Candidate for
Council Member; City of Los Angeles; District 13

Fiscal Responsibility

Stabilize city finances and put people back to work providing the services Los Angeles needs and deserves.

Public Transportation

Increase investment in public transportation, traffic relief and road repair. Specifically, I want to reduce the 2/3 threshold for taxes and bonds for infrastructure projects, I want to go back I take another shot that measure J with that lower threshold, I want a street repair bond to improve are crumbling streets and sidewalks, I'd like to reinvest in tree trimming because a 30-year waiting list is not acceptable, and I want to explore public facilities districts on the east and west side of my district to fund a transit line connecting Hollywood and Highland to Century City along or under Santa Monica Boulevard, and another connecting Hollywood at Sunset and Vermont to Downtown Los Angeles with stops at Sunset Junction, Echo Park, and Dodger Stadium.

Public Safety and Gang Prevention

I support the "civilianization" of the Los Angeles Police Dept. as a means to achieve greater efficiency and to maximize the number of uniformed officers out on the street rather than behind desks. That should be LAPD's #1 budget priority as soon as we can secure new revenue or the economy turns around.

As deputy mayor and deputy chief of staff responsible for budget and financial matters, including the expansion of the LAPD - I fought against cuts to sworn personnel every day and will continue to do so as a councilman. It is the right thing to do and the results speak for themselves. Not only is crime down to historic lows, but it is down due to a much more comprehensive, community-based approach than the past practices of suppression alone.

With additional officers, we have been able to fully staff the Senior Lead Officer program, and have more officers on foot interacting with the community rather than "patrolling" it.

The additional officers have allowed the city to staff one of the most successful programs in the country, Summer Night Lights, where we have taken 32 city parks in the most crime-ridden neighborhoods and turned them into family-oriented safe havens during July and August. Gang crime and shooting have plummeted in the neighborhoods around SNL parks - and it would not have been possible without a new, more progressive and expanded LAPD.