April 1, 2026 • 53 mins
This week, Diosa and Mala interview Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate Rae Huang, a community organizer, coalition builder, and pastor. She details a platform centered around the needs of everyday Angelenos, like permanent affordable housing, a public bank, and free and fast transit. Rae Huang shares different ways she wants to innovate city hall and the mayor's office, like establishing the first Office of Nightlife, co-governance, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yoh hey, look a morees. I'm Viosa and you're listening
to lok a Tora Radio. We're back this week with
another mayoral candidate interview. Today we're talking to Ray Huang,
a community organizer, coalition builder, and pastor. A few weeks ago,
(00:23):
her team invited me to an indie press event hosted
at Midnight Books in the Arts District. This is where
I got to hear her campaign platforms firsthand. At this event,
I learned more about Ray and her decades long advocacy
for affordable housing. Now we're bringing her campaign policies to you.
(00:44):
In this interview, you'll hear her discuss social housing.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Social housing is permanent, affordable housing that is permanently off
the speculative market.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Free buses, let's get people.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Out of their cars. We can change that by making
our lives easier, by making transit more accessible, by making
transit faster, and if.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
We make it free on a public bank.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
A public bank is a bank that we get to runt.
It's our cities. That means the fees and all of
those transactions are not going into the pockets of wall streets.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
What strikes me so far about this campaign is that
Ray shared that community members every day Angelino's like you
and me, contributed to her policy points. As we approach
the June second primary, there is a stacked race. Incumbent
Mayor Karen Bass is running for re election. Council member
(01:37):
Nthia Rahman is also running. You can tune into that
interview on our feed if you haven't already. Reality TV
star Spencer Pratt, Yes, Spencer from the Hills, is also running,
and Adam Miller, a tech entrepreneur. We know that not
all of our listeners are LA based, but we still
(01:59):
think this mayoral race is so important because as large
as a city as Los Angeles is, we know that
it is often a test ground for politics and policy.
Here's our interview with mayoral candidate Ray Honk.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
This is Ray Quang, mayoral candidate for Los Angeles and
you're listening to Loko Tora.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Ray, can you tell us what is the LA story
that you want to tell? What is it about Angelinos
that you love the most, and what qualities do Angelinos
have that motivate you to want to lead us.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
What I love most about being an Angelino is the
fact that we show up for each other. We show
up for each other and we keep us safe. We
protect each other. Over the last over a decade now
that I've lived here, more and more, every single time
a crisis occurs, such as especially the pandemic and then
(02:59):
lead the fires, during the Black Lives Matter uprising, during
now the ice raids, every single time a major crisis occurs,
when people get hurt, when our own families are kidnapped,
we show up and we've been fighting for each other.
People that we have no relationship with, but the fact
that we are a neighbor, the fact that we are
(03:22):
somebody who lives.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
On the street or even across town.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
We're willing to go the extra mile to be able
to defend and stand with each other to fight for
one another. Also create systems, a rapid response network delivery
of food, medicine, and clothing both during the fires and
especially now with the raids. I'm part of a rapid
response group where as families members are detained, we provide
(03:49):
support for the family members themselves and we support them
with legal representation. Right These are all things that Angeline
Knows have come up with. Systems around the outreach and
the lookout at home depot, at the schools down the
street at my local school. We went by and stood there.
Shortly after there were kidnappings at a elementary school graduation.
(04:14):
This is what Los Angeles does, and I'm so proud
to be part of a community that shows up for us.
The challenge, the frustration is that city Hall is not
doing the same thing we are showing up to protect
ourselves from ice agents, because LAPD is doing the opposite,
(04:37):
because city Hall is not actually doing their job and
protecting us. And so this is the Los Angeles that
I come from, the one where we protect one another,
the one where we show up for each other. And
this is the Los Angeles that I plan on bringing
into the administration, into city Hall so that we follow
the lead of real Angelinas.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's really great to hear you talk about the movement
work and the rapid response networks and the organizing that
happens here in Los Angeles, because so often, as creators
and writers who spend a lot of time online, there's
this really inaccurate take about Los Angeles, that it's fake
and that it's vapid, and our response is always like, well,
(05:20):
you're not tapped into the right communities and you're not
tapped into the right neighborhood, if that's your take. So
to hear you describe La in that way is such
a great way and really resonates I think with us
and the La that we know. And to that point,
we also want to ask you to describe your perfect
day in La. If you had unlimited time and traffic
(05:42):
wasn't an issue, how would you spend your day in La?
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So actually I'm going to describe almost every weekend I
have in La with my children.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
This is what we do. We sleep in the morning.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
And we make a big breakfast, and then we ride
our bike and through my neighborhood. Live in the neighborhood
of as Hotel, and we ride our bike down to
the main main street block which is called Saltel Boulevard,
and there's all these shops and restaurants. I live in
a historic Japanese neighborhood. It is it's where a lot
(06:16):
of Japanese gardeners and their family members lived. I'm sure
you are well aware that because of racial discrimination, especially
in work and occupation, a lot of ethnic communities were
only relegated to essentially have certain kinds of jobs, and
gardening was one of the few jobs where Japanese community
(06:40):
members could find work and flourish in their economic career.
My neighborhood was one where a lot of Japanese communities
lived together, and there's a lot of gardens. Since now
it's so we have tons of old Japanese restaurants that
have been there for generations, and now it's flourished into
this beautiful multi pan Asian community where we have a
(07:04):
lot of small businesses selling all different kinds of foods,
anime shops, all the cute, big big eyed animal stuffed
animals kind of thing. I love it, and so my
kids and I bike there and we eat whatever food
we feel like, whether it's Japanese that day my kids
love ramen and sushi, or whether it's Korean sun dubu
(07:26):
or whether it's Taiwanese shalloonba. We eat what we're in
the mood for, and then the kids love their either
boba ti or they will go get ice cream, and
then we will usually ride back home. And that's honestly
my perfect weekend every weekend, and it's something that I
look forward to the kids and I love because it's local,
(07:47):
it's ours, and it's and oftentimes when we're walking down
the street. We know a lot of the neighbors and
I love that.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
That's fabulous.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
That does sound like a great LA day, especially with
our practically yearround per bick weather, you could do it
all year. So that's so lovely. Thank you for sharing
that and painting that picture for us. So, speaking about
community and your community, you have spent years as not
only a community organizer but also as a pastor. So
what personal and professional experiences have led.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
You to run for mayor now? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So I am also a pastor, but most of my
work actually has never been even though I've preached often
inside church walls a lot of times, I'll call myself
a pastor of the streets, I'm a pastor organizer. And
so the work I actually do is I'm a community
organizer by trade.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
That is my profession.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Over the last decade here in Los Angeles, I have
been primarily organizing communities locally. Actually I do that as
a volunteer in my own neighborhood. I don't get paid
to organize my neighbors. Part of that work is, for example,
just after the fires, we did doorder door canvassing to
check in on our neighbors and ask how they were
doing to understand both from an immediate.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Relief do you need help right now?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
To a advocacy has how had these fires impacted you.
