David Ryu

In August 2002, Ryu faced a charge of attempted rape, to which he pleaded not guilty. The case was dismissed before reaching a preliminary hearing when the district attorney's office said it was unable to proceed.[7]

Ryu was one of over a dozen candidates to replace Councilmember Tom LaBonge, who was term-limited. Ryu and Carolyn Ramsay advanced past the March 2015 primary. Ryu defeated Ramsay in the general election, on May 19, 2015.[9] He was ceremonially sworn in June 29, 2015, and took office on July 1.[2]

In the March 3, 2020 primary, Ryu faced urban planner Nithya Raman and screenwriter Sarah Kate Levy.[10] Ryu received 32,298 votes (44.4%), Raman received 31,502 votes (40.8%), and Sarah Kate Levy received 10,860 votes (14.1%).[11] Because no candidate received over fifty percent of the vote, Raman and Ryu advanced to the runoff election, scheduled for November 3, 2020.

In January 2020, Ryu was appointed Assistant City Council President Pro Tempore, becoming the first Asian American to serve on Los Angeles City Council leadership.[13] Ryu also chairs the Health, Education and Neighborhood Councils, Parks, Arts, Entertainment and River Committee, and serves as a member on the Public Safety Committee, the Public Works & Gang Reduction Committee, and Immigrant Affairs, Civil Rights and Equity Committee, as well as Vice Chair of the Arts, Entertainment Parks & River Committee.[14]

In January 2017, Ryu, along with Councilmembers Joe Buscaino and Paul Krekorian, introduced a motion to ban contributions to city elected officials and candidates for city office from developers and their principals with development projects currently or recently before the city, as well as increase matching funds to 6:1 in primary and general elections.[15] In December 2019, the law passed with a unanimous vote from the City Council.[16] Critics of the measure argued that the final language contained loopholes, with groups such as the California Clean Money Campaign and California Common Cause arguing that passing it would be “worse than not passing anything at all."[16] Ryu has also introduced legislation to establish an independent Inspector General's office over City Hall, similar to the City of Chicago.[17]

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, Ryu negotiated a $1.25 million international deal to bring COVID-19 tests to Los Angeles from South Korean company Seegene, when the United States faced a national testing shortage.[18]

Ryu authored a ban on storage unit evictions during the pandemic, which was passed into law with an urgency clause in June 2020. The law protects storage unit leasees from losing their belongings even if they can't make monthly payments during the pandemic.[19]

In April 2020, the Los Angeles City Council passed Ryu's proposed rent increase freeze on LA's rent-stabilized units into law, but Ryu's sweeping rent freeze on all LA apartments was narrowly voted down.[20] On April 1, Ryu joined leaders from nine U.S. cities to demand national rent and mortgage forgiveness.[21]

In November 2019, the Los Angeles Times reported that despite a campaign pledge not to take money from real estate developers, Ryu's campaign had accepted campaign contributions from multiple developers. His campaign later said that it would return some of the donations.[22]

In August 2020, the Los Feliz Ledger filed an ethics complaint with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission after Ryu's campaign sent an email to 30,000 voters with a misleading "From:" field that implied the email was sent by the Ledger itself. The campaign declined to issue a correction.[23]