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 [ LOS ANGELES ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=312)

#  Gil Cedillo: LA’s Do-Nothing District 1 Boss

February 11 2016

Written by Richard Risemberg.

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LET’S TALK NELA, CONT.--Dissatisfaction with the imperious ways of do-nothing district boss Gil Cedillo is spreading…though perhaps it’s unfair to call him a “do nothing.” He has, after all, cancelled the Figueroa Street redo that would have boosted business and quite likely prevented the four deaths that have occurred on that street since his election; he has, after all, kept Reyes Park at Humboldt Street effectively closed (a narrow gate is open at each end, but the foreboding jail-like fences blocking the main entryways effectively keep the park deserted); and he has, after all, gotten the city to place a few of the same plastic trash bins it is placing everywhere else along Fig as well, generating one of Cedillo’s precious photo ops. (Photo above.)

And, oh, yeah, he’s alienated more and more constituents, the latest of which is the No on 710 residents’ group, fighting to keep Caltrans from ramming a congestion-generating freeway extension through the neighborhood, one that includes a tunnel that would vent the exhaust of tens of thousands of vehicles into NELA’s air.

In this recent [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/groups/No710freewayextension/permalink/1046211915438720/) post, Charles Miller asks, “\[H\]ow can we in this group channel and support the groundswell of ill will in Council District 1 of Los Angeles?”

Miller links to [CityWatch LA’s repos](http://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/the-la-beat/10449-what-to-do-about-gil-cedillo-carpetbagger-in-chief)t of the article I posted here last week, suggesting Josef Bray-ali as candidate. A commenter on the 710 group’s post suggested Gloria, presumably Molina, though I’m not sure she’d be the best choice, as she seems [not to understand](http://orange20bikes.com/index.php/1318-you-pick-em.html) the concept of Complete Streets. She’s on record saying that [what downtown LA really needs is more parking lots](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-huizar-molina-tussle-20150212-story.html), and she’s suspicious of bike lanes. And anyway, Cedillo backed Molina in the last election. We hardly need a rehash of his obstructionism.

So come on, folks; post some comments. Who ought to run against Cedillo in the CD1 election that’s just visible on the horizon now? Josef? You? Anyone else? Someone from the community needs to step up. There’s been enough of outsider Cedillo and his [outside-interests money,](http://flyingpigeon-la.com/2016/02/do-you-feel-a-draft/%20) hasn’t there?

*(Richard Risemberg is a writer. His current professional activities are centered on sustainable development and lifestyle. This column was posted first at* **[Flying Pigeon](http://flyingpigeon-la.com/2016/01/the-next-eighty-years/).)**

**-cw**

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