We weren't in a neighborhood that was burned by the fires,
but we were most definitely a neighborhood that was impacted
by the fires.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Economically.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
A lot of clients of people who lived in my
neighborhood lost their homes and that was where a lot
of the.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Money was coming in for people.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Who lived in my neighborhood who were consultants and who
had different jobs as an accountant and so forth. So
that's one area of work that I've had and it's
really shaped me. I also did for some time organizing
around our public schools. The other area of work that
I've been primarily working on is I am a coalition builder.
So I started a coalition, for example, during the pandemic
(09:55):
called Healthy Alay Coalition that brought together organizations cross sector
and region, both in the city and the county, from
labor to immigration groups, to tenant specific and focused groups
to groups working on climate to come together to talk
about what are the needs we successfully passed, for example,
(10:19):
as citywide and county wide eviction moratorium, something that had
not been done up until that point, and that has
now led and that coalition has morphed into kip A
La Housed, which is a tenant advocacy coalition. It's one
of the coalitions. It is the main coalition that actually
ushered in the recent rent Civilization Ordinance update to lower
the rent down to four.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Percent of an increase annually.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Beyond my work here in the city, I also have
been running a statewide Housing Justice coalition. We have over
three hundred and fifty member organizations across the state and
together we organized strategy to be able to solve our
affordable housing crisis and also to keep tenants housed for us.
(11:09):
It's a multi year strategy because you can't just solve
our homelessness crisis in one year, but we know how
to get there, and so we've been actively working with legislators,
pat writing bills, researching. In particular, I've been focused on
social housing and I've been organizing groups across the nation
(11:31):
as well as across the state. And I'm very proud
to say that we passed SB five five to five,
a social housing study bill that would create the kind
of infrastructure solutions that we need in the state to
be able to support our local social housing development here
in the city of Los Angeles. That study is going
to conclude at the end of this year. I sit
(11:51):
on that advisory committee for that bill, and we are
already planning on introducing new bills that out of the
solution and conclusions of that study later this year to
start off twenty twenty seven really strong. So I'm very
proud of the work that I've been doing and those
skills of coalition building, of facilitating different constituencies and different
(12:16):
individuals and organizations that have different interests and come from
different places and spaces to work together toward a common vision.
Is what I'm getting is what I'm good at. The
peace around the pastor work. I actually, while I've been
a Christian pastor specifically, I've always been working in interfaith
and inter religious dialogue, working around peace and dialogue around
(12:38):
interfaith conflict, as well as standing together with Black Lives
Matter LA during the uprising and continually today, especially as
we're seeing militarism continue to come back into our streets
because of the Trump administration. All of this work together
is what has shaped me and is a reason why
I'm now running today. I have not seen City Hall
(13:02):
do the work it needs to do to actually keep
our residents safe. Meanwhile, our communities, our organizations are the
ones coming up with these solutions, and we know what
we need, we know what we want, we know how
to fix things. Let's finally get somebody in the office
who understands who Los Angeles really is, and let's pass
(13:27):
and ensure that there are protections for our people as
Olympics come into our neighborhoods, and let's ensure that all
of our solutions are carried out.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, it sounds like, of course, the coalition building that
you've dedicated your life to is what makes you a
really great candidate. You can speak to other people across race, ethnicities, jobs,
and all of that. Right, And so I think that
also speaks to your campaign and how you are emphasizing
(13:58):
making Los Angeles affordable, sustainable, and safe for everyone. So
what does that look like for everyday residence? What does
this affordable, sustainable and safe LA look like?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah, I'm so excited of actually about our platform to
highlight three different areas for us to make our city
actually safe and make it affordable and by the way,
those two things go hand in hand.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
If our city is affordable, it means that our families
are able to be stabilized and able to thrive and
therefore be safe. So one of the areas is our
housing crisis. Our family members today are not stabilized in
their housing. The majority of Angelino's pay too much from
(14:47):
their income for their housing. It's unsustainable and they have
to end up choosing between food or their housing.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
This week.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
They have to choose between pursuing higher education, maybe their dreams,
and being able to stay housed. That's why some people
live in their cars while they're pursuing their dreams. That's
not an option that should not be an option here
in Los Angeles. People don't move here to sleep in
their cars. They move here to be able to pursue
(15:20):
something real. And especially for the people who have grown
up here in Los Angeles, who were born and raised here,
this is not the Los Angeles that they know. They
need a Los Angeles where they can thrive and they
can be with community and spend time with their family members. So,
for me, housing is a primary area of a solution
that we need to focus on, and the way that
(15:42):
I'll do that is that currently our housing prices are skyrocketing,
our rent is skyrocketing. So how do we stabilize real estate?
How do we stabilize rents? It means that we need
more options of affordable housing. But what we need is
not affordable housing for a lots, while we need permanent
(16:02):
affordable housing. What does that mean? Social housing, like I
mentioned earlier, is something that I've been championing for the
last six years of my career. Social housing is permanent
affordable housing that is permanently off the speculative market because
it's owned by the community or the public. Public housing
(16:23):
is a form.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Of social housing.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I have met numerous public housing residents who have lived
there for thirty forty fifty years. They feel safe, it
is their home, They have community, they know all their neighbors.
