The Lincoln Heights neighborhood council voted “no confidence” and demanded the censure and immediate resignation of council members Kevin de Leon and Gilbert Cedillo.

Lincoln Heights neighborhood council President Sara Clendening wrote a letter of “no confidence” on the council members’ abilities to do their job and the board members discussed the letter and then voted at their October 20 meeting.

This comes after recordings containing the Los Angeles City council member Nury Martinez’s racist comments about Black, Jewish, Armenian, Indigenous and gay people were leaked, according to the Los Angeles Times. These remarks happened while the L.A. City council members Kevin de Leon and Gilbert Cedillo were present. They didn’t object to the remarks made by Martinez and at times, agreed.

Lincoln Heights board member and at-large area representative Jerod Gunsberg presented a motion to amend the letter of “no confidence” to remove the line that says “Because official actions were tainted by greed, bias, racism, and hate, the assessment should include psychological evaluations for all decision makers and their staff.”

“I would ask that this line about psychological testing be removed from the letter because I don’t think that is appropriate for this type of letter,” said Gunsberg referring to the line that wants council members and people in power to go through psychological evaluations since their decisions affect many.

Lincoln Heights executive committee member and treasurer Vincent Montalvo said leaders should be subject to such psychological testing.

“However this vote goes, I just want everybody to understand that the mental state and health of an official at the time of making a policy is very important,” Montalvo said.

Lincoln Heights board member and resident area representative Dydia DeLyser mentioned that she is a teacher and doesn’t have to do any testing.

“I work for the state of California and I am not required to undergo any psychological evaluations of any kind,” DeLyser said. “This is not relevant to our letter of ‘no confidence’ so I support the amendment to remove that line.”

Lincoln Heights executive committee member and secretary Fernanda Sanchez opened up the amendment to vote and the board members voted to carry the motion and amend the letter with eight “yes” votes and six “no” votes.

The board members then voted unanimously to approve the letter of “no confidence,” as amended.

A member of the public who joined the Zoom and called themselves, “Kevin de Leon,” left many public comments throughout the meeting, referring to council members Kevin de Leon, Gilbert Cedillo and Nury Martinez and alleged corruption in City Hall.

“Kevin de Leon is…not going to resign. He is asking for your forgiveness,” the person said. “This is a teachable moment because now we know how city hall works.”