Voters in Meeting District 54 have a troublesome alternative between two robust candidates — longtime Meeting staffer and Democratic Occasion chief Mark Gonzalez and John Yi, a group organizer who has run nonprofit advocacy teams.
They’re each first-time candidates who’ve made their careers in public service. They’re each progressive Democrats who share lots of the identical priorities, together with rising tenant protections and hire aid, making it simpler to construct inexpensive housing and making certain the district will get its fair proportion of funding for transportation, sidewalks, bushes and different quality-of-life enhancements.
We suggest Gonzalez as a result of he has a deep on-the-ground understanding of the wants of residents throughout the district and is one of the best positioned to ship outcomes. He’s been an Meeting staffer within the space for greater than a decade. He labored for former Meeting Speaker John Pérez, and most lately served as district director for the present Meeting member, Miguel Santiago, who ran for Los Angeles Metropolis Council District 14 however didn’t make it out of the first. Gonzalez is working to exchange him.
Meeting District 54 stretches from Koreatown and Westlake via downtown and Boyle Heights to Commerce and Montebello. It’s one of many poorest districts within the state, with about one in 4 youngsters dwelling in poverty. It consists of traditionally working-class, immigrant communities which have suffered from power underinvestment from the private and non-private sectors, however are actually seeing an actual property increase, fueling issues about displacement, gentrification and affordability. Some 80% of residents within the district are renters.
Gonzalez mentioned lots of his legislative priorities, together with rising tenant protections and bettering entry to healthcare, are derived from his life expertise. He grew up in Part 8 rental housing and remembers being afraid to ask for repairs for concern the owner would deem his household a nuisance or downside tenants. As caregiver to his mom, who had a stroke, he’s seen firsthand the nonsensical paperwork of Medi-Cal that makes it too onerous for low-income seniors to qualify for medical protection.
Like his boss, who handed some important housing payments, Gonzalez needs to make it sooner and simpler to construct housing. His priorities embrace streamlining environmental overview of tasks, making it simpler to transform industrial buildings into residential makes use of and reconsidering constructing laws, akin to staircase guidelines, that restrict condominium building.
With the relationships Gonzalez has cultivated through the years — he has the help of Gov. Gavin Newsom, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and a number of other native members of Congress — he can choose up the telephone and name highly effective individuals to press the case for funding and assets for a district that has extra wants than most.
Yi was most lately the manager director of Los Angeles Walks, a nonprofit that advocates for road security and a extra walkable metropolis. He has expertise listening to typically unheard communities and dealing with them to advocate for his or her wants, akin to new crosswalks on busy streets and making Metro’s buses and trains safer for riders.
Like Gonzalez, Yi says tenant protections and inexpensive housing building are amongst his high priorities. He additionally needs to work on payments to fund public works, akin to sidewalks, bushes and streetlights, so it’s safer for individuals to get round with no automobile, and to incentivize environmental investments, akin to light-reflecting pavement and grassy stormwater-capture bioswales that may make city neighborhoods cooler. These are essential priorities for a district that lacks primary facilities and inexperienced house.
Each candidates have good concepts and a ardour for bettering their communities, however of the 2, we expect Gonzalez is greatest outfitted to advocate and ship for the 54th Meeting District.