We want to be able to create neighborhoods where you
can live and die in the same house. If you
(16:45):
wanted to, you can pass that house down to your grandchildren,
down to your great grandchildren.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Social housing can provide.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
This, and the best part of it is that residents
get to govern and manage the house or the home
or the apartment themselves. Social housing has been successful in
many other countries, so it's time we also bring that here.
And if we have enough social housing, enough stabilized housing
is what we call it, then the rest of the
(17:13):
real estate market stabilizes too. That is one way that
we can do this.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I think also what we're getting at here is the
big picture that relates to the policy is about like
quality of life, correct, and not just for the current generation,
but for future generations.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
If the current.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Generation has stable housing, it's more likely that the next
generation can inherit stable housing, own property, and so on
and so forth. And I'm also curious about another like
kind of broad picture idea, which is democracy. And something
you've said in the past is that democracy works when
it works for everyone. And I wonder if you think
(17:53):
that Los Angeles is a working democracy.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
No, we need to move into that direction right now.
It is so difficult to be able to have your
voice heard in city hall. You have to take time
out of your day from work. City hall meetings are
during the day, during the work day, and you have
(18:18):
to And we all know how bad traffic is too.
So if you want to go and vocalize your opinion
about a particular law or particular concern. You have to
take time off of work a lot of times, get
over the city hall and then you have either one
minute or two minutes to speak. I want to bring
democracy to the neighborhoods of Angelino's. Participatory budgeting is something
(18:42):
that I've been working on since twenty twenty. Alongside Black
Lives Matter LA, we have been carrying out a campaign
called the People's Budget Los Angeles. What is participatory budgeting?
It is when taxpayers get to decide and determine where
their money should be going. In the budget of Los
Angeless we need real accountability and transparency and where our
(19:05):
tax dollars are going. We also want more say and
where our money is going. A lot of Angelinos are
sick and tired of paying out these half a billion
dollars of liabilities for the mistakes primarily of the police
and the fact that we have such bad infrastructure that's
been a huge thing in the news recently.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Taxpayers are also sick.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Of paying our taxes because we want to solve the
housing crisis. Over and over again, Angelina's have voted yes
to paying more money to solve our homelessness crisis, and
yet we've been seeing fraud. We've been told that our
money is going to help and solve our housing crisis,
but yet we haven't been seeing the results. And so
participatory budgeting is a place where Angelinos can vocalize what
(19:52):
they need and what they want. And I am a
fan of Kenneth Mihea. He's been doing a great job
of creating this stashboard to expose and help us on
the nderstand where our tax dollars are going. I think
a mayor needs to work in tangent together with the
city controller to ensure that taxpayers are learning and understanding
where their money is going so that they have a
(20:14):
say in this. Co governance is an extremely important culture
and value of mine in my campaign and will be
in my administration. I am a coalition builder, I'm a
community organizer. I am all about ensuring that people co
own our city. It's not the mayor does ensure that
(20:39):
the systems and departments are functioning and working together so
we have a good infrastructure to help support enforce our
laws and make sure our city is working. But the
same time, our residents ought to feel like they also
have a say and co own the city too. We
are building our city together we are solving our problems together.
(21:05):
We are coexisting and co living with each other, and
so we want to be able to create more spaces
to do that.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Well, thank you for expanding on the people's budget, and
to my understanding, you're proposing expanding the fiscal year to
two years. Can you talk about that and what those
potential impacts on departments and residents of the City of
la would be if the fiscal year were to expand
or be prolonged.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, we need to know in advance what our plans.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
And budgets are.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
When you so, I've done a letter strategic visioning with
private and public institutions over the years of my career
as a consultant. I actually quite enjoy it and then
pretty good at it. And how you do what The
reason we have strategic visioning plans is because you need
to know what's going to happen two years from now,
five years from now, ten years from now can plan
(22:00):
for it. The reason why we should be having two
year budget cycles is so that way departments will know
what to expect further in advance and be able to
plan for things if we do it year after your cycle.
It's just it requires so much time and energy and
resources to have to come up with a budget proposal
(22:22):
and then to pass it. It's too much time that
we should be putting into just implementing the plan.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
That we have.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
And so if we do a two year budget cycle,
it means it gives us more breathing space, more time
for participatory budgeting processes. It gives departments a sense of
stability because they know what to expect and then they
can plan for the two years later for the next
budgeting cycle. So this would relieve a lot of the
(22:50):
stress and give us more time, more breathing space, and
preparation for the future of Los Angeles. And I want
to mention it's not just to your budget cycles that
I interested. And I'm also wanting to ensure that we
have a capital infrastructure plan right now, the city has
only proposed a capital infrastructure plan for the Olympics. Where's
(23:11):
Angelino's future in this. We're constantly only talking about the
Olympics for tourists. We're going to come in for just
a moment in time. I'm proud of our city. We
are proud of our city. We want people to come
and enjoy it. But we have seen over and over again,
that when the Olympus come to people's cities, it ends
(23:32):
up causing displacement, it ends up in most recently, with
the new technologies we've been experiencing, there's more surveillance of
our communities, and surveillance right now for us in the
US with the deministration, with ice all around is deadly.
So these are the kinds of things we need to
(23:53):
be thinking about. I digress a little bit. So capital
infrastructure plan we need to be thinking about one, not
for the Olympics, we need to be thinking about one
for Los Angeles. What's the plan for us to actually
move into the future, to actually achieve our twenty thirty
twenty thirty five one renewable climate goals. What's our plan
(24:19):
to expand our metro so that we can finally move
off of our dependency on cars. What's the plan to
actually ensure that our communities and our economy can thrive?
And I guess I'll just because I'm talking about the economy,
just throw in that I'm also supporting a public bank.
