August 28, 2024 • 43 mins
This week we're joined by Ysabel Jurado, a tenants rights attorney, affordable housing activist, and lifelong Angeleno. She is running for Los Angeles City Council District 14 --a district that is predominately Latinx/Latino, immigrant, and primarily renters and historically plagued with problematic leadership. Jurado discusses her grassroots and people-led campaign. If elected, she would be the first Filipina Councilmember to serve the city of LA and the first woman to lead Council District 14.
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Speaker 1 (01:44):
So today we have a in depth interview with a
candidate that's running for Council District fourteen. But before we
introduce her and get into the interview, we want to
give some background as to why we're producing this episode today, in.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Addition to the fact that we have our ongoing Latinas
in Politics series and we in general are interested in
politics and elections and women running for office, women of
color running for office. Back into twenty twenty two, we
produced an episode Gopitolo one thirty four Latinidad is Dangerous
with Ovilia Romero of the Macielo Organization, and in that
(02:23):
episode we unpacked the racist comments made by at the
time some of LA's most powerful Latine officials, council members
Nuri Martinez, Gilcidio, Kevin de Leone and president of the
La Labor Federation Ron Herrera in a secret backdoor meeting.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
In the face of public scrutiny and protests. Council member
and president of the La City Council at that time,
Nurri Martinez resigned. Gil Sidillo was serving his last term
at the time, so he did not resign and instead
waited it out. Ronjdeta resigned within days of the FED
tape leak and the final one. Kevin de Leon did
(03:02):
not resign despite public pressure and protests even outside of
his residential home. He's still in office and he's actually
running for re election.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
And for those living outside of Los Angeles or even
those Angelinas who maybe don't exactly know where all the
district lines are drawn, Kevin Deleone represents Council District fourteen,
which covers the areas of Boyle Heights, Downtown, La Lincoln Heights,
El Serino, and parts of Northeast Los Angeles. So this
is a very heavily Latino working class district that kevindalone represents.
(03:36):
I live in this district. I live downtown. Unfortunately, Kevin
de Leone is my city council person. But luckily the
candidate that we're interviewing today is running to unseat him.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And prior to council Member Kevin de Leon being in office,
this district was also represented by Josse Wizard, who's been
tried and convicted for racketeering, conspiracy, and tax evasion. This
district has been plagued by lots of corruption and in
the last two elections or the last two representatives have
(04:08):
both been Latino men. Yes, and so it's not enough
that our council members will look like us, right, Or
it's not enough that we can see ourselves in them
or the representation. Yes, that's important, but going beyond that,
how are they actually using the power that they have
to make our daily lives better? So, like Mala mentioned
(04:31):
at the top of this episode, almost every election cycle,
we produce a series called Latina's in Politics. We typically,
if you've listened before, you know that we interview Latinas
who are running for office for the first time. They're
running to site an incumbent and they want change in
their communities. And today's guest is not a Latino running
for office. But because of the importance of this campaign
(04:53):
in local LA elections, we are pleased to have Isabel
Huado candidate for Council District fourteen. If elected, she would
be the first Filippina council member to serve the city.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Of La Isabelle Hrado is a tenant's rights attorney, an
affordable housing activist, a single mother, and the daughter of
undocumented Filipino immigrants, as well as a life long Angelino.
She was born and raised in Highland Park, attended PCC,
and put herself through college at UCLA, where she completed
her bachelor's degree. After graduating from with her bachelor's degree,
(05:27):
she went on to UCLA School of Law where she
graduated with her Juris doctorate specializing in critical race studies
and the David j Epstein Program in Public Interest Law
and Policy. She's going to talk more about her story,
but I think notably she did all of this as
a single teen mom, while raising her daughter Stella, and
again living in Highland Park, so we are super excited
(05:50):
to talk to her. At the time of this interview.
Isabelle has been endorsed by individuals like Council Member Aisa
Sernandez Delores CERTA and organizations like California Working Families Party,
the SIEU UTLA and more.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Don't go anywhere, Lokamotis.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
We'll be right back and we're back with more of
our episode.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Today we have a very very special guest in studio
on lookout what our radio Isabel Hurado. Please introduce yourself
for our listeners.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Hi am Isabelle Herado. I'm running for La City Council
District fourteen here in Los Angeles. I'm happy to be here.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
You are and Angelino through and through. Tell us a
little bit about your background. Of course, you live in
the council district that you're running for, but tell us
more about your experience growing up in La Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, I ride from my city, live and die in
La So. I'm born and raised in Highland Park. My
parents are Filipino immigrants. My mom migrated here thanks to
her mom petitioning her to come to America. And my
mom gave a famous ultimatum to my dad and she
said on the phone while he was in the Philippines,
(07:14):
if you don't come get your girl, I'm gonna go
with the guy on the bus. And my dad said,
say less, put the phone down. Found one thousand dollars
flu to Bourbank Airport. Married my mom got a ring.
He's like, I got a ring, I got the suit.
We went to Macy's, got the wedding in South la
By the end of the day, he had like fifty
dollars left. And they started their life in a basement
(07:38):
of the in laws with like my three aunts and
uncles and his mother in law. And that's how my
parents started. You know. They were so poor and he
was undocumented. There was talk about how they shared one
set of plastic plates, a plate and utensils, and they
shared it for dinner to save money and washed it.
(07:58):
You know, my dad was working couple jobs, but his
wages were stolen. He was confused why he was putting
money to retirement and was like, I don't I'm not
a citizen yet, right. Or the day that he announced
his coworkers that my mom was pregnant with my brother,
and he was so excited and then the manager called
him in on the spot, was like, you gotta go right.
(08:20):
We know you're gonna ask for more money or something
and we can't have that here. And at one point,
even in the eighties, like he was, you know, ice
came to his office and he had to go into
hiding and It was a rough time for my family.
We definitely grew from it, and you know, eventually they
were able to cobble mothering together to get a house
(08:42):
in Highland Park, right, And at that time, it wasn't
what it was today. It was, you know, there was
a shootout the other day was the past week in
my neighborhood. But that was a normal currence growing up.
And so that was a neighborhood. I grew up in
working class primarily. Let you know, a lot lots of Mexican.
I thought I really wanted to be Mexican so badly
(09:03):
growing up, but I was Filipino. And you know, it
was great, like we were the family because my aunt
and my grandma's lived around the way right by this
Caros and we were the loud family on the street
that always had a party every week, you know, for
no reason. It seemed they're just like, oh, they always
(09:25):
have a party. I was like, yeah, life is too hard,
and so we were those loud people there. But that's
the community that raised me. So when I was a
teen mom, when I had my baby unexpectedly eighteen years old,
these are the folks that showed up right like I
was going to school. I was going to work because
it was at the height of the two thousand and
eight recession, like the beginning, and my dad lost his job,
(09:47):
my brother lost his job. So I was just trying
to figure out what how do I provide for this
tiny little human as a single mom right being broke
and you know, dropped out of college, went to community college,
went on food stamps and helped my community. Eventually was
able to graduate from UCLA and become an attorney, and
(10:10):
from there have devoted myself to public service and my
community based on my lived experiences, defended workers against each
theft like my father face when he was undocumented, and
all the changes in the Highland Park and seeing folks
get evicted or displaced. I became an eviction defense attorney,
and so running for city council is just like an
evolution of all that, but testaments to my dedication to
(10:32):
my city and my community.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
It's an LA story through and through, like from beginning
to end. And can I just say I love that
your dad knew to fly into Burbank.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I was going to say, take notes, take notes, that's fantastic,
that's amazing, And I really love your background in tenant's
rights and the law.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
It's such an important issue here in LA I mean,
affordable housing is a huge deal. And I think in
particular in the district CD fourteen that you're running for,
I mean, Highland Park has experienced so much gentrification, so
much displacement, all of the surrounding communities in your district.
So I'm really curious about how you went from practicing
(11:13):
law to deciding you're gonna run for office.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Yeah. I never thought I was gonna run for office, right.
