Homelessness
Homelessness is one of the greatest crises facing our city today – and it has been years, even decades, in the making. Over the last year, the city housed a record number of Angelenos experiencing homelessness, but despite that, the number of people who fell into homelessness still outpaced the number getting housed. The reasons for homelessness are myriad, and so should our solutions be.
Prop HHH funding has proven to be one of the most costly ways to build housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. At over $500,000 per unit, we need to push for more cost efficient projects and solutions that can help people more immediately.
My approach to combatting homelessness is multi-pronged and includes:
- Creative solutions and public-private partnerships to bring more housing alternative online quicker.
- Reducing government fees and regulations to make it easier to replenish and expand our affordable housing stock and bring more housing of all types online.
- Advocating for more funding from the state for treatment and interventions for mental illness, and investing locally in facilities that can handle mental health emergencies.
- Focusing on prevention to stop the homelessness pipeline.
Click here to learn about the CD12 Angel Fund program which has helped dozens of local families who were on the brink of homelessness.
Public Safety
Public safety as always been one of my top priorities because I believe safe neighborhoods are foundational to maintaining and enhancing our community’s quality of life. As your Councilmember, you can count on me to support policies and programs that provide our first responders, like police, fire, and emergency response personnel, with the resources they need to do their jobs well and keep our communities safe.
Highlights from my first term in office:
- Helped establish emergency shelters during the Saddle Ridge Fire in October 2019 and also worked with local businesses to secure essentials like food and water for our evacuees.
- Secured funding for additional LAPD foot patrols in key areas and hotspots in our district. The increased police presence provides an additional measure of surveillance and serves to deter crime.
- Supported our frontline police officers, who are critical to the safety and security of our neighborhoods, and l voted against a Council proposal to institute arbitrary cuts to LAPD.
- Introduced a resolution calling on the State to give local jurisdictions more flexibility to enforce sidewalk vending permitting rules to ensure public health and safety.
Environment
There is no question that our society still depends on certain finite natural resources, the extraction, usage, and depletion of which have impacted our communities, our environment, and our planet. We need to prioritize environmental sustainability efforts, but we need to do so responsibly, factoring in the social and economic consequences of our actions.
As we pursue a path toward a greener future, I support bringing a balanced approach to conservation, innovation, and environmental stewardship. We need to stop taking a piecemeal approach to fighting climate change and global warming if we want to see meaningful change.
SoCalGas Aliso Canyon Storage Facility
Shutting down the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility is a matter of public health and safety. In October 2015, our community experienced the worst natural gas leak in U.S. history. Over 8,000 households were evacuated, many experiencing dizziness, nausea, nosebleeds, and respiratory problems due to the release of over one hundred thousand metric tons of methane. While the City of L.A. does not have jurisdiction over Aliso, I have and will continue to work with my colleagues on the City Council and on the Board of Supervisors to hold our state leaders accountable to the commitments they made to us to close this facility.
Investment and Incentives for Using Green Technology
If we want greener and more sustainable technologies to be used more widely, we need to support investments and incentivize businesses to those technologies. I introduced a resolution calling for the CPUC to include Twelfth District communities affected by the 2019 wildfires to be eligible for the state’s BUILD & TECH programs. These programs provide millions of dollars to promote the construction of new residential housing that utilizes near zero-emission building technologies.
Economic Development
The economic health of our local businesses is foundational to a strong and thriving economy. Today, the San Fernando Valley is home to nearly 2 million people and is a major center for industries like entertainment, aerospace, and health care. As we look to the future, we have much work to do to encourage innovation and make Los Angeles a much more business-friendly environment.
Businesses are our job creators and revenue generators and we need policies and programs that support their growth because their success is our success. As new industries emerge, particularly in the tech sector, we have an opportunity to identify areas where we can incubate high-tech businesses and bring good-paying jobs back to our communities. And we need to work in lockstep with our educational institutions to ensure that the youth of today are receiving the skills and training they need to meet the demands of tomorrow’s workforce.
Neighborhoods First
As a lifelong resident of the Twelfth District, the northwest San Fernando Valley is more than the place where I live. It is my home. As your City Councilmember, I have fought to be a voice for our community at City Hall and will always prioritize the interests of our residents and our communities so that the Twelfth District remains a safe, vibrant, thriving place to live and work.
While we are addressing the big issues of our time, I will not ignore the daily operations and critical services of the City that residents rely on. From street sweeping to potholes, public safety to recycling, I will push for more efficiency and accountability to ensure that the City is working for you and that we’re doing it at the highest caliber possible.