Raquel Zamora said she will set up a Kevin de León “recall hub” at her family’s restaurant in Boyle Heights, but stopped short of announcing that she will run again for the City Council District 14 seat.
“I’m very much committed to help in the efforts to collect signatures [for the De León recall],” Zamora said, “because 20,000 plus signatures is by design meant to keep people in power that should not be there.”
The upcoming hub at the famed Zamora Bros. carnicería and carnitas establishment was announced Wednesday on a post on the Twitter account “Member of Recall Kevin CD14UNITED” and first reported by LA Taco.
Zamora said she hopes to have the hub set up by the first week in January – a place where CD-14 registered voters can sign the Kevin de León recall petition or where volunteers can pick up a packet with which to collect signatures on their own.
Zamora, who ran against Kevin de León in the 2020 CD-14 election, said her focus is currently on the task of collecting the 20,437 signatures needed by March 31 to get the recall on the ballot.
Embattled in a months-long controversy over racist statements heard in a leaked private conversation with two other councilmembers, De León has dismissed wide appeals for his resignation. The councilman has limited his public events to a few end-of-year holiday giveaway events and his first appearance at a council meeting since October, earlier this month, was met by loud protests.
“We need services [in the district] that we’re not getting,” said Zamora, adding that it was time to move away from the protests and to concentrate on the recall effort.
“I have faith in the democratic process,” the social worker and small business owner said, “and the pen is mightier than the sword. Collecting signatures is the way to go now.”
Zamora said that rather than relying on paid signature collectors, the Kevin de León recall campaign should rely on the work of volunteers like herself.
She said she hoped that other small businesses in CD-14 would consider opening a similar recall hub to help the collection process.
“This is grassroots, people-driven,” Zamora said.
As far as running for the seat, Zamora said she would wait for the signature process to be completed before making up her mind.
“I have not discarded the possibility,” she said.