I'm a big a worker bee. I like to be
in the background and do the work my head down,
and I never thought I'd be like the face of anything,
so to speak. And so it really was the tapes,
you know, those infamous tapes where our council member and
two other council members are kind of tape, you know,
being racist and homophobic, but also gerrymandering districts so that
(11:40):
black people couldn't vote. And it was this at on
the heels of you know, George Floyd and the pandemic
when things were really really shut down, and having been
an attorney for renters and small businesses during the time
experiencing evictions, it was just like so depressing, right. The
stakes are so high for so many people, and people
(12:02):
are so close to the brink and things just aren't
getting better. And so now to have leadership that showed
their face and showed us their true colors and realized
this is the best that we've got. I swear we
could do better, right, And we needed people that are
from our communities that have seen what's gone on to
represent us. And you know, we've seen what that does,
(12:23):
like with other council members, my girl council member, and
this is Hernandez and Ugo Sodo Martinez. Ose are people
that are homegrown here and seeing the changes and know
knows what's going on, and not some fly by night
politician just coming here for their next paycheck, right, and
so deciding that like I've just had enough, right. I mean,
(12:44):
I think it's always like from frustration or anger, I'm
driven to service and so trying to serve my community,
given the privileges and the gifts that really they've given me,
I was like, if I can do it, then let's ride, right.
And you know, it was a crowded race with a
lot of elected officials in it, and I was like,
you know what we're just going to run on our values,
(13:07):
like we're going to be true to ourselves, and if
the message catches on, that's like, if people don't go
with it, then it's just not our time. And fortunately,
and surprisingly it really did catch out because we came
out on top.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Let's give some context for the listeners. There was a
primary back in March, yes, and there were several candidates
running also the incumbent, Kevin de Leone. You came out
on top for the elections, for the primary elections, which
is why you're running a general election in November. We
hope you're enjoying this interview. Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
We're back and we hope you enjoy the rest of
the interview.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Walk us through that tell us more about primary to now.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Oh man, okay, yes, so originally there were like thirteen
candidates in this race, which has never really happened before
when the incumbent, like the current elected, is sitting. That
usually only happens when the seat is about to be
vacated by someone like their term ends. But given like
this guy's you know, stubbornness to resign, people are like,
(14:16):
let's have a piece bite of this apple. But you
had to get what was it, two thousand signatures in
order to qualify for the ballot of people that live
in the district, and like I swear, it was like
a week and it was like included Thanksgiving week. It
was like crazy, it's not a week, but it was
multiple weeks and we had to do that. And then
(14:36):
it was a field of eight. We ran against an
assembly member Miguel Santiago, assembly Member Wendy Gadio, and then
council Member Kevin de Leon, as a first time candidate,
as a woman of color, as a single mom, even
like someone that hasn't been in politics all of their life.
They wrote us off, they really really did. And so
(14:58):
you know the first night when on March fifth, which
was the primary election, we were third right, which was commendable,
and people gave us, like, you know, their condolences almost
and sympathy. And then as the days crept forward, the
numbers of votes in our favor kept going up and
up and up, because everyone in California gets a mail
(15:19):
in ballot, and our voters trend younger, they're more diverse,
they're people of color, and CPT time applies to voting time,
so you don't know what CPT is color people time,
and so we were late, and so by the time
the ballots got fully counted, we were on top. We
(15:41):
had we knocked over eighty thousand doors and we got
like over eight thousand votes, and we beat all of
the elected officials, who some of them outspent us almost
four to one.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Your story as far as running for city council is
not that different from Aisis Hernandez, who also was a
first time candidate, one against a long time incumbent in
a big upset, and as a younger, much younger candidate.
And I'm curious, why do you think that people are
(16:12):
gravitating towards you and your campaign? Of course, the door
knocking and the way that you're reaching out to the
community is a.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Big part of it.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
But what about your platform is really drawing in the voters?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Do you think? I mean, I think people in these
districts that are like Unises and I both have like
working class, low income people of color that have been
like she's. She grew up on the other side of
Highland Park. That's her district is the other side of
Holland Park, and I grew up on the other end.
But we've seen what gentrification done to our community. And
(16:47):
you know, we're all the same age here. We've seen
all those changes. Especially you've been here, you've seen it
and you can't deny it. And you know the material
realities that people are facing, and our government is just
not meeting our needs right now, whether it's going to
the park and having enough programs, or having enough public bathrooms,
or treating our unhoused neighbors HU mainly like that's just
not what we see is happening, and instead we're continually
(17:09):
being sold out, and you know, knocking on the doors,
you just hear people say things like, uh, what do
you want from your city council member? They're like honesty, reliability,
and it's like, damn, that's the bare minimum. You can't
even ask for that, and they're just like someone who
shows up. And it's like all of these things that
people ask for are just so simple, right and even
(17:31):
for me, like people ask like, what's your secret sauce
to winning the election? Being on top, I was like
meeting people and listening to them and they're like, oh,
and I'm like that's the whole thing that I think
when you're in it too long, maybe you forget the
most essential part of what your job should be. And
(17:51):
so bringing that back and folks wanting to shift towards
someone new, especially my district which has just been riddled
with corruption and toxic men leading our district. And they're like, yah, basa, you.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Know, m h yeah, let's talk about that. Let's zoom
out a little bit and think about La as a
city and why the city council is so powerful and
also so important. Can you break that down for us?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Yes, sure, yes, City of La it's huge. Either are
fifteen council districts. It goes all the way to the port,
like San Pedro and Wilmington, and it goes all the
way north to like Silmar right, and it goes all
the way west to Venice and Marina del Rey, and
(18:39):
it goes all the way east to Highland Park. So
the city is huge. It's vast, and each council district
has about a quarter million people probably more, and like
a lot less of them vote. But your city council
members have a lot of importance in your life. When
you complain about something, chances are you're the person responsible
(19:01):
for that. Fixing that problem is your council member. So
there are a couple of things that council members really do.
The first one is they got to provide you city services,
and that's basic. That's like the trash pickup, having trash
receptacles on the street, making sure the street is actually clean,
the lights are on. Right. The second thing is they
get to decide what to get built in your neighborhood. Right,
(19:25):
does your neighborhood need a grocery store. They can allow
that to be built and attract the business to make
sure that there are no food deserts in our city. Right,
that could be a priority. They have really strong land
use powers in that way. And then the third thing
is they can decide citywide policy, whether it has to
do with rent control, you know, these long term ordinances
(19:49):
on how we build affordable housing and those like big
sweeping things like minimum wage. Right. And then the last
thing that council members do is just that you know,
they got the bully pulpit. We are considered one of
the most the largest progressive city in America, and so
what we do here is what other folks copy. So like,
(20:11):
our rent stabilization ordinance is like one of the best
in the nation. It's like other cities copy that when
we make improvements, and with electing progressives like council Member
Nathia Ramon and Unitsis and Ugo, we were able to
pass the most progressive renter packet tenant protections, you know,
like a couple of years ago, and that's being modeled
(20:32):
in other places. So we have a huge local impact
on people's daily lives. But what we do here affects
folks nationwide too.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Absolutely. I mean in your and in your campaigning and
in talking to people, how much educating do you think
you're doing just on like who the city council is
and what the city council does and why pay attention?
It's an election year, so people are paying attention to
the presidential election, of course, but there are so many
other elections taking place.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yeah, yeah, I mean all time. Right, Like even my
cousin was like, I was like, who'd you vote for?
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Mayor?
Speaker 4 (21:03):
He's like Gavin Newsom. I was like, wrong, spot, yeah exactly.
I was like, Brad, No, that's wrong. So, I mean
it's a whole mish mash of what's going on. But
I have to say that there has been renewed excitement
in the elections before. I mean, people have felt so jaded,
(21:23):
and you know, things are really hard and they feel
like they're getting harder. And our presidential election was not
very exciting for like the last month and a half,
like a month and like a month ago only right,
And now with the onset of a new Democratic presidential nominee,
there's a renewed excitement for change and positivity towards the election,
(21:46):
which will just have an effect for down ballot races
like local. But yeah, people don't realize most things they
complain about our local city government, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yeah, the president is not going to be the person
who is most directly impacting our everyday quality of life.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
In essence, you can't just call the White House. Now,
you can call your city council office and shop to
your field deputy.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Absolutely, and field deputies like it. And I feel like
a lot of Angelina's a don't know who their city
council person is, what district they live in, or that
there are field deputies.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Right, yes, yeah, And question, do you think that the
council should increase representation like a New York or Chicago,
or like how do you think it functions with fifteen
council members?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
I mean, right now, you know, I think that I'm
for the increase of a representation in city council, right.