A public bank is a bank that that we get
(24:43):
to run. It's our cities. That means when we the
fees and all of those transactions are not going into
the pockets of Wall Street. They don't just disappear, and
there's our money. In fact, when the money comes back
to us, it comes back to the city. So we
can fund our own infrastructure plan. We can fund our
small businesses. We can fund small vendors who just need
(25:04):
a very small loan, and a lot of business banks
private banks are unwilling to provide that small of a loan,
but a city public bank can, right, And so these
are ways that we can support our small businesses as
well as support small and medium sized productions. We're proud
of Hollywood. Let's make sure that we keep Hollywood here
(25:24):
and bring it home.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Don't go anywhere, locomotives, We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
I'm so glad you touched on Hollywood and the creative
industries because I think this wraps into production and all
of the chatter that we hear about production being unaffordable
in La, production leaving La, and a lot of that
is happening. But I think also a lot of production
is just morphing and evolving and changing, And I wonder
(25:54):
what your plans are to keep production and the creative
industries in La. So La remains the entertainment capital of
the world.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Yeah, I'm very proud of our platform, particularly around the
creator economy and also around Hollywood the more standard traditional
forms of production and media. I've now held two different roundtables,
both with entertainment workers including a number of people from
various unions, and as well as a creator economy roundtable
(26:27):
to be able to hear out and discuss what are
the challenges that people are facing and what are the
solutions that they want to offer to the table. Your creators, yourselves,
so I'll mentioned that first, and one of the things
I heard out is more third spaces for creators that
come together and share out and support one another in
(26:48):
the work that you are doing. It can be a
very isolating job. People tend to work in their homes
or it's very expensive to find production studios where they
can go film or record their stories and their content.
So if we are able to provide and support third
spaces like that, it allows for the creator economy to
(27:12):
be able to flourish and to feel supported. And if
we don't, they won't move, as we've been seeing Hollywood
move as well, making our city affordable as a whole,
making housing more affordable, making transit more affordable. These are
all ways that we can sustain these kinds of creative
artistic economies in our city.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
So I'll give you one example.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
There was a YouTube studio where people came together, where
YouTubers could come together and work on their content together.
When YouTube left the city, it was bought out and
bought by a private company, and it still is here
on the West side of Los Angeles. However, it's very
expensive to be able to be a member there and
(28:00):
utilize their services. And also it's on the west side,
so if you live on the East side, it's a
bit too far. I love the idea, and this is
what was asked by the Creator Economy roundtable individuals. What
if this city supported and provided more spaces like this,
a kind of library content creator space where we could
(28:21):
share resources, share technology, and just make it more livable
and fun and be in community as we create content together.
This would be so supportive of our creators. On the
side of Hollywood, we know that it's so expensive to
film here. There's support for these big, huge studios, but
(28:42):
no support for small and medium sized productions, and what
a travesty. One of the best things about Los Angeles
is the fact that we are so good at storytelling,
and that we are so creative in this moment to
tell stories over and create new ideas and things, and
it really tends to come from these independent spaces, these
(29:04):
smaller spaces where new creations come. The bigger studios tend
to make these big marvel studio things, but I would
say the more interesting and fun creative art really comes
from these independent filmmakers. And so we need to support
them by cutting the fees, cutting the red tape, making
the permitting system cheaper, faster and more supported. And if
(29:27):
we are able again to make the city in general
both safer and more affordable to get around. That was
one thing that both round tables brought up, was just
so hard it is to get around Los Angeles, that
would be able to help support them. We have to
remember that our Hollywood economy is way bigger than just filmmakers.
It's also the caters who serve them. It's also the
(29:51):
designers who make the clothes for all the costumes. It's
also the hair stylist, the makeup artists, the drivers of
the trucks of the moving all of these, all of
the equipment.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
These are all part of Hollywood. We are so proud.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
This is what makes our industry grow and move. So
we need to support all of these aspects, and so
I just want to name that. Lastly, AI technology is
killing and strangling our art and culture community, so we
need to find regulations on AI. One of the things
(30:28):
I plan on carrying out is creating an AI account
Accountability Commission. It's going to oversee how technology use is
impacting our residents in a negative in a positive way.
So we need to ensure that technology as it's growing,
is going to serve us, not hurt us. It is
(30:51):
important on two respects. One is on job creation. I
don't see technology as a threat if it's there for
us to use to support our lives, to make it
easier and more beautiful. But if it's taking us away
and enslaving us, that's a problem. The other side of
it surveillance. I'm calling for the end of the flock contract.
(31:15):
I've been making that very public. There's a lot of
other cities now that are beginning to end the flock
contracts because the surveillance has been used and it's all
around the city. By the way, if you ever see
a tiny black box on the streets that you can
actually look it up. You can see where your flock
camera is if you want to look it up on
the internet. Those cameras have been used to identify people
(31:38):
and surveil them. Ice has been found to use that
surveillance technology. There was one incident where a Texas sheriff.
This wasn't Ice, but it's bad enough. A Texas sheriff
used flock cameras to identify a woman who is leaving
the border of Texas to be able to get out
an abortion. That's terrifying. So we need to ensure that
(32:02):
new technology is not hurting our communities, not putting us
in danger, and we need to be serious about it,
and we need resident participation in thinking about what kind
of security and protections we need and recommendations on ensuring
(32:24):
that technology is moving with us and not against us.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Oh. I've been thinking about this for a long time,
that we are in a society now where we voluntarily,
like self, surveil ourselves and our neighbors. And I think
about that with all the recording cameras that we put
on our homes in our backyards for this sense of safety.
But actually we're like surveying our neighbors and ourselves. Right,
(32:50):
we don't get to opt into them if our neighbor
has it, because sure there's like that recording that's through
being recorded, but I'm actually not really opting into this.
So this is really interesting that you bring this up.
What do you think Angelino's think about did this type
of program and if it's is it supposed to be
helpful for us?
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Most people have no idea that it's happening, right, not
even aware because these boxes just came up overnight and
no one even noticed it, and it's just happening. So
most people don't even recognize it and don't know that
we're being surveiled on a regular basis, and we're being
told it's for our safety. But safety for who and
for whom? Protection for who and for whom? That's the question.
(33:33):
I do want to name something about surveillance, and this
is important here. Traffic surveillance is something that's been talked
about a lot, and there's debate about this, right, the
red traffic light surveillance where you pass through and it
takes a photo of your license plate and then you
get a ticket in the mail. The idea is it's
(33:54):
supposed to encourage you not to go through a red
light again.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
And I get that, But here's the.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Thing is that we need to remember and think about
the fact that surveillance is after the crime has already
been committed. So is it actually making us safer or
is it that it's about providing the penalty. So I
want us to be thinking about how do we create
(34:22):
safety to begin with a lot of the ways that
we think about crime here, not just in Los Angeles
but actually across our country and talking about policing, for example,
is that we need more police because we can stop crime.
