The Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council and Echo Park Neighborhood Council will co-host two candidate forums – one for Los Angeles City Council’s 5th District and another for the council’s 13th District – on Thursday, May 26, at the Ebell of Los Angeles. The forums will be co-sponsored by the Mid City West and Palms neighborhood councils.

All certified candidates for each City Council race will participate in the forums, which will be held in the Ebell’s dining hall. The 5th District forum will begin at 6 p.m., followed by a brief intermission. The 13th District forum will begin at 7:30 p.m.

“With so much of our lives taking place over Zoom these past two plus years, we felt it was important to have face-to-face candidate forums,” said Conrad Starr, president of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council.  “Our neighborhood council covers two council districts and collaborating with other groups for one of the last forums before election day gives more people a final chance to evaluate the candidates.”

The moderator for the 5th District forum is to be announced. Candidates Jimmy Biblarz, Scott Epstein, Sam Yebri and Katy Young Yaroslavsky will answer rapid response and long form questions.

“We’re especially excited about the format for our first in person forum. The candidates will be asked direct questions that will force them to lock firmly into policy positions,” said Dre Guttag, outreach and civic engagement chair for the Mid City West Neighborhood Council. “And, for the first time this election cycle, candidates will be given free response time where they can dig deeply into their own marquee issues in hopes of setting themselves apart from other candidates.”

The forum organizers for the 5th District forum want to hear from voters in the district on the issues that are of interest. Email questions for the candidates to cd5forum@greaterwilshire.org.

The 13th District forum will be moderated by Larchmont Buzz co-editor and publisher Patricia Lombard. Candidates Albert Corado, Steve Johnson, Mitch O’Farrell (incumbent), Kate Pynoos and Hugo Soto-Martinez will be asked questions in a random order.

“With so many great candidates running in CD13, the residents of the district needed an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates,” said Mansoor Khan, of the Echo Park Neighborhood Council. “The Echo Park Neighborhood Council is proud to play a part in making that happen with this forum.”

The primary election is on June 7. For those unable to attend in person, the forums will also be available via Zoom.

The Ebell of Los Angeles is located at 743 S. Lucerne Blvd. Admission is free and open to the public. To register, visit may26cdforum.eventbrite.com.