I do think a quarter million people is not is
a lot for one office to handle, right, and it
could only improve service delivery for the constituents and makes
it faster to answer the phone. You of like a
(22:59):
smaller group of people to contain, But I do think
we have to do a thoughtful expansion because the last
thing we want is for like, you know, one hundred
people or you know, seventy people on council and then
nothing can get done and it turns into congress where
we're just like logjammed because and when we just want
someone's pothole to be repaired in Highland Park and we
(23:20):
need seventy s's Like, I don't know, you know, that
idea scares me a little bit, but I definitely think
increased representation on council with more seats is needed.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
We have a quote from you that you're running for
city council because it's time for Los Angeles to prioritize seniors,
children and hardworking Angelino's. Can you tell us more about
this mission statement? And I am really I'm curious about
your thoughts specifically on seniors. Yeah, you know, there's not that.
There's not that many resources out there, I think for seniors,
(23:55):
especially when we think about like folks like their ability
to retire and having savings or having a pension, or
they're being like retirement homes that are accessible and affordable,
or at home care, things like that. I have an
elderly grandmother. We just celebrated her ninetieth birthday.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Yeah, amazing, and we have such a strong support system
for her. She has so many people who are there
for her all the time. But there are a lot
of seniors who are alone who don't have that. So
I'm so curious about your your thoughts on seniors in
LA specifically. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
No, I was raised by two of my grandma's on
my mom's side, to call them Lola's, and my Lola
actually passed away in my house, like at eighty eight
years old, right, and my mom passed away there too,
So you know, Highland Park, I'm locked in. But yeah,
she had so much support, right, And one of the
most sympathetic groups of people that I represented when I
(24:51):
was in eviction defense attorney were seniors who were just
falling into homelessness because they have no safety net, they
don't have the extended family. And those are the folks
that I ended up befriending because I was like, do
you need help moving? Like, you know, their list of
their network has shrunk significantly, they don't have that, and
(25:11):
thinking about how can we meet their needs? And one
of them is really housing. Right, they'd be like, well,
I want to go into Section eight senior housing. We're like, okay,
we'll try to figure that out. And it's like, well,
for Section eight, the list was closed for so long
and the wait list was thirteen years or fifteen years, right,
And it was just like, well, my client is what
(25:34):
she's like sixty two or something, And it's like, well,
for some of these seniors, they would have had to
apply for senior housing when they weren't even a senior,
so they wouldn't even qualify, right. And when you get
off that list, it'll maybe be in a different location
where you know, you you make your family, like you
create your chosen family, right, who will take you to
(25:57):
church or you know, take you to the doctor. But
now the place you applied for thirteen years ago is
like in a different part of the neighborhood, and it's
almost like a constructive eviction of like, if people don't
have their network of support near the place that they live,
the chances of them surviving in that new place is
really really tough. And so I think renter protections and
(26:19):
how is it building, like more affordable housing is definitely needed.
But also and I think that's working with the state
legislature too, because even I have one friend whose mom
needs to go into like assisted living, and if you
who's like a former you know, had a good job,
and it's like five thousand dollars a month for them
(26:41):
to stay there, right, and that's not cheap. I mean
that in part was why my grandma stayed at our
house because we had so many people helping. But still
it's like it is so unaffordable to be an old
person in this nation, but here in La Right. But
all the things we work towards on this campaign, whether
(27:02):
it's rent or protection to keep them house, transportation, improving
the sidewalks so that they don't trip and fall, you know,
and making sure our recreation of parks are accessible to them, right,
whether it's having more chess tables, you know, but like shade, right,
like so much of our parks are so beautiful but
unusable because ninety percent of the year it's a hot,
(27:24):
hot heat out there, right, But if we had more
tree canopy and programming, then that would be great. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Absolutely. I remember once I was it was after homecoming
at USC. Actually, you know, it's impossible to get out
of there, so me and my mom like walked and
we took the bus back to my grandma's house. And
it was dark, it was late at night, and there
was this little, little, little old lady waiting at the
bus stop and she got onto the bus by herself.
And I remember my mom saying like, oh that like that, like, yeah,
(27:53):
poor old woman. And I said, but you know what,
isn't it great that there's a running bus with lights
and air conditioning and that she can get around? Yeah,
you know, and so on that note, I'm also curious about,
like your thoughts even on like public transportation. People talk
a lot of shit about LA and getting around and
the traffic and public transpot but there's a lot of
(28:13):
work being done, right, you know, And so even things
like that and just getting around in this city.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yeah, I mean from nineteen eighty nine till today, the
public transit system has much improved, right, and I think
we're getting more federal moneies to increase connectivity with all
our public transit options on rail, and we've have some
huge improvements. A lot of our public transit does go
through CD fourteen. We got new stations there. If you've
(28:41):
seen the beautiful like little Tokyo Station Broadway, like, it's
just all of these when the Regional Connector, it's just
all so beautiful. When that was unveiled, and I'm a
big advocate for public transit. I my mom had epilepsy
and so she had a seizure and her license actually
got taken away. So she had to take the bus
(29:02):
every single day to downtown for a while. And that
was when I learned, like, you know, that was just her,
that was her daily existence. So I was like, oh, yeah,
bus is an option. And I did not want to
learn how to drive. I only learned to drive when
I was pregnant because I had to. But I was
just taking the bus everywhere, and at one point my
car broke down and I had to take the bus
(29:22):
all the way to UCLA, which was like a mess
because it's during finals. But I was able to do
it right. But there are definitely, you know, some gaps
in what our public transit has to offer, especially for
thinking about this no car Olympics. You know, I'm just
all like, m Okay, we got a lot of work
to do, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
I mean you're obviously campaigning, we're hoping you're elected, thank you.
So just if you could like imagine project right you're elected,
it's twenty twenty eight Olympics, Like, how do you foresee
Los Angeles actually hosting the Olympics when there's like hiring freeze,
there's different bureaucratic things in place, So you know, I
(30:07):
think that Angelina's have questions, Like there's an excitement about
the Olympics coming here, but there's also worry right about
what that's going to do to gentrification, what it's going
to look like for a non housed population that's very
big here in Los Angeles. So how do you see
that actually playing out? If you can just imagine it like.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
In the best circumstances, you know, that's how I you know,
like to be hopeful and imagine it. You know, I'm
just thinking, like, this is a huge opportunity for us
to make investments in our city. With urgency and with
additional funds and using a critical eye making sure the
city is accountable and how we spend that and at
the end of the day, spending and the moneys that
(30:49):
we get should be used to like attack our pressing
issues that are already in our city. Homelessness, affordable housing,
you know, public transit. All of those things are what
we need to do in order to be ready. Like
I think part of that equation and our broken city
budget has to do like how are we bringing money
(31:11):
into the city to make sure we can pay for
our city services. I think it's sixteen take sixteen years
for a tree to get trimmed right now if it's
on public city property.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Wow?
Speaker 4 (31:22):
Yeah, And seven years for a sidewalk to be repaired
short if it's a handicapped but it's like maybe four.
Like it's just like we're not And then like our
street lights all downtown are out. I don't know if
you've seen the sixteenth Bridge that night. Less than one
percent of our city budget goes to street lighting though. Wow,
(31:42):
So it's like, how are we gonna do any of this?
We're attracting people to a city that has no lights.
That's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
So to put it very interesting, this is just like.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
So bringing them we got to figure out. So for me,
it's like bringing back downtown and revitalizing it because there's
so many sports sites that are around that, and investing
back into it so it's a lively place to be,
and testing out our transportation public transit pilot programs down
there so that it can be like a walkable space. Right.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, So putting that into context for those that don't know,
are n'tfamiliar with how it works. But the city council work.