(34:42):
The problem is the crime has already occurred, and then
you call the police officers, so the crisis has already occurred.
It doesn't stop crime. I want us to be thinking
about being proactive about safety, preventing harm before it happens.
The reason I have been championing eviction defense is because
(35:05):
it prevents homelessness from beginning to begin with. It prevents
harm from happening to begin with. And we all know
that if you prevent homelessness, that's the best form of
ending homelessness keeping people housed, because once you fall into
that homelessness cycle, it continues on same thing with all
of these other areas. As we're thinking about safety. If
(35:30):
we want to prevent crime from happening, it means that
we need to provide people with good jobs where they're
making enough money. They're not scrambling to have to find
money elsewhere. They don't have to work multiple jobs, or
if they can get a quick bit of cash, they
won't choose the alternative. Right, we want to be able
(35:52):
to provide people with the opportunity to pursue their life interests,
their goals, their dreams. Because people who live meaningful lives,
live abundant lives, live happy lives, they're less likely to
fall into crises, into mental health concerns, into depression, into anxiety,
which is oftentimes in those spaces and places, that's where
(36:15):
crisis occurs. And when crisis occurs, we're in fight or flight.
That's when mistakes are hurt is done to ourselves or
to others. Right, we want to get people out of
the cars. We want to get people out of their
cars because the biggest killer of our children, it's not homicides,
(36:36):
it's not violent crime, it's actually traffic collisions, and three
hundred people die a year because of traffic collisions here
in Los Angeles. So let's get people out of their cars.
And we can change that by making our lives easier,
by making transit more accessible, by making transit faster, and
(36:58):
if we make it free, it not only provides safety
for communities by which they can access their resources to
get to their doctor, to get to school, to get
to work. You have no idea how many people have
had fights altercations with their bus drivers because they forgot
their metro card or they didn't have enough money to
(37:20):
get on the bus and they're going to miss their job.
If we make the dash bus free, it means that
immediately thirty percent of ridership goes up. We've seen that
in research, and if thirty percent more ridership goes up,
it means more people are not driving in their cars.
It means that people are making smarter choices about getting
(37:41):
around town. If they had a little bit to drink,
had a little bit too much to smoke, they can
get on a bus instead. They can make smarter choices
about that because there's huge incentive. And it also means
that we're more interconnected. A busy bus is a safe bus,
more opportunities than meet and greet your name means less
(38:02):
stereotyping of other people around you and more connections.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
I sold my car when I moved downtown and started
grad school at USC and as a lifelong Angelina, it
was like so unheard of and unthinkable, and my family
was like, what are you doing?
Speaker 4 (38:20):
You need a car in LA.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
But it's made it so much more accessible for me
to get to school, to afford school, to afford life.
Taking the Metro with my student U pass which allows
me free rides, and so given the option between ubering
or taking the Metro, I get my steps in, I
take the train and it's free and it's lovely, and
I'm so grateful to have that option.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
And to me, when I think of.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Countries that are really serving their population and that have
very high qualities of life, these countries, a lot of
them being in Europe or in Asia, they have a
lot of free, accessible, fast, public transportations. So I really
appreciate that you are bringing that into your campaign.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Don't go anywhere, locomotives, We'll.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Be right back.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
So on the topic also of safety and of community
and being out in public, going back to ice and
our community feels very unsafe in public, unsafe taking the train,
unsafe taking the buses because of the threat and the
fear of ice kidnappings. So how do you plan on
(39:34):
protecting Angelino's from ice raids? And how do you plan
to hold LAPD accountable for collaborating with the federal government
Despite the fact that Los Angeles is at least a
name a sanctuary city.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
It is time that we just stopped talking about being
a sanctuary city and we actually do the work of it.
And that means that when laws are broken, such as
when of your chief of police is refusing to follow
the state law which mandates that federal agents should not
(40:07):
be wearing masks, that.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
You follow the law. The police are there to make
us follow the law.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Why I can't the police.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Chief follow the law? So that's one thing is we do.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Accountability means making hard decisions and firing your police chief.
That is step number one. Step number two, put people
who believe in making Los Angeles actually feeling like a
sanctuary state. Put those people onto the Police Commission. As mayor,
(40:40):
you get to decide and appoint people on the Police Commission.
Let's make sure you put people there who are impacted
by the LAPD who are impacted by ICE for them
to make determinations about what it would look like to
have a police that actually serves and protects the people
of Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (41:00):
Number three, Let's.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Make sure that we have full representation, legal representation for
everybody who is impacted by ice, everybody who's impacted by
our unjust immigration system. Right now, we have defunded represent LA.
It's time that we take seriously when we're at sanctuary state,
that we put our money where our mouth is. Number four.
(41:24):
Our communities are the ones protecting our neighbors because the
police isn't, because city hall isn't. We're the ones showing
up with rapid response when bad stuff happens. Right when
ice shows up in our neighborhoods, we're identifying their cars
and their vehicles, We're identifying their what they look like,
where they are. La Taco has been highlighting sites of ice.
(41:47):
We should be doing that as a city. So these
are things where again, our neighbors and our residents of
LA are leading and the city should follow. We should
be funding and supporting that progress instead of making it
harder or just leaving our residents to their own devices
to protect and thank goodness, we're doing it because that's
(42:09):
what's stopping Trump's administration. But also, I just can it
makes no sense to me that we have to be
the ones protecting ourselves when we pay the police to
protect us. So it's time we actually force the police
to do their job. And the police are under the
city jurisdiction, not the state, not the federal. This is
(42:34):
our city, not Trump's city, and so that means we
get to decide what the laws are here and what
our city is going to look like and what protections
look like.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
And feel like, thank you so much for breaking that
down for us, because that's definitely top of mind for
a lot of people in our community. Is this feeling
that local government is not doing enough, that the electeds
are not doing enough. And yes, there are electeds who
have been very outspoken, like council member Owns set A
one this and others, but there has been a feeling
(43:03):
of disappointment in terms of other elected officials and yeah,
city leaders. Because we've been talking about public safety, you
also have this initiative that I think is really important
to safety and the ecosystem of LA which is creating
the first Office of Nightlife, and I loved your social
(43:25):
video about that because we have a lot of friends
who are DJs or work in nightlife, who host parties,
and you attribute this idea of the office of Nightlife
because La has the most night shift workers of any
city in the country. So I'm curious, how do you
envision this office functioning and what type of services would
be offered.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah, here's the thing, we don't think about our nightlife
at all. It's not even something that comes past their minds. Right,
this city shuts down in such a crazy way. For
being the second largest city in the nation, we have
everything shuts down. Even the streets are really dark, which
is a real problem and we actually need to fix
for safety reasons. We need to have a dedicated team
(44:08):
and office thinking about the questions of how to make
our city safe as safe at night as it is
during the day, making sure that systems are working and
functional to support every single Angelino at night as much
it is during the day, because we are a city
that is a week all hours.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Of the night.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
What I mean by that is we have workers doing
the night shift, like you just said who and they
are oftentimes essential workers making sure that we're being taken
care of doing these late shifts to make sure that
when emergency happens at any hour of the day, somebody
is available to take care of them.
