Candidate Jose Gardea Answers Questions at Mount Washington Association Meeting

What attendees hoped would be a debate between the two leading candidates for the Los Angeles City Council district that represents Highland Park and Mount Washington turned out to be a question and answer session candidate José Gardea.

The longtime Chief of Staff for current CD1 Councilmember Ed Reyes went before the Mount Washington Association at the Jack and Denny Smith Community Center solo on Monday evening, with challenger Assemblymember Gil Cedillo stating that he had a prior commitment and could not attend.

According to Mount Washington Association member and event organizer Carol Jacques, Cedillo said it was still too early to participate in a debate.

Instead, the crowd of about 25 who attended the meeting learned about Gardea's childhood in the MacArthur Park area, his career in public service alongside Reyes, and what he referred to as his three campaign pillars: constituent services, budget accountability and land use.

Audience members were also able to quiz Gardea on his stances on issues ranging from the 710 Freeway extension, route: {:controller=>"articles", :action=>"show", :id=>"video-highland-prefers-no-build-710-alternative"} -->, , to the