They vote on the budget, right, so this like what
you're saying is, oh, public lighting, it uses less than
one percent of the city budget. Well, the city council
is actually voting for that, and it's the budget proposed
by the mayor. Yeah, right, So those are all the
(32:35):
different piece moving pieces. So it's not just let's fix
the lights. It's okay, let's get people in there that
are going to vote for the budgets, right, that are
going to give us the changes that we want in
the city exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
And you know, we have folks that are challenging the
budget and not just like giving it the rubber stamp
of approval because Why is it taken so long for
these things? These are our primary jobs as council members.
Is like, that's like it's a customer service thing, right,
But we don't have enough funds or so they say
(33:06):
to do the basic things that we were supposed to do, right,
And I think, you know, trying to refocus our energies
on that. And we're trying to build a progressive block
on council with Nitya Ugo and Unicis and when we
have more people then we can really you know, stop
tinkering with change and actually push for the get the
(33:28):
radical wins and changes that we desperately want and need.
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Yeah, I feel like I hadn't considered, right, like lighting
being such a big issue with in relation to budgets
in the city council, but it really is. And I
live downtown and it is very dark downtown, and so
when people talk about down downtown being scary or like
a ghost town or zombie land, like, that's part of it. Yeah,
(33:53):
there's not enough lighting. So if the city Council historically
is really not spending enough on lighting, what do you
think they're spending too much on.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
I think they're spending too much on a lot of things.
You know that that I think, you know, we have
to pay out all these like civil lawsuits. We're paying
out too much for helicopters, right. I think we have
eighteen helicopters in the city and their budget is more
than the budget for our Children, Families and Youth department.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
And so a budget is a reflection of your priorities, right,
and so we want to make sure that our budget
reflects our values. And for me, the values that folks
are saying at the doors is that we want we
want our city services. We want the lighting, we want
the programming at the park so we feel safe. We
(34:47):
want public bathroom so that folks don't just have to
go out on the street. Right, if they had a
place to go, then they wouldn't be out there. Yeah, right,
they'd have enough. You know, why is there so much
trash on this street because the city's not providing enough
trash bins. You know, in skid Row there was a
fight to get twelve trash bins there. It took years
(35:08):
for them to get a public restroom. It's just like
all of these things of like, well, if you don't
give people their city services, then sure it's going to
be out there, and so I think it's just making
sure that we have folks with the right values and
willing to prioritize that and stand up to it when
the big decisions come is important.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah, and it's such these are like very basic humane resources. Hey,
and putting it in perspective, a lot of other countries
have public restrooms. Here you have to go into a business,
buy something and then maybe they'll let you use the restroom.
In Mexico City they have public restrooms. In London they
(35:52):
have urinals, yeah, like out in the main squares, you know.
And so we just we don't have these things that
most other places have caught on, like their necessities to
keep a society functioning and clean.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
Yeah and clean.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
We are in the midst of a public health crisis
as well, right, and so making sure a city is
clean is super important, clean and safe, but having public
restrooms is part of that. I think the number of
public restrooms in the city of la It was like
in the single digits, and you're like, we have fifteen
council districts and each of them have a quarter million people,
(36:27):
so that's like over a millions and millions of people
and only like maybe nine bathrooms right right, the math
eighte math and on that one. So if elected, you
would be the first woman to represent CD fourteen. How well, One,
that's incredible if that happens. But two, like, how do
(36:50):
you think given your background, given your values, and you know,
if elected, being the first woman would help the residents
the constituents of c D fourteen. Yeah, it is an
incredible honor, you know, if I would be the first,
you know, if that were to happen, I'd be so
(37:12):
honored by that. But I just think like the most
informative experiences for me have just been raised by, like,
you know, the tribe of women that have just supported
me right all through growing up, whether it was my
grandma's or my aunties. I remember when I was pregnant
and I was like, I don't know what to do,
and my auntie that was a single mom, was just like,
(37:33):
you can do this. We got you, and like, you know,
you've you have to be It's like all the tough
stuff like having to be resilient and be resourceful and
figure out how to make a dollar into one hundred
out of nowhere have like made me resilient for this
role like a guy like my opponent. I've met him
(37:55):
like a million times already. So if we're gonna be somewhere,
he's gonna tell me something. I have no problem standing
up to that full right, But so I don't know,
I feel like being raised by a tribe of women
that are strong and bold and resilient also taught me
how to work with others, how to listen, how it's
(38:16):
not just about your individual success, it's about the collective success,
and how to be a team player at the end
of the day, Like counsel is a team sport. You
need there are fifteen and you need eight votes for
what you want to get through. And it's like, okay,
well I got to do that, but I got to
(38:36):
do it for a quarter million people, but have to
juggle that by getting seven yeses as well, and like,
how can we do that? And so for me, you know,
I've always seen myself as like a convener and a
mediator and a person that can bring unlikely parties to
gather and build coalitions to make things work. You know,
I always say that, Like, you know, for me, it's like, yeah,
(38:59):
my family is a first place that I learned to
organize and maybe we all don't. You know, we don't
talk every day, all of us, but I definitely bring
people together for Christmas dinner and we break bread with
one another. Right, and then we can have those hard
conversations and hopefully emerge from them and get something get
(39:19):
something done for the betterment of the group.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Right fabulous quick like takeaways and like action steps for
our listeners.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Right. Yes.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
In addition to voting for their city council person in
this election, how else can folks continue to get involved
and stay in touch with their city council, including like
the value of public comment. You can literally show up
to a city council meeting, yes, and address the entire
city council in person directly.
Speaker 4 (39:48):
Yes, you can. You can either show up in person
or you can call in. You can check out the
agendas for city council meetings ahead of time and see
what issues are before your council members. In order to
show up, you go to city Hall and you go
to the kiosk and fill something out, or you can
call in and some depending on what the agenda item is,
(40:10):
that's what you sign up for. They also have other committees,
so city council also has committees that are focused on
certain topics like recreation and parks, personnel, housing and hopelessness,
and planning and land use management which is about what
things are built in your neighborhood, which is a really
really fun one for all the nerds out there. But
(40:33):
you can also go there and go have public comment there.
The other thing which you both mentioned is that city
council offices have things called field deputies, which are basically
your neighborhood government contact, right that's your point of contact
for like, if you have an issue with DWP, like
your bill is over like they've overbilled you, you can
(40:57):
actually talk to them about it and have them contact
the department. Their job is to interface with the public
and with the departments to make sure that they work
and respond to you and meet you in the communities
or even if you want to host an event, they
can help you out with that. So those are the
various touch points for how people can reach their council
(41:17):
members right now. Amazing.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
And if folks want to contribute to your campaign or volunteer,
how can they do that?
Speaker 4 (41:25):
You know, you can check out our website Isabelherado dot la.
You know, donations are welcome. This is a people powered campaign.
Our money goes to the people that work for us
right we do. Most all of our money doesn't go
to like fancy mealers. It goes to door knockers who
have one on one conversations. And we knocked on eighty
(41:46):
thousand doors in the primary. We're trying to do one
hundred for November because we want to prioritize meeting meeting
folks where they're at right. And then we have various
volunteer opportunities postcarding, on door knocking, We're going to have
phone and text banking very very soon. But you know,
if you have any other talents, definitely come visit our
(42:09):
website bit dot lea slash, CD fourteen volunteer. The last
thing is you can find us on socials isabel Herado, La, Instagram, TikTok,
I don't know what else exists, Facebook, X.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
All of the things awesome. Isabelle. Thank you so much
for joining us today. It's been really cool learning about
you as an individual but also as a candidate and
hearing more about your campaign. I know this is going
to be super informative for a lot of our listeners
out there who do live in La awesome, So thank
you once again, thank.
