enormous resources into homelessness. Taxpayers should no longer be impressed by how much government spends. They should demand to know what that spending actually accomplishes. How many people permanently leave the streets? How many return to homelessness? What does a successful placement actually cost? Which contractors produce results, and which continue receiving public money despite failing to deliver? If City Hall cannot answer those questions clearly, then it does not have an accountability system. **It has a spending system.** A City Without Priorities The budget discussion exposed another reality City Hall too often avoids: Los Angeles cannot promise everything to everyone and pretend the numbers will somehow work themselves out. Gaspar challenged the cost structure of homelessness programs, including Inside Safe, and argued that taxpayer dollars should follow providers demonstrating results rather than perpetually feeding bureaucracy. Girvan described the budget as a “values document,” emphasizing protection of core services such as public works and public safety while calling for reform and consolidation in homelessness spending. The approaches may differ, but the underlying problem is unavoidable. **A government that declares everything a priority eventually has no priorities at all.** Los Angeles cannot endlessly promise more police officers, more firefighters, more homelessness programs, more affordable housing, expanded transit, repaired sidewalks, improved streets and additional city services without confronting basic arithmetic. Every dollar spent on an ineffective program is a dollar unavailable for a service residents actually need. Programs that work should be strengthened. Programs that fail should be reformed. Programs that repeatedly fail should end. **That is not austerity. That is management.** Public Safety Requires More Than Slogans The candidates offered different approaches to public safety, but the discussion exposed another fundamental failure of city government. Gaspar emphasized community policing and addressing vandalism, public drug use, illegal dumping, and other quality-of-life problems before neighborhood conditions deteriorate. Girvan supported expanding unarmed crisis-response programs so trained mental-health professionals can handle appropriate nonviolent calls while police officers remain available for situations requiring law enforcement. There is room for both approaches. The real failure is forcing an understaffed police department to perform functions other agencies should be equipped to handle and then acting surprised when residents complain about response times. Police officers should police. Mental-health professionals should respond to appropriate mental-health emergencies. Sanitation crews should keep neighborhoods clean. Public Works should maintain public infrastructure. City departments should perform the jobs taxpayers already pay them to perform. **That is not an ambitious vision for Los Angeles. It is the minimum standard of competent government.** Housing Without Infrastructure Is Not Planning Housing revealed another significant difference between the candidates. Girvan argued for additional housing, particularly affordable housing while emphasizing development near transit corridors such as Warner Center and the G Line, protections against displacement and meaningful community participation. Gaspar pushed harder against Sacramento-imposed housing mandates, arguing that West Valley communities should retain greater control over planning decisions affecting their neighborhoods. But regardless of whether housing mandates originate in Sacramento or City Hall, government repeatedly avoids a fundamental question: Where is the infrastructure? If thousands of additional residents are added to a community, where are the additional firefighters and police officers? Where is the sewer capacity? Where are the parks, sidewalks, and transportation improvements? Building housing without simultaneously planning for infrastructure does not solve a crisis. It creates the next one. **Housing policy that ignores infrastructure is not planning. It is wishful thinking with consequences.** Ethics Cannot Be Optional No discussion about restoring confidence in Los Angeles government is complete without confronting ethics. Gaspar said campaign contributions should never result in special treatment and rejected privileged closed-door access for developers and financial interests. Girvan emphasized transparency, integrity, and ethics as “non-negotiable,” pointing to her government experience and ability to work across agencies. Those are good promises. Now turn them into standards. Publish meetings with lobbyists. Disclose significant contacts involving major developments. Explain controversial votes. Measure constituent-service performance. Make government records genuinely accessible. And remember who the employer is: not Sacramento, not developers, not unions, not political organizations and not campaign donors. **The public.** CD3 Has Heard Enough Excuses Los Angeles residents know the excuses by heart: the department is understaffed. The county is responsible. Sacramento made the decision. There is not enough money. A contractor handles it. The bureaucracy is complicated. It belongs to another jurisdiction. **Enough.** **Residents are not demanding perfection. They are demanding competence.** They want streets repaired, sidewalks accessible, neighborhoods safe, encampments addressed, businesses supported, infrastructure maintained and calls returned. These are not Democratic priorities or Republican priorities. They are not progressive or conservative priorities. **They are the basic responsibilities of local government.** Whether Barri Worth Girvan or Tim Gaspar becomes the next representative for Council District 3, the standard should be identical: Deliver. Election Day should not be the end of public scrutiny. **It should be the beginning of the audit.** Every campaign promise should be remembered, every commitment measured and every taxpayer dollar expected to produce a result. Every failure should require an explanation, and every excuse should be challenged. For too long, Los Angeles has measured government by how much money it spends, how many programs it announces and how many promises politicians make. The West Valley should demand a different measurement: What actually got done? Because CD3 does not need another promise. **It needs performance.** Mihran Kalaydjian is a seasoned public affairs and government relations professional with more than twenty years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, community relations, and strategic communications. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has spearheaded numerous academic and community initiatives, shaping dialogue and driving reform in local and regional political forums. His career reflects a steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and public service across Los Angeles and beyond. 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