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"We know next year is a big year for [the councilmember]," said TRUST South L.A. organizer Estuardo Mazariegos, referring to the expectation that Price will run for re-election.
With Central Avenue having some of the "highest ridership in Los Angeles... [at] one cyclist per minute," Mazariegos continued, it meant that cyclists comprised a significant portion of Price's constituency. And they would remember Price's commitment (or lack thereof) to their safety when they stepped into the voting booth.
South L.A. Residents Deliver Message to Curren Price Ahead of Vote to (Re)Adopt Mobility Plan 2035 (Streetsblog LA, November 9, 2015)
As Estuardo Mazariegos left his office just after 8 p.m. on February 11, he came upon a non-USC student handcuffed and seated on the curb next to his bike and other belongings.
His crime? Riding without a light.
Mazariegos was upset to see someone dehumanized this way; he had grown up experiencing similar treatment from law enforcement. Particularly galling was that this wasn't even an LAPD stop - it was conducted by a private force on public streets well over a mile from the north end of the campus.
Handcuffing of Cyclist by USC Public Safety Raises Questions about Tactics, Oversight, Accountability (Streetsblog LA, March 1, 2019)
This park — and USC across the street — have been in Council District 9, where Mazariegos lives, since the last round of redistricting 10 years ago. And he and his neighborhood council want it to stay here for the next decade.
“When they have concerts here, you can hear it 10 blocks down. They will park in my street,” Mazariegos explained. “So it only makes sense to have a say over how the resources that are being brought into the neighborhood are also used.”
Which City Council District Will Get To Claim USC And Expo Park — And The Benefits They Bring? (LAist, November 19, 2021)
On Tuesday, during the first City Council meeting held after the leaked audio became public, it was housing advocates who were the loudest in their calls for resignations.
“We don’t stand by anybody trying to divide our community,” said Estuardo Mazariegos, co-director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action, a multiracial nonprofit organization. Mazariegos said that as many as 50 ACCE members showed up at City Hall.
“They don’t represent our city and they never will.”
Latinx Files: City Council leaked audio (Los Angeles Times, October 13, 2022)
The divisive comments in the leaked tapes also triggered backlash in L.A.’s vibrant networks of Black and Brown solidarity and community building that have been pivotal to efforts like the L.A. County Board of Supervisors withdrawing plans to replace Men’s Central Jail.
“We’ve always been able to communicate, we’ve always been able to have open dialogue … and come together as a community to be able to build when there hasn’t been any investment in our community,” said Estuardo Mazariegos, a community organizer with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment.
“[The tape] was heartbreaking and all. But it’s not representative of what’s going on on the ground,” he said.
Racist Comments On Leaked Tapes Renew Feelings Of Erasure Among Black Latinos (LAist, October 2022)
"This is what we have to counteract big, organized money — our voices and our people power. To put us at the end is like an afterthought." Mazariegos added the rules place community members "in the back of the bus."
LA City Council Moves To Limit Public Comment Before Votes (LAist, December 18, 2023)
“On the intersection here at Wadsworth and Vernon, there have been over 50 accidents in the last 10 years,” said Estuardo Mazariegos, co-director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, a nonprofit organization that works to improve the safety of local neighborhoods.
Mazariegos works with communities that have been historically marginalized. He believes Serrano’s death proves the South Park neighborhood desperately needs more pedestrian safety infrastructure.
“There’s an elementary school right here and there’s that middle school right there,” Mazariegos said of the area near Vernon and Wadsworth Avenues. “Any other neighborhood throughout the city would have tons of pedestrian safety in place.”
In addition to heavy traffic, the area is also known for reckless drivers performing dangerous street stunts and sideshows.
“We want our streets to be connected in a safe way,” Mazariegos said. “It’s an island between here and there. Those four lanes of traffic might as well be an ocean for our kids and they risk their lives every day trying to go to school.”
“We’re asking for a crosswalk,” Gramajo said. “We’re asking for signs to slow down.”
12-year-old boy struck and killed walking home from school in South Los Angeles (KTLA, May 5, 2024)
“The tourist workers are the front line — they are … the people that greet the world in Los Angeles,” said Estuardo Mazariegos, Los Angeles co-director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Institute, an organization that helps underserved communities. “We need to make sure that our folks have the dignity, have the ability to live where they work.”
Tourism workers call for an 'Olympic' wage ahead of 2028 Games (Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2024)
By adding low-income units to these areas, it would lessen a pattern of racial and income segregation that a city-funded report determined single-family zoning plays a key part in maintaining.
“We want to make sure that we are able to break the curse around the decades-long segregation of Black and brown communities in Los Angeles,” said Estuardo Mazariegos, a co-director of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, a group that advocates for low-income communities.
Could L.A.’s rezoning plan to boost housing supply cause more tenant displacement? (Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2024)
Mazariegos confirmed hearing reports of residents receiving unprompted cold calls with lowball offers. “It’s unfathomable, and unconscionable, that folks are getting calls after they lose their entire life’s work,” he said. “Folks are recovering from a moment of ultimate loss.” [..]
“There’s definitely a strain on the overall community because of the impact. Children not going to school, folks finding it harder to get their documentation, finding it harder to access the services that they need. So definitely, lower-income folks have a harder time recovering and finding housing afterwards,” Mazariegos noted.
LA Fires Didn't Discriminate in Their Destruction — But Recovery Efforts Could (Truthout, February 5, 2025)
“It’s a start, and something is better than nothing — and no, it does not go far enough,” said Estuardo Mazariegos, co-director of the L.A. Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, an economic justice advocacy group.
Cash-strapped LA cities ask private donors to help immigrants pay rent following ICE raids (LAist, July 21, 2025)
“This money belongs to the students, to the teachers, to the staff,” said Estuardo Mazariegos, an LAUSD parent and co-director of advocacy group Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action. “This money should be spent now. We are living in a crisis, and if we don't step up, if our district does not step up, we will be in the streets.”
LAUSD's unions want new contracts. Here's what's happening now, and what it means for families (LAist, September 16, 2025)
"[South Central] has always been a Black community and will always be a Black community. This isn't about a passing of the baton or one community taking over another. It's about building a solidarity movement," Estuardo Mazariegos said.
LA's District 9 won't have a Black councilmember for the first time in 60 years (LAist / The LA Local, March 21, 2026)
“I think it’s a strength. It’s not a liability,” said Mazariegos, who was born in Guatemala and grew up in Hollywood and South L.A. “I feel like it creates more of a connection with me and the community, because there’s so many people that are justice-impacted.” [..]
“That was the moment where I was like, it’s either now or never,” he said. “Either I leave this s— behind, or it’s going to eat me up. I’m never going back to that lifestyle. I’m going to dedicate myself to the people.”
He was busted for gun possession. Now he’s running for L.A. City Council (Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2026)