Speaker 4 (42:42):
You, thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
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Tune in, leave a comment, subscribe and share with a friend.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So today we have a in depth interview with a
candidate that's running for Council District fourteen. But before we
introduce her and get into the interview, we want to
give some background as to why we're producing this episode today, in.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Addition to the fact that we have our ongoing Latinas
in Politics series and we in general are interested in
politics and elections and women running for office, women of
color running for office. Back into twenty twenty two, we
produced an episode Gopitolo one thirty four Latinidad is Dangerous
with Ovilia Romero of the Macielo Organization, and in that
(02:23):
episode we unpacked the racist comments made by at the
time some of LA's most powerful Latine officials, council members
Nuri Martinez, Gilcidio, Kevin de Leone and president of the
La Labor Federation Ron Herrera in a secret backdoor meeting.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
In the face of public scrutiny and protests. Council member
and president of the La City Council at that time,
Nurri Martinez resigned. Gil Sidillo was serving his last term
at the time, so he did not resign and instead
waited it out. Ronjdeta resigned within days of the FED
tape leak and the final one. Kevin de Leon did
(03:02):
not resign despite public pressure and protests even outside of
his residential home. He's still in office and he's actually
running for re election.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
And for those living outside of Los Angeles or even
those Angelinas who maybe don't exactly know where all the
district lines are drawn, Kevin Deleone represents Council District fourteen,
which covers the areas of Boyle Heights, Downtown, La Lincoln Heights,
El Serino, and parts of Northeast Los Angeles. So this
is a very heavily Latino working class district that kevindalone represents.
(03:36):
I live in this district. I live downtown. Unfortunately, Kevin
de Leone is my city council person. But luckily the
candidate that we're interviewing today is running to unseat him.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And prior to council Member Kevin de Leon being in office,
this district was also represented by Josse Wizard, who's been
tried and convicted for racketeering, conspiracy, and tax evasion. This
district has been plagued by lots of corruption and in
the last two elections or the last two representatives have
(04:08):
both been Latino men. Yes, and so it's not enough
that our council members will look like us, right, Or
it's not enough that we can see ourselves in them
or the representation. Yes, that's important, but going beyond that,
how are they actually using the power that they have
to make our daily lives better? So, like Mala mentioned
(04:31):
at the top of this episode, almost every election cycle,
we produce a series called Latina's in Politics. We typically,
if you've listened before, you know that we interview Latinas
who are running for office for the first time. They're
running to site an incumbent and they want change in
their communities. And today's guest is not a Latino running
for office. But because of the importance of this campaign
(04:53):
in local LA elections, we are pleased to have Isabel
Huado candidate for Council District fourteen. If elected, she would
be the first Filippina council member to serve the city.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Of La Isabelle Hrado is a tenant's rights attorney, an
affordable housing activist, a single mother, and the daughter of
undocumented Filipino immigrants, as well as a life long Angelino.
She was born and raised in Highland Park, attended PCC,
and put herself through college at UCLA, where she completed
her bachelor's degree. After graduating from with her bachelor's degree,
(05:27):
she went on to UCLA School of Law where she
graduated with her Juris doctorate specializing in critical race studies
and the David j Epstein Program in Public Interest Law
and Policy. She's going to talk more about her story,
but I think notably she did all of this as
a single teen mom, while raising her daughter Stella, and
again living in Highland Park, so we are super excited
(05:50):
to talk to her. At the time of this interview.
Isabelle has been endorsed by individuals like Council Member Aisa
Sernandez Delores CERTA and organizations like California Working Families Party,
the SIEU UTLA and more.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Don't go anywhere, Lokamotis.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
We'll be right back and we're back with more of
our episode.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Today we have a very very special guest in studio
on lookout what our radio Isabel Hurado. Please introduce yourself
for our listeners.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Hi am Isabelle Herado. I'm running for La City Council
District fourteen here in Los Angeles. I'm happy to be here.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
You are and Angelino through and through. Tell us a
little bit about your background. Of course, you live in
the council district that you're running for, but tell us
more about your experience growing up in La Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Yeah, I ride from my city, live and die in
La So. I'm born and raised in Highland Park. My
parents are Filipino immigrants. My mom migrated here thanks to
her mom petitioning her to come to America. And my
mom gave a famous ultimatum to my dad and she
said on the phone while he was in the Philippines,
(07:14):
if you don't come get your girl, I'm gonna go
with the guy on the bus. And my dad said,
say less, put the phone down. Found one thousand dollars
flu to Bourbank Airport. Married my mom got a ring.
He's like, I got a ring, I got the suit.
We went to Macy's, got the wedding in South la
By the end of the day, he had like fifty
dollars left. And they started their life in a basement
(07:38):
of the in laws with like my three aunts and
uncles and his mother in law. And that's how my
parents started. You know. They were so poor and he
was undocumented. There was talk about how they shared one
set of plastic plates, a plate and utensils, and they
shared it for dinner to save money and washed it.
(07:58):
You know, my dad was working couple jobs, but his
wages were stolen. He was confused why he was putting
money to retirement and was like, I don't I'm not
a citizen yet, right. Or the day that he announced
his coworkers that my mom was pregnant with my brother,
and he was so excited and then the manager called
him in on the spot, was like, you gotta go right.
(08:20):
We know you're gonna ask for more money or something
and we can't have that here. And at one point,
even in the eighties, like he was, you know, ice
came to his office and he had to go into
hiding and It was a rough time for my family.
We definitely grew from it, and you know, eventually they
were able to cobble mothering together to get a house
(08:42):
in Highland Park, right, And at that time, it wasn't
what it was today. It was, you know, there was
a shootout the other day was the past week in
my neighborhood. But that was a normal currence growing up.
And so that was a neighborhood. I grew up in
working class primarily. Let you know, a lot lots of Mexican.
I thought I really wanted to be Mexican so badly
(09:03):
growing up, but I was Filipino. And you know, it
was great, like we were the family because my aunt
and my grandma's lived around the way right by this
Caros and we were the loud family on the street
that always had a party every week, you know, for
no reason. It seemed they're just like, oh, they always
(09:25):
have a party. I was like, yeah, life is too hard,
and so we were those loud people there. But that's
the community that raised me. So when I was a
teen mom, when I had my baby unexpectedly eighteen years old,
these are the folks that showed up right like I
was going to school. I was going to work because
it was at the height of the two thousand and
eight recession, like the beginning, and my dad lost his job,
(09:47):
my brother lost his job. So I was just trying
to figure out what how do I provide for this
tiny little human as a single mom right being broke
and you know, dropped out of college, went to community college,
went on food stamps and helped my community. Eventually was
able to graduate from UCLA and become an attorney, and
(10:10):
from there have devoted myself to public service and my
community based on my lived experiences, defended workers against each
theft like my father face when he was undocumented, and
all the changes in the Highland Park and seeing folks
get evicted or displaced. I became an eviction defense attorney,
and so running for city council is just like an
evolution of all that, but testaments to my dedication to
(10:32):
my city and my community.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
It's an LA story through and through, like from beginning
to end. And can I just say I love that
your dad knew to fly into Burbank.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I was going to say, take notes, take notes, that's fantastic,
that's amazing, And I really love your background in tenant's
rights and the law.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
It's such an important issue here in LA I mean,
affordable housing is a huge deal. And I think in
particular in the district CD fourteen that you're running for,
I mean, Highland Park has experienced so much gentrification, so
much displacement, all of the surrounding communities in your district.
So I'm really curious about how you went from practicing
(11:13):
law to deciding you're gonna run for office.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Yeah. I never thought I was gonna run for office, right.
