Just days on the job, Los Angeles City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian has already faced a trial by fire, literally.
The newly elected representative in District 2 located in the east San Fernando Valley stepped into office shortly before wind-whipped wildfires tore through L.A., killing at least 28 people, destroying thousands of homes and adding hundreds of millions in recovery costs to an already strained City of Los Angeles budget.
While Nazarian’s Valley district was spared from the flames, the wildfires plunged him into the reality of governing after a disaster. Within weeks of being sworn in on Dec. 9, he was navigating emergency response efforts, financial fallout, and long-term recovery planning alongside his colleagues at L.A. City Hall.
“ Anytime something major, devastating happens, you think about how it’s impacting the lives of individuals. How it’s going to impact future work. How people are able to rebuild and get back. How it’s going to impact the financial climate and circumstance of the city. How that in turn is going to impact the revenues of the city,” Nazarian said.
Beyond the immediate destruction, the fires also deepened L.A. City Hall’s financial strain, creating ripple effects across essential city services.
The loss of thousands of homes means delays in property tax revenue, which helps fund public safety, infrastructure and local schools. Fewer tax dollars, Nazarian warned, will inevitably hurt core services like police staffing, street maintenance and tree trimming.
But recovery from the wildfire is just one piece of the challenge. The blazes only magnified existing concerns about public safety, housing and homelessness, infrastructure, transportation and economic development—issues Nazarian believes must be prioritized alongside disaster response.
“We’ve got to make sure that the core services are being provided,” Nazarian said, “(that) people feel safe, and investments are coming into the city, so that we can continue building and we can continue providing opportunities for job growth and development growth.”
The challenges aren’t just broad citywide concerns—they hit particularly hard in the San Fernando Valley, where residents have long voiced concerns about underfunded infrastructure, worsening traffic congestion, the rising costs of living and a homelessness crisis.
For Nazarian, representing a district that spans the East Valley means addressing these long-standing issues head-on while balancing the city’s broader recovery efforts.
“ These are all things that are very interconnected,” he said. “ You’ve got to have good public safety so that you’re attracting people to want to stay here, to want to grow here, to want to make investments. The more people invest, the more you’re generating revenue.”
“The more people invest in family, you have a future workforce that’s growing. So more people can work in various arenas,” he added. “You need the continued workforce, so that you’re also not bringing people from other places in order to do your work.”
What East San Fernando Valley residents want
The 51-year-old Nazarian is no stranger to government. Before joining the City Council, he served a decade in the California state Assembly, representing much of the Valley from 2012 to 2022. His career in public service began long before that. He twice served as chief of staff for former District 2 Councilmember Paul Krekorian, first during Krekorian’s time in the state Assembly and later at City Hall.
His path to public service was shaped by his early experiences. As a child, he fled to the United States after the Iran-Iraq War, an experience that continues to inform his approach to leadership and policymaking. Now he’s bringing that background to City Hall, where he faces long-standing Valley concerns and new crises unfolding across Los Angeles.
As Nazarian works to establish himself in City Hall, residents in his district are watching closely.
While the devastation of the wildfires remains fresh in mind, many said the area’s long-term challenges—housing affordability, infrastructure improvements, transportation upgrades, homelessness—demand just as much attention.
“ We are still, as a community, very concerned about the rising costs, particularly the rising cost of rent in NoHo,” said Maria Sosyan, president of the North Hollywood Neighborhood Council (South East Valley). “And that pertains not only to individual renters, residents, but also to businesses that are leasing out properties.”
For Tess Taylor, president of the Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Council, the city’s budget shortfalls and ongoing service deficiencies remain a pressing concern.
“Councilmember Nazarian was just sworn in on Sunday, Jan. 26th, 2025, but we are hopeful that he will correct the many unacceptable city service deficiencies which have plagued our district,” she wrote in an email. “(We) will work with him on behalf of the stakeholders of Greater Toluca Lake to ensure that he does.”
It’s tradition for newly elected council members to have a public swearing-in ceremony for the community they serve many days after first taking the oath of office when the election results are certified. Nazarian’s community swearing-in ceremony for the community took place on Jan. 26 at Los Angeles Valley College.
Kathy Schreiner, president of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council (South West Valley), highlighted the Valley’s ongoing infrastructure challenges—many of which predate the fires but remain unaddressed.
“Us in the Valley, we weren’t hit by the fires, but we have sidewalks that need to be fixed,” Schreiner said. “We have lots of parks that could use more staffing.”
On a similar note, Lionel Mares, a former member of the Sun Valley Area Neighborhood Council, said he hopes to see better transit connectivity and more shaded bus shelters.
“ I hope that they could increase the frequency of buses, including the Dash and expanding the Dash bus to other parts of District 2 and connecting to District 6 and Sun Valley,” Mares said.
Mares said he received emails from Nazarian’s office about charging stations for people who lost power during the intense winds that fueled the wildfires, which Mares gratefully shared with his neighbors.
But while many agree that infrastructure and budget concerns need urgent attention, they also want to see stronger public engagement from Nazarian’s office, and from elected officials in general.
“One thing that personally I’m concerned about is what is going to be that office’s relationship with the neighborhood councils that serve the North Hollywood area,” Sosyan said, adding, “There are quite a few of us.”
She noted that Nazarian’s office hasn’t yet been assigned a representative to keep the neighborhood councils informed and attend their meetings regularly. She hopes to learn who their point of contact will be.
And Lionel Mares hopes officials will listen more attentively to stakeholders and residents, especially during the limited public comment time at Los Angeles City Council meetings.
A new councilmember’s learning curve
Neighborhood council leaders acknowledged that Nazarian’s office is just getting settled and needs time to establish itself.
“Of course, there is an adjustment period,” Sosyan said. “On our end at the neighborhood council level, (we) are just giving them time to get settled into their office and to get settled into their positions. And we are very hopeful that their office will reach out to us and regularly engage with us, so that we can have a positive impact on our community.”
Meanwhile, Nazarian said he is confident that Los Angeles will recover—just as he is confident in his ability to lead.
“There’s to me no other job in the political and government arena that can better provide services and meet the needs of the residents than a Los Angeles City Council office,” he said. “So I’m very excited for this opportunity. I know that there’s going to be a lot of challenges and I’m looking forward to addressing those challenges.”