A Los Angeles City Council member with decades of political experience is defending his seat representing the Harbor area and Watts against a 22-year-old who was a congressional intern just a few years ago.
Councilmember Tim McOsker, running for reelection in the 15th Council District, has more experience at City Hall than just about anyone else in the building. He has worked in the mayor’s office, the city attorney’s office and for at least two law firms representing clients who did business with the city.
His opponent, Jordan Rivers, who was a community organizer while studying international relations at Sacramento State, has a message for Angelenos casting ballots in the June 2 primary election: “You don’t have to vote for a mainstream slate of candidates, and you can, in fact, make a difference in the work you do in connecting to members of the community.”
California’s primary election takes place on June 2. Learn about L.A.’s city and county races and others for state offices.
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Who are the candidates?
Tim McOsker in San Pedro.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Tim McOsker, 63, already had spent about six years at City Hall when Rivers was born. McOsker was a top aide to James Hahn when Hahn was city attorney and then after he was elected mayor.
For decades, the McOskers — a large, tight-knit Irish Catholic family from San Pedro — have wielded power at Los Angeles City Hall.
McOsker later worked as an attorney and registered city lobbyist representing the hotel industry and the Los Angeles Police Department’s labor union.
McOsker hails from a politically connected San Pedro family. Nella McOsker, his daughter, runs the Central City Assn., a downtown business group. Two of his brothers were leaders of the powerful city firefighters union.
Jordan Rivers, 22, is running for L.A. City Council District 15.
(Handout photo from Jordan Rivers)
Jordan Rivers was born and raised in San Pedro. As a student at Sacramento State, he advocated for the city of Sacramento to open an Office of International Relations. In 2024, he worked for Rep. Mike Thompson (D- St. Helena) through the Panetta Institute Congressional Internship Program.
Rivers, who said he did not finish his degree because of financial issues, is unemployed.
When Rivers was 12, he stabbed an 8-year-old neighbor while the two were playing video games, according to a lawsuit. Rivers told The Times in March that it was an “accident” that happened a decade ago.
“I do not believe that past situations or indeed past mistakes define or determine who a person is or what they are,” he said.
Rivers, who is a member of the Green Party, said his youth would be a boon on the City Council because he can relate to the problems of his generation, like struggling to pay for food and housing.
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“Young people, we deserve a start, so why not get started somewhere where we have a say?” he said.
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Where is the district?
District 15, sometimes referred to as the one-five, includes San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway and Watts.
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Where they stand on police
McOsker said the city needs to support its police force, just like any other city department. The Los Angeles Police Department is at about 8,700 sworn officers, down from 10,000.
“It is important to maintain the police force, and I do want to grow the police department in reasonable ways, even while we’re making sure that they perform their functions in constitutional ways,” he said.
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McOsker voted in February to move forward with an unarmed crisis response pilot program that sends counselors instead of police officers to nonviolent mental health emergencies.
Rivers said he wants to encourage the use of the city’s 311 program for mental health incidents and keep the LAPD focused on responding to violent crimes.
Cost-cutting could come through partnerships with other law enforcement agencies like the California Highway Patrol and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, especially with the Olympics coming to town, Rivers said.
“LAPD should not be doing it alone,” he said. “I think the initiative to put pressure, to put more money to LAPD comes from this idea that LAPD will be handling everything, and that is far from the truth.”
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Where they stand on homelessness
McOsker said Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program has been effective in clearing homeless encampments and moving the residents inside. He supports reducing costs by doubling people up in rooms and cutting underutilized contracts.
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“It’s unsustainable as it is to spend this much, and I think everyone recognizes that,” he said.
McOsker said he supports “no encampment” zones, per Municipal Code 41.18, around places like schools, day care centers, libraries and homeless shelters.
It’s especially important to keep encampments away from shelters, he said, so people can get help without distractions nearby.
“We really need to make that break and give folks an opportunity to put their lives together,” he said.
Rivers equated the no-encampment zones to federal immigration operations in the city, arguing that they enable law enforcement to snatch people off the street without giving them a place to go.
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“Just moving homelessness doesn’t all of a sudden solve it,” he said.
Instead, Rivers wants to establish “safe shelter” zones where people can get their needs met instead of being chased out.
Rivers believes that Inside Safe contractors should be audited and that there should be “full transparency” in the amount of money spent to house each person.
“We need to actually have a track record of where these funds are going to,” so it’s clear the money actually is helping to resolve homelessness, he said.
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Where they stand on community development
McOsker wants to take on projects that create a higher quality of life in his district.
In Watts, he hopes to develop the Cultural Crescent — a 10-acre green space connecting the historic Watts Station and Watts Towers — using a land trust. He also wants to build new developments in Harbor Gateway akin to the Enclave, a business park with restaurants, office space and art installations.
Extending Lomita Boulevard, he said, is “the least sexy project in the history of the world, but probably the most important thing I could possibly do.” The new stretch of road would provide trucks with a route to Alameda Street, keeping them off of local Wilmington streets.
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“I do have these long-term projects across the district, but I want to make sure they can’t be stopped after I’m gone,” he said. Projects like these take coordination with state and federal agencies, a process McOsker said he’s already begun.
Rivers wants to change zoning to allow denser multifamily housing developments. He also wants to penalize land bankers by seizing unoccupied properties or capping how much they can sell their land for.
“The landlords are not the ones to actually make the land profitable unless they’re doing something with that land,” he said. “It’s community interest and involvement and integration that allows for communities to develop.”
Rivers suggests turning unoccupied port facilities into essential service centers offering food assistance, redeveloping the closed Phillips 66 refinery into a cultural center focused on the indigenous Tongva people, making public transit free and connecting the Metro Blue Line in Long Beach to port communities.
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Sandra McDonald covers L.A.’s City Hall at the Los Angeles Times. She grew up in north central Florida, graduated from the University of Florida and is still warming up to the idea of being a Dodgers fan. She was previously a 2025 fellow and a 2024 summer intern at The Times.