I'm a big a worker bee. I like to be
in the background and do the work my head down,
and I never thought I'd be like the face of anything,
so to speak. And so it really was the tapes,
you know, those infamous tapes where our council member and
two other council members are kind of tape, you know,
being racist and homophobic, but also gerrymandering districts so that
(11:40):
black people couldn't vote. And it was this at on
the heels of you know, George Floyd and the pandemic
when things were really really shut down, and having been
an attorney for renters and small businesses during the time
experiencing evictions, it was just like so depressing, right. The
stakes are so high for so many people, and people
(12:02):
are so close to the brink and things just aren't
getting better. And so now to have leadership that showed
their face and showed us their true colors and realized
this is the best that we've got. I swear we
could do better, right, And we needed people that are
from our communities that have seen what's gone on to
represent us. And you know, we've seen what that does,
(12:23):
like with other council members, my girl council member, and
this is Hernandez and Ugo Sodo Martinez. Ose are people
that are homegrown here and seeing the changes and know
knows what's going on, and not some fly by night
politician just coming here for their next paycheck, right, and
so deciding that like I've just had enough, right. I mean,
(12:44):
I think it's always like from frustration or anger, I'm
driven to service and so trying to serve my community,
given the privileges and the gifts that really they've given me,
I was like, if I can do it, then let's ride, right.
And you know, it was a crowded race with a
lot of elected officials in it, and I was like,
you know what we're just going to run on our values,
(13:07):
like we're going to be true to ourselves, and if
the message catches on, that's like, if people don't go
with it, then it's just not our time. And fortunately,
and surprisingly it really did catch out because we came
out on top.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Let's give some context for the listeners. There was a
primary back in March, yes, and there were several candidates
running also the incumbent, Kevin de Leone. You came out
on top for the elections, for the primary elections, which
is why you're running a general election in November. We
hope you're enjoying this interview. Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
We're back and we hope you enjoy the rest of
the interview.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Walk us through that tell us more about primary to now.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Oh man, okay, yes, so originally there were like thirteen
candidates in this race, which has never really happened before
when the incumbent, like the current elected, is sitting. That
usually only happens when the seat is about to be
vacated by someone like their term ends. But given like
this guy's you know, stubbornness to resign, people are like,
(14:16):
let's have a piece bite of this apple. But you
had to get what was it, two thousand signatures in
order to qualify for the ballot of people that live
in the district, and like I swear, it was like
a week and it was like included Thanksgiving week. It
was like crazy, it's not a week, but it was
multiple weeks and we had to do that. And then
(14:36):
it was a field of eight. We ran against an
assembly member Miguel Santiago, assembly Member Wendy Gadio, and then
council Member Kevin de Leon, as a first time candidate,
as a woman of color, as a single mom, even
like someone that hasn't been in politics all of their life.
They wrote us off, they really really did. And so
(14:58):
you know the first night when on March fifth, which
was the primary election, we were third right, which was commendable,
and people gave us, like, you know, their condolences almost
and sympathy. And then as the days crept forward, the
numbers of votes in our favor kept going up and
up and up, because everyone in California gets a mail
(15:19):
in ballot, and our voters trend younger, they're more diverse,
they're people of color, and CPT time applies to voting time,
so you don't know what CPT is color people time,
and so we were late, and so by the time
the ballots got fully counted, we were on top. We
(15:41):
had we knocked over eighty thousand doors and we got
like over eight thousand votes, and we beat all of
the elected officials, who some of them outspent us almost
four to one.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Your story as far as running for city council is
not that different from Aisis Hernandez, who also was a
first time candidate, one against a long time incumbent in
a big upset, and as a younger, much younger candidate.
And I'm curious, why do you think that people are
(16:12):
gravitating towards you and your campaign? Of course, the door
knocking and the way that you're reaching out to the
community is a.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Big part of it.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
But what about your platform is really drawing in the voters?
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Do you think? I mean, I think people in these
districts that are like Unises and I both have like
working class, low income people of color that have been
like she's. She grew up on the other side of
Highland Park. That's her district is the other side of
Holland Park, and I grew up on the other end.
But we've seen what gentrification done to our community. And
(16:47):
you know, we're all the same age here. We've seen
all those changes. Especially you've been here, you've seen it
and you can't deny it. And you know the material
realities that people are facing, and our government is just
not meeting our needs right now, whether it's going to
the park and having enough programs, or having enough public bathrooms,
or treating our unhoused neighbors HU mainly like that's just
not what we see is happening, and instead we're continually
(17:09):
being sold out, and you know, knocking on the doors,
you just hear people say things like, uh, what do
you want from your city council member? They're like honesty, reliability,
and it's like, damn, that's the bare minimum. You can't
even ask for that, and they're just like someone who
shows up. And it's like all of these things that
people ask for are just so simple, right and even
(17:31):
for me, like people ask like, what's your secret sauce
to winning the election? Being on top, I was like
meeting people and listening to them and they're like, oh,
and I'm like that's the whole thing that I think
when you're in it too long, maybe you forget the
most essential part of what your job should be. And
(17:51):
so bringing that back and folks wanting to shift towards
someone new, especially my district which has just been riddled
with corruption and toxic men leading our district. And they're like, yah, basa, you.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Know, m h yeah, let's talk about that. Let's zoom
out a little bit and think about La as a
city and why the city council is so powerful and
also so important. Can you break that down for us?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Yes, sure, yes, City of La it's huge. Either are
fifteen council districts. It goes all the way to the port,
like San Pedro and Wilmington, and it goes all the
way north to like Silmar right, and it goes all
the way west to Venice and Marina del Rey, and
(18:39):
it goes all the way east to Highland Park. So
the city is huge. It's vast, and each council district
has about a quarter million people probably more, and like
a lot less of them vote. But your city council
members have a lot of importance in your life. When
you complain about something, chances are you're the person responsible
(19:01):
for that. Fixing that problem is your council member. So
there are a couple of things that council members really do.
The first one is they got to provide you city services,
and that's basic. That's like the trash pickup, having trash
receptacles on the street, making sure the street is actually clean,
the lights are on. Right. The second thing is they
get to decide what to get built in your neighborhood. Right,
(19:25):
does your neighborhood need a grocery store. They can allow
that to be built and attract the business to make
sure that there are no food deserts in our city. Right,
that could be a priority. They have really strong land
use powers in that way. And then the third thing
is they can decide citywide policy, whether it has to
do with rent control, you know, these long term ordinances
(19:49):
on how we build affordable housing and those like big
sweeping things like minimum wage. Right. And then the last
thing that council members do is just that you know,
they got the bully pulpit. We are considered one of
the most the largest progressive city in America, and so
what we do here is what other folks copy. So like,
(20:11):
our rent stabilization ordinance is like one of the best
in the nation. It's like other cities copy that when
we make improvements, and with electing progressives like council Member
Nathia Ramon and Unitsis and Ugo, we were able to
pass the most progressive renter packet tenant protections, you know,
like a couple of years ago, and that's being modeled
(20:32):
in other places. So we have a huge local impact
on people's daily lives. But what we do here affects
folks nationwide too.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Absolutely. I mean in your and in your campaigning and
in talking to people, how much educating do you think
you're doing just on like who the city council is
and what the city council does and why pay attention?
It's an election year, so people are paying attention to
the presidential election, of course, but there are so many
other elections taking place.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yeah, yeah, I mean all time. Right, Like even my
cousin was like, I was like, who'd you vote for?
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Mayor?
Speaker 4 (21:03):
He's like Gavin Newsom. I was like, wrong, spot, yeah exactly.
I was like, Brad, No, that's wrong. So, I mean
it's a whole mish mash of what's going on. But
I have to say that there has been renewed excitement
in the elections before. I mean, people have felt so jaded,
(21:23):
and you know, things are really hard and they feel
like they're getting harder. And our presidential election was not
very exciting for like the last month and a half,
like a month and like a month ago only right,
And now with the onset of a new Democratic presidential nominee,
there's a renewed excitement for change and positivity towards the election,
(21:46):
which will just have an effect for down ballot races
like local. But yeah, people don't realize most things they
complain about our local city government, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Yeah, the president is not going to be the person
who is most directly impacting our everyday quality of life.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
In essence, you can't just call the White House. Now,
you can call your city council office and shop to
your field deputy.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Absolutely, and field deputies like it. And I feel like
a lot of Angelina's a don't know who their city
council person is, what district they live in, or that
there are field deputies.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Right, yes, yeah, And question, do you think that the
council should increase representation like a New York or Chicago,
or like how do you think it functions with fifteen
council members?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
I mean, right now, you know, I think that I'm
for the increase of a representation in city council, right.