Speaker 4 (44:45):
The other thing is that we are a city of artists.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
That's like a huge part of Los Angeles's history and
something we're.
Speaker 4 (44:52):
So proud of.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
And for those her artists out there, I'm sure they
can all relate. My best time of day where my
creativity comes out. It's not the same for everybody, but
it is for me and a lot of my friends.
Is it does come out in the middle of the
night because everything is quieter, our minds are slowing down,
and that's oftentimes when I make the best music, when
(45:16):
I have some ideas around my painting and I'll just
be processing, and so that's when the art comes out.
We want to support every single aspect of Los Angeles,
and if we support our art and culture side of
Los Angeles, that does also oftentimes include supporting our nightlife.
One of the things I want to highlight and name
(45:37):
is we tend to criminalize the night. Raves are still
seen as illegal right places where people are able to
dance and have fun. We should be supporting spaces where
people are able to let go. We should be supporting
spaces where art and dancing these are there beautiful spaces
(46:01):
of camaraderie. Third spaces of greeting, community life, like you said,
where DJs can do their art and we can breathe
a little bit. We should be supporting this side of
our economy. This is a great space for economy to grow.
We love our restaurants, we love our bars. Why not
(46:21):
support that even more. Make it safer and easier to
get around at night as it is during the day.
Have available bathrooms and water fountains to make it safe
to go out so people can have fun. That is
a growing industry. And when people can have fun, it
helps their mental health, it supports their emotional and social life.
(46:43):
And then that actually means that we're spending more money
going out, creating more jobs, and supporting more Angelinos to thrive.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
I love that idea so much. We love our night life,
and we love the people who make our night life possible,
who fuel it. Something I think about all the time
being downtown is that there are no public bathrooms and
it makes the city so much dirtier and less hygienic.
So I love the idea and I'm so glad it's
top of mind for you. I want to end by
(47:15):
asking how you plan on engaging communities voters who are
unfamiliar with your work and with your campaign.
Speaker 4 (47:22):
How do you reach those folks.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
Yeah, we have been focused primarily on using social media
as a form of communication because a lot of people
no longer watch typical TV, don't follow more traditional forms
of media and education. This is where we're receiving a
lot of our education and materials, and it's so localized.
(47:48):
We also have been knocking on doors, and we've also
been doing a lot of meet and greets with different
organizations and community groups and inviting folks to be able
to meet with us if they have a large group
of friends and they want me to come out and
meet them, And we've been holding events for people to
come out as well. Definitely, for those who are listening,
I would love you to come and volunteer and make
recommendations and offer ideas of other events that we can
(48:11):
host or that you would like to host and invite
me to attend so that I can get to know
different communities. I'm running for office to represent those who
are not typically centered in city hall, whose voices have
been silenced. I'm talking about those who are most impacted
by the affordability crisis that we have are people who
(48:33):
are black and brown, who are indigenous, where English is
a second language, or maybe English is.
Speaker 4 (48:39):
Not a primary language at all.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
We need to be centering those voices and increasing our
ability to communicate and serve and support every single corner
and aspect of Los Angeles. I live in Sawtel in Japantown.
It is an era, It's an ethnic encore of a
lot of Asian immigrants.
Speaker 4 (49:03):
In the past.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
My family history, if you were Chinese, they had the
Chinese Exclusionary Act for generations.
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Being Chinese or Taiwanese, you were not.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Allowed to move to the US if you already hear,
because you were rid before the Exclusionary Act, or because
you were a paper son, which I won't go into
the history of. Basically, it was a way of being
able to migrate into the US. We were not allowed
to live here full lives. We're now at a place
(49:37):
in our society where we need to repair the racism
and the classism of the past. We're not there yet,
but we do need to begin somewhere, and that's what
I'm advocating for is not just a reform of a
bad system. The system's not working for us, it's not
meeting the ninety nine point nine percent of Angelino's. We
(50:00):
need to transform and change the system to one that
actually serves Angelinos who have been living here for generations,
Angelinas who were born and bred here but always still
seen and treated like an outsider and a foreigner. It's
time to center those voices and ensure that they have
priority and voice in city Hall and that their communities
(50:26):
are centered and embraced.
Speaker 4 (50:30):
And so that's the that's.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
The Los Angeles that I'm fighting for, and that's the
Los Angeles that I want to represent.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Thank you so much for giving us this incredible download
of your policies and politics and really what, in our perspective,
like a very innovative way of looking at Los Angeles,
one that we have not seen thus far in previous
mayoral races. So we're really excited to talk to you
(50:59):
because the Office of Nightlife, the Social housing, right like,
these are things that are not necessarily new, but they
would be new for the City of La if you
were elected. So we really appreciate you spending time with
us and breaking some of this down. I want to
end by just asking you, how can folks support you,
how can they volunteer?
