Rich Sarian

Why Thrive LA endorses Rich

District 13 has become ground zero for the ideological experiment of Democratic Socialists of America governance at Los Angeles City Hall. Under incumbent Hugo Soto-Martinez, the district has seen activist-driven policymaking that prioritizes ideology over outcomes: anti-housing-provider legislation, hostility to the business community, and a "services-only" approach to homelessness that has failed to restore order to Hollywood, Silver Lake, and Echo Park. Voters in CD13 deserve a representative who understands that a functioning city requires a functioning economy. Both Rich Sarian and Dylan Kendall offer that alternative. Either would be a meaningful improvement over the incumbent, and Thrive LA encourages CD13 voters to support whichever candidate they believe is best positioned to defeat Soto-Martinez and deliver pragmatic, results-oriented leadership. Rich Sarian is a third-generation Angeleno, Business Improvement District leader, and community builder. His 15 years of leadership in the Hollywood and South Park Business Improvement Districts give him a ground-level understanding of what it takes to keep commercial corridors safe, clean, and attractive to investment. He has walked the blocks, worked with small business owners, and seen firsthand how permitting delays, red tape, and punitive regulation drive entrepreneurs out of the city. His explicit commitment to cutting permitting costs, reducing bureaucratic barriers, and finding revenue sources "that aren't taxes" is a sharp and welcome contrast to the DSA playbook of taxing and regulating the private sector into submission. His founding of Hollywood Harvest, which has rescued over 10 million pounds of food, and his board service with the Hollywood Police Activities League demonstrate the kind of community investment that comes from rolling up your sleeves rather than passing resolutions. Sarian also proposes a public dashboard for council office expenditures and a community advisory panel for discretionary spending. Accountability measures Angelenos across the city should demand from every council office. Dylan Kendall is an entrepreneur, social entrepreneur, and longtime District 13 resident of more than 30 years. She founded Hollywood Arts, a nonprofit using arts to address chronic homelessness among high-risk young adults, and built Dylan Kendall Home from the Hollywood Farmers Market into an international brand. At the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, she managed intellectual property for the Hollywood Sign and Walk of Fame before leaving to form an Economic Development Corporation focused on strengthening small businesses in Hollywood. Kendall supports rebuilding the LAPD to at least 9,500 officers, citing Los Angeles's low officer-to-resident ratio, and backs enforcing no-camping rules under 41.18 authority while ensuring people in encampments are offered shelter and treatment. She has been openly critical of the city's failure to meet transparency standards on homelessness spending and has called for breaking from approaches that are not working. Her plans to make CD13 "Open for Business" through public-private partnerships, audit special funds like Quimby, and treat council discretionary funds as something other than "a blank check" reflect the kind of fiscal seriousness CD13 has lacked.