I do think a quarter million people is not is
a lot for one office to handle, right, and it
could only improve service delivery for the constituents and makes
it faster to answer the phone. You of like a
(22:59):
smaller group of people to contain, But I do think
we have to do a thoughtful expansion because the last
thing we want is for like, you know, one hundred
people or you know, seventy people on council and then
nothing can get done and it turns into congress where
we're just like logjammed because and when we just want
someone's pothole to be repaired in Highland Park and we
(23:20):
need seventy s's Like, I don't know, you know, that
idea scares me a little bit, but I definitely think
increased representation on council with more seats is needed.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
We have a quote from you that you're running for
city council because it's time for Los Angeles to prioritize seniors,
children and hardworking Angelino's. Can you tell us more about
this mission statement? And I am really I'm curious about
your thoughts specifically on seniors. Yeah, you know, there's not that.
There's not that many resources out there, I think for seniors,
(23:55):
especially when we think about like folks like their ability
to retire and having savings or having a pension, or
they're being like retirement homes that are accessible and affordable,
or at home care, things like that. I have an
elderly grandmother. We just celebrated her ninetieth birthday.
Speaker 4 (24:12):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Yeah, amazing, and we have such a strong support system
for her. She has so many people who are there
for her all the time. But there are a lot
of seniors who are alone who don't have that. So
I'm so curious about your your thoughts on seniors in
LA specifically. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
No, I was raised by two of my grandma's on
my mom's side, to call them Lola's, and my Lola
actually passed away in my house, like at eighty eight
years old, right, and my mom passed away there too,
So you know, Highland Park, I'm locked in. But yeah,
she had so much support, right, And one of the
most sympathetic groups of people that I represented when I
(24:51):
was in eviction defense attorney were seniors who were just
falling into homelessness because they have no safety net, they
don't have the extended family. And those are the folks
that I ended up befriending because I was like, do
you need help moving? Like, you know, their list of
their network has shrunk significantly, they don't have that, and
(25:11):
thinking about how can we meet their needs? And one
of them is really housing. Right, they'd be like, well,
I want to go into Section eight senior housing. We're like, okay,
we'll try to figure that out. And it's like, well,
for Section eight, the list was closed for so long
and the wait list was thirteen years or fifteen years, right,
And it was just like, well, my client is what
(25:34):
she's like sixty two or something, And it's like, well,
for some of these seniors, they would have had to
apply for senior housing when they weren't even a senior,
so they wouldn't even qualify, right. And when you get
off that list, it'll maybe be in a different location
where you know, you you make your family, like you
create your chosen family, right, who will take you to
(25:57):
church or you know, take you to the doctor. But
now the place you applied for thirteen years ago is
like in a different part of the neighborhood, and it's
almost like a constructive eviction of like, if people don't
have their network of support near the place that they live,
the chances of them surviving in that new place is
really really tough. And so I think renter protections and
(26:19):
how is it building, like more affordable housing is definitely needed.
But also and I think that's working with the state
legislature too, because even I have one friend whose mom
needs to go into like assisted living, and if you
who's like a former you know, had a good job,
and it's like five thousand dollars a month for them
(26:41):
to stay there, right, and that's not cheap. I mean
that in part was why my grandma stayed at our
house because we had so many people helping. But still
it's like it is so unaffordable to be an old
person in this nation, but here in La Right. But
all the things we work towards on this campaign, whether
(27:02):
it's rent or protection to keep them house, transportation, improving
the sidewalks so that they don't trip and fall, you know,
and making sure our recreation of parks are accessible to them, right,
whether it's having more chess tables, you know, but like shade, right,
like so much of our parks are so beautiful but
unusable because ninety percent of the year it's a hot,
(27:24):
hot heat out there, right, But if we had more
tree canopy and programming, then that would be great. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Absolutely. I remember once I was it was after homecoming
at USC. Actually, you know, it's impossible to get out
of there, so me and my mom like walked and
we took the bus back to my grandma's house. And
it was dark, it was late at night, and there
was this little, little, little old lady waiting at the
bus stop and she got onto the bus by herself.
And I remember my mom saying like, oh that like that, like, yeah,
(27:53):
poor old woman. And I said, but you know what,
isn't it great that there's a running bus with lights
and air conditioning and that she can get around? Yeah,
you know, and so on that note, I'm also curious about,
like your thoughts even on like public transportation. People talk
a lot of shit about LA and getting around and
the traffic and public transpot but there's a lot of
(28:13):
work being done, right, you know, And so even things
like that and just getting around in this city.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Yeah, I mean from nineteen eighty nine till today, the
public transit system has much improved, right, and I think
we're getting more federal moneies to increase connectivity with all
our public transit options on rail, and we've have some
huge improvements. A lot of our public transit does go
through CD fourteen. We got new stations there. If you've
(28:41):
seen the beautiful like little Tokyo Station Broadway, like, it's
just all of these when the Regional Connector, it's just
all so beautiful. When that was unveiled, and I'm a
big advocate for public transit. I my mom had epilepsy
and so she had a seizure and her license actually
got taken away. So she had to take the bus
(29:02):
every single day to downtown for a while. And that
was when I learned, like, you know, that was just her,
that was her daily existence. So I was like, oh, yeah,
bus is an option. And I did not want to
learn how to drive. I only learned to drive when
I was pregnant because I had to. But I was
just taking the bus everywhere, and at one point my
car broke down and I had to take the bus
(29:22):
all the way to UCLA, which was like a mess
because it's during finals. But I was able to do
it right. But there are definitely, you know, some gaps
in what our public transit has to offer, especially for
thinking about this no car Olympics. You know, I'm just
all like, m Okay, we got a lot of work
to do, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
I mean you're obviously campaigning, we're hoping you're elected, thank you.
So just if you could like imagine project right you're elected,
it's twenty twenty eight Olympics, Like, how do you foresee
Los Angeles actually hosting the Olympics when there's like hiring freeze,
there's different bureaucratic things in place, So you know, I
(30:07):
think that Angelina's have questions, Like there's an excitement about
the Olympics coming here, but there's also worry right about
what that's going to do to gentrification, what it's going
to look like for a non housed population that's very
big here in Los Angeles. So how do you see
that actually playing out? If you can just imagine it like.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
In the best circumstances, you know, that's how I you know,
like to be hopeful and imagine it. You know, I'm
just thinking, like, this is a huge opportunity for us
to make investments in our city. With urgency and with
additional funds and using a critical eye making sure the
city is accountable and how we spend that and at
the end of the day, spending and the moneys that
(30:49):
we get should be used to like attack our pressing
issues that are already in our city. Homelessness, affordable housing,
you know, public transit. All of those things are what
we need to do in order to be ready. Like
I think part of that equation and our broken city
budget has to do like how are we bringing money
(31:11):
into the city to make sure we can pay for
our city services. I think it's sixteen take sixteen years
for a tree to get trimmed right now if it's
on public city property.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Wow?
Speaker 4 (31:22):
Yeah, And seven years for a sidewalk to be repaired
short if it's a handicapped but it's like maybe four.
Like it's just like we're not And then like our
street lights all downtown are out. I don't know if
you've seen the sixteenth Bridge that night. Less than one
percent of our city budget goes to street lighting though. Wow,
(31:42):
So it's like, how are we gonna do any of this?
We're attracting people to a city that has no lights.
That's fabulous.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
So to put it very interesting, this is just like.
Speaker 4 (31:54):
So bringing them we got to figure out. So for me,
it's like bringing back downtown and revitalizing it because there's
so many sports sites that are around that, and investing
back into it so it's a lively place to be,
and testing out our transportation public transit pilot programs down
there so that it can be like a walkable space. Right.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, So putting that into context for those that don't know,
are n'tfamiliar with how it works. But the city council work.
They vote on the budget, right, so this like what
you're saying is, oh, public lighting, it uses less than
one percent of the city budget. Well, the city council
is actually voting for that, and it's the budget proposed
by the mayor. Yeah, right, So those are all the
(32:35):
different piece moving pieces. So it's not just let's fix
the lights. It's okay, let's get people in there that
are going to vote for the budgets, right, that are
going to give us the changes that we want in
the city exactly exactly.