Speaker 4 (51:17):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
So I'm very proud to say that we have over
a thousand volunteers in our campaign. We have raised over
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and we've asked also
by tonight, we will unlock our ability to receive matching
funds in the city, which means that every dollar that
Angelino spends to donate to our campaign will be matched
(51:41):
six times. I am not accepting any dollar from any
lobbyist group or any corporations because I believe that this
is for Angelinos, by Angelino's. That's the campaign that we
are running, and so I would welcome as many Angelinos
who believe in this campaign as much as I do
(52:01):
to please donate any money that you are able to support,
knowing that it's going to be multiplied six times by
the city, and also please come out and volunteer. Please
consider canvassing. We want to reach half a million doors
by June second, so that way we can tell people
(52:21):
about our campaign, invite them into the vision, invite them
into the future along with us. If you can just
choose one weekend to volunteer. This is how we're going
to do it. And if you don't want to, canvass.
There are so many other ways to volunteer. Our platform
was created by Angelinos. There are values that are through
and through, but this platform is actually created by every
(52:45):
day Angelinos who live here, by policy experts, by neighbors,
by people who are doing the rapid response work. They're
the ones who came up with this platform and it's
still being shaped by them. So if you are somebody
who has something to add and share, even this morning,
if someone called me please, will you add more information
about this area and I said, please join our team.
Speaker 4 (53:05):
I want you. This is about us.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
So that's how people can help today and all the
information is on my website ray for La dot com.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
Raywan, thank you so much for joining us on Look
up our Radio.
Speaker 4 (53:17):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
I appreciate both of you, and a huge shout out
to look at Dotter Radio, Look at a Radio, Loca
Yoh hey, look a morees. I'm Viosa and you're listening
to lok a Tora Radio. We're back this week with
another mayoral candidate interview. Today we're talking to Ray Huang,
a community organizer, coalition builder, and pastor. A few weeks ago,
(00:23):
her team invited me to an indie press event hosted
at Midnight Books in the Arts District. This is where
I got to hear her campaign platforms firsthand. At this event,
I learned more about Ray and her decades long advocacy
for affordable housing. Now we're bringing her campaign policies to you.
(00:44):
In this interview, you'll hear her discuss social housing.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Social housing is permanent, affordable housing that is permanently off
the speculative market.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Free buses, let's get people.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Out of their cars. We can change that by making
our lives easier, by making transit more accessible, by making
transit faster, and if.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
We make it free on a public bank.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
A public bank is a bank that we get to runt.
It's our cities. That means the fees and all of
those transactions are not going into the pockets of wall streets.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
What strikes me so far about this campaign is that
Ray shared that community members every day Angelino's like you
and me, contributed to her policy points. As we approach
the June second primary, there is a stacked race. Incumbent
Mayor Karen Bass is running for re election. Council member
(01:37):
Nthia Rahman is also running. You can tune into that
interview on our feed if you haven't already. Reality TV
star Spencer Pratt, Yes, Spencer from the Hills, is also running,
and Adam Miller, a tech entrepreneur. We know that not
all of our listeners are LA based, but we still
(01:59):
think this mayoral race is so important because as large
as a city as Los Angeles is, we know that
it is often a test ground for politics and policy.
Here's our interview with mayoral candidate Ray Honk.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
This is Ray Quang, mayoral candidate for Los Angeles and
you're listening to Loko Tora.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Ray, can you tell us what is the LA story
that you want to tell? What is it about Angelinos
that you love the most, and what qualities do Angelinos
have that motivate you to want to lead us.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
What I love most about being an Angelino is the
fact that we show up for each other. We show
up for each other and we keep us safe. We
protect each other. Over the last over a decade now
that I've lived here, more and more, every single time
a crisis occurs, such as especially the pandemic and then
(02:59):
lead the fires, during the Black Lives Matter uprising, during
now the ice raids, every single time a major crisis occurs,
when people get hurt, when our own families are kidnapped,
we show up and we've been fighting for each other.
People that we have no relationship with, but the fact
that we are a neighbor, the fact that we are
(03:22):
somebody who lives.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
On the street or even across town.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
We're willing to go the extra mile to be able
to defend and stand with each other to fight for
one another. Also create systems, a rapid response network delivery
of food, medicine, and clothing both during the fires and
especially now with the raids. I'm part of a rapid
response group where as families members are detained, we provide
(03:49):
support for the family members themselves and we support them
with legal representation. Right These are all things that Angeline
Knows have come up with. Systems around the outreach and
the lookout at home depot, at the schools down the
street at my local school. We went by and stood there.
Shortly after there were kidnappings at a elementary school graduation.
(04:14):
This is what Los Angeles does, and I'm so proud
to be part of a community that shows up for us.
The challenge, the frustration is that city Hall is not
doing the same thing we are showing up to protect
ourselves from ice agents, because LAPD is doing the opposite,
(04:37):
because city Hall is not actually doing their job and
protecting us. And so this is the Los Angeles that
I come from, the one where we protect one another,
the one where we show up for each other. And
this is the Los Angeles that I plan on bringing
into the administration, into city Hall so that we follow
the lead of real Angelinas.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
It's really great to hear you talk about the movement
work and the rapid response networks and the organizing that
happens here in Los Angeles, because so often, as creators
and writers who spend a lot of time online, there's
this really inaccurate take about Los Angeles, that it's fake
and that it's vapid, and our response is always like, well,
(05:20):
you're not tapped into the right communities and you're not
tapped into the right neighborhood, if that's your take. So
to hear you describe La in that way is such
a great way and really resonates I think with us
and the La that we know. And to that point,
we also want to ask you to describe your perfect
day in La. If you had unlimited time and traffic
(05:42):
wasn't an issue, how would you spend your day in La?
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So actually I'm going to describe almost every weekend I
have in La with my children.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
This is what we do. We sleep in the morning.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
And we make a big breakfast, and then we ride
our bike and through my neighborhood. Live in the neighborhood
of as Hotel, and we ride our bike down to
the main main street block which is called Saltel Boulevard,
and there's all these shops and restaurants. I live in
a historic Japanese neighborhood. It is it's where a lot
(06:16):
of Japanese gardeners and their family members lived. I'm sure
you are well aware that because of racial discrimination, especially
in work and occupation, a lot of ethnic communities were
only relegated to essentially have certain kinds of jobs, and
gardening was one of the few jobs where Japanese community
(06:40):
members could find work and flourish in their economic career.