Speaker 4 (32:46):
And you know, we have folks that are challenging the
budget and not just like giving it the rubber stamp
of approval because Why is it taken so long for
these things? These are our primary jobs as council members.
Is like, that's like it's a customer service thing, right,
But we don't have enough funds or so they say
(33:06):
to do the basic things that we were supposed to do, right,
And I think, you know, trying to refocus our energies
on that. And we're trying to build a progressive block
on council with Nitya Ugo and Unicis and when we
have more people then we can really you know, stop
tinkering with change and actually push for the get the
(33:28):
radical wins and changes that we desperately want and need.
You know.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Yeah, I feel like I hadn't considered, right, like lighting
being such a big issue with in relation to budgets
in the city council, but it really is. And I
live downtown and it is very dark downtown, and so
when people talk about down downtown being scary or like
a ghost town or zombie land, like, that's part of it. Yeah,
(33:53):
there's not enough lighting. So if the city Council historically
is really not spending enough on lighting, what do you
think they're spending too much on.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
I think they're spending too much on a lot of things.
You know that that I think, you know, we have
to pay out all these like civil lawsuits. We're paying
out too much for helicopters, right. I think we have
eighteen helicopters in the city and their budget is more
than the budget for our Children, Families and Youth department.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
And so a budget is a reflection of your priorities, right,
and so we want to make sure that our budget
reflects our values. And for me, the values that folks
are saying at the doors is that we want we
want our city services. We want the lighting, we want
the programming at the park so we feel safe. We
(34:47):
want public bathroom so that folks don't just have to
go out on the street. Right, if they had a
place to go, then they wouldn't be out there. Yeah, right,
they'd have enough. You know, why is there so much
trash on this street because the city's not providing enough
trash bins. You know, in skid Row there was a
fight to get twelve trash bins there. It took years
(35:08):
for them to get a public restroom. It's just like
all of these things of like, well, if you don't
give people their city services, then sure it's going to
be out there, and so I think it's just making
sure that we have folks with the right values and
willing to prioritize that and stand up to it when
the big decisions come is important.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah, and it's such these are like very basic humane resources. Hey,
and putting it in perspective, a lot of other countries
have public restrooms. Here you have to go into a business,
buy something and then maybe they'll let you use the restroom.
In Mexico City they have public restrooms. In London they
(35:52):
have urinals, yeah, like out in the main squares, you know.
And so we just we don't have these things that
most other places have caught on, like their necessities to
keep a society functioning and clean.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
Yeah and clean.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
We are in the midst of a public health crisis
as well, right, and so making sure a city is
clean is super important, clean and safe, but having public
restrooms is part of that. I think the number of
public restrooms in the city of la It was like
in the single digits, and you're like, we have fifteen
council districts and each of them have a quarter million people,
(36:27):
so that's like over a millions and millions of people
and only like maybe nine bathrooms right right, the math
eighte math and on that one. So if elected, you
would be the first woman to represent CD fourteen. How well, One,
that's incredible if that happens. But two, like, how do
(36:50):
you think given your background, given your values, and you know,
if elected, being the first woman would help the residents
the constituents of c D fourteen. Yeah, it is an
incredible honor, you know, if I would be the first,
you know, if that were to happen, I'd be so
(37:12):
honored by that. But I just think like the most
informative experiences for me have just been raised by, like,
you know, the tribe of women that have just supported
me right all through growing up, whether it was my
grandma's or my aunties. I remember when I was pregnant
and I was like, I don't know what to do,
and my auntie that was a single mom, was just like,
(37:33):
you can do this. We got you, and like, you know,
you've you have to be It's like all the tough
stuff like having to be resilient and be resourceful and
figure out how to make a dollar into one hundred
out of nowhere have like made me resilient for this
role like a guy like my opponent. I've met him
(37:55):
like a million times already. So if we're gonna be somewhere,
he's gonna tell me something. I have no problem standing
up to that full right, But so I don't know,
I feel like being raised by a tribe of women
that are strong and bold and resilient also taught me
how to work with others, how to listen, how it's
(38:16):
not just about your individual success, it's about the collective success,
and how to be a team player at the end
of the day, Like counsel is a team sport. You
need there are fifteen and you need eight votes for
what you want to get through. And it's like, okay,
well I got to do that, but I got to
(38:36):
do it for a quarter million people, but have to
juggle that by getting seven yeses as well, and like,
how can we do that? And so for me, you know,
I've always seen myself as like a convener and a
mediator and a person that can bring unlikely parties to
gather and build coalitions to make things work. You know,
I always say that, Like, you know, for me, it's like, yeah,
(38:59):
my family is a first place that I learned to
organize and maybe we all don't. You know, we don't
talk every day, all of us, but I definitely bring
people together for Christmas dinner and we break bread with
one another. Right, and then we can have those hard
conversations and hopefully emerge from them and get something get
(39:19):
something done for the betterment of the group.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
Right fabulous quick like takeaways and like action steps for
our listeners.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Right. Yes.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
In addition to voting for their city council person in
this election, how else can folks continue to get involved
and stay in touch with their city council, including like
the value of public comment. You can literally show up
to a city council meeting, yes, and address the entire
city council in person directly.
Speaker 4 (39:48):
Yes, you can. You can either show up in person
or you can call in. You can check out the
agendas for city council meetings ahead of time and see
what issues are before your council members. In order to
show up, you go to city Hall and you go
to the kiosk and fill something out, or you can
call in and some depending on what the agenda item is,
(40:10):
that's what you sign up for. They also have other committees,
so city council also has committees that are focused on
certain topics like recreation and parks, personnel, housing and hopelessness,
and planning and land use management which is about what
things are built in your neighborhood, which is a really
really fun one for all the nerds out there. But
(40:33):
you can also go there and go have public comment there.
The other thing which you both mentioned is that city
council offices have things called field deputies, which are basically
your neighborhood government contact, right that's your point of contact
for like, if you have an issue with DWP, like
your bill is over like they've overbilled you, you can
(40:57):
actually talk to them about it and have them contact
the department. Their job is to interface with the public
and with the departments to make sure that they work
and respond to you and meet you in the communities
or even if you want to host an event, they
can help you out with that. So those are the
various touch points for how people can reach their council
(41:17):
members right now. Amazing.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
And if folks want to contribute to your campaign or volunteer,
how can they do that?
Speaker 4 (41:25):
You know, you can check out our website Isabelherado dot la.
You know, donations are welcome. This is a people powered campaign.
Our money goes to the people that work for us
right we do. Most all of our money doesn't go
to like fancy mealers. It goes to door knockers who
have one on one conversations. And we knocked on eighty
(41:46):
thousand doors in the primary. We're trying to do one
hundred for November because we want to prioritize meeting meeting
folks where they're at right. And then we have various
volunteer opportunities postcarding, on door knocking, We're going to have
phone and text banking very very soon. But you know,
if you have any other talents, definitely come visit our
(42:09):
website bit dot lea slash, CD fourteen volunteer. The last
thing is you can find us on socials isabel Herado, La, Instagram, TikTok,
I don't know what else exists, Facebook, X.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
All of the things awesome. Isabelle. Thank you so much
for joining us today. It's been really cool learning about
you as an individual but also as a candidate and
hearing more about your campaign. I know this is going
to be super informative for a lot of our listeners
out there who do live in La awesome, So thank
you once again, thank.
Speaker 4 (42:42):
You, thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Look at Radio is executive produced by Viosa FM and
Mala Munios.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Stephanie Franco is our.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
Producer, Story editing by Me viosa.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Creative direction by Me Mala.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Look at Our Radio is a part of iHeartRadio's Michael
Dura podcast network.
Speaker 3 (42:59):
You can listen to look At Radio on the iHeartRadio
app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
Leave us a review and share with your prima or
share with your homegirl.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
And thank you to our local motives, to our listeners
for tuning in each and every week.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Besitos Loca Luni
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