My neighborhood was one where a lot of Japanese communities
lived together, and there's a lot of gardens. Since now
it's so we have tons of old Japanese restaurants that
have been there for generations, and now it's flourished into
this beautiful multi pan Asian community where we have a
(07:04):
lot of small businesses selling all different kinds of foods,
anime shops, all the cute, big big eyed animal stuffed
animals kind of thing. I love it, and so my
kids and I bike there and we eat whatever food
we feel like, whether it's Japanese that day my kids
love ramen and sushi, or whether it's Korean sun dubu
(07:26):
or whether it's Taiwanese shalloonba. We eat what we're in
the mood for, and then the kids love their either
boba ti or they will go get ice cream, and
then we will usually ride back home. And that's honestly
my perfect weekend every weekend, and it's something that I
look forward to the kids and I love because it's local,
(07:47):
it's ours, and it's and oftentimes when we're walking down
the street. We know a lot of the neighbors and
I love that.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
That's fabulous.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
That does sound like a great LA day, especially with
our practically yearround per bick weather, you could do it
all year. So that's so lovely. Thank you for sharing
that and painting that picture for us. So, speaking about
community and your community, you have spent years as not
only a community organizer but also as a pastor. So
what personal and professional experiences have led.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
You to run for mayor now? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
So I am also a pastor, but most of my
work actually has never been even though I've preached often
inside church walls a lot of times, I'll call myself
a pastor of the streets, I'm a pastor organizer. And
so the work I actually do is I'm a community
organizer by trade.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
That is my profession.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Over the last decade here in Los Angeles, I have
been primarily organizing communities locally. Actually I do that as
a volunteer in my own neighborhood. I don't get paid
to organize my neighbors. Part of that work is, for example,
just after the fires, we did doorder door canvassing to
check in on our neighbors and ask how they were
doing to understand both from an immediate.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Relief do you need help right now?
Speaker 2 (09:08):
To a advocacy has how had these fires impacted you.
We weren't in a neighborhood that was burned by the fires,
but we were most definitely a neighborhood that was impacted
by the fires.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Economically.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
A lot of clients of people who lived in my
neighborhood lost their homes and that was where a lot
of the.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Money was coming in for people.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Who lived in my neighborhood who were consultants and who
had different jobs as an accountant and so forth. So
that's one area of work that I've had and it's
really shaped me. I also did for some time organizing
around our public schools. The other area of work that
I've been primarily working on is I am a coalition builder.
So I started a coalition, for example, during the pandemic
(09:55):
called Healthy Alay Coalition that brought together organizations cross sector
and region, both in the city and the county, from
labor to immigration groups, to tenant specific and focused groups
to groups working on climate to come together to talk
about what are the needs we successfully passed, for example,
(10:19):
as citywide and county wide eviction moratorium, something that had
not been done up until that point, and that has
now led and that coalition has morphed into kip A
La Housed, which is a tenant advocacy coalition. It's one
of the coalitions. It is the main coalition that actually
ushered in the recent rent Civilization Ordinance update to lower
the rent down to four.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Percent of an increase annually.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Beyond my work here in the city, I also have
been running a statewide Housing Justice coalition. We have over
three hundred and fifty member organizations across the state and
together we organized strategy to be able to solve our
affordable housing crisis and also to keep tenants housed for us.
(11:09):
It's a multi year strategy because you can't just solve
our homelessness crisis in one year, but we know how
to get there, and so we've been actively working with legislators,
pat writing bills, researching. In particular, I've been focused on
social housing and I've been organizing groups across the nation
(11:31):
as well as across the state. And I'm very proud
to say that we passed SB five five to five,
a social housing study bill that would create the kind
of infrastructure solutions that we need in the state to
be able to support our local social housing development here
in the city of Los Angeles. That study is going
to conclude at the end of this year. I sit
(11:51):
on that advisory committee for that bill, and we are
already planning on introducing new bills that out of the
solution and conclusions of that study later this year to
start off twenty twenty seven really strong. So I'm very
proud of the work that I've been doing and those
skills of coalition building, of facilitating different constituencies and different
(12:16):
individuals and organizations that have different interests and come from
different places and spaces to work together toward a common vision.
Is what I'm getting is what I'm good at. The
peace around the pastor work. I actually, while I've been
a Christian pastor specifically, I've always been working in interfaith
and inter religious dialogue, working around peace and dialogue around
(12:38):
interfaith conflict, as well as standing together with Black Lives
Matter LA during the uprising and continually today, especially as
we're seeing militarism continue to come back into our streets
because of the Trump administration. All of this work together
is what has shaped me and is a reason why
I'm now running today. I have not seen City Hall
(13:02):
do the work it needs to do to actually keep
our residents safe. Meanwhile, our communities, our organizations are the
ones coming up with these solutions, and we know what
we need, we know what we want, we know how
to fix things. Let's finally get somebody in the office
who understands who Los Angeles really is, and let's pass
(13:27):
and ensure that there are protections for our people as
Olympics come into our neighborhoods, and let's ensure that all
of our solutions are carried out.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, it sounds like, of course, the coalition building that
you've dedicated your life to is what makes you a
really great candidate. You can speak to other people across race, ethnicities, jobs,
and all of that. Right, And so I think that
also speaks to your campaign and how you are emphasizing
(13:58):
making Los Angeles affordable, sustainable, and safe for everyone. So
what does that look like for everyday residence? What does
this affordable, sustainable and safe LA look like?
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yeah, I'm so excited of actually about our platform to
highlight three different areas for us to make our city
actually safe and make it affordable and by the way,
those two things go hand in hand.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
If our city is affordable, it means that our families
are able to be stabilized and able to thrive and
therefore be safe. So one of the areas is our
housing crisis. Our family members today are not stabilized in
their housing. The majority of Angelino's pay too much from
(14:47):
their income for their housing. It's unsustainable and they have
to end up choosing between food or their housing.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
This week.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
They have to choose between pursuing higher education, maybe their dreams,
and being able to stay housed. That's why some people
live in their cars while they're pursuing their dreams. That's
not an option that should not be an option here
in Los Angeles. People don't move here to sleep in
their cars. They move here to be able to pursue
(15:20):
something real. And especially for the people who have grown
up here in Los Angeles, who were born and raised here,
this is not the Los Angeles that they know. They
need a Los Angeles where they can thrive and they
can be with community and spend time with their family members. So,
for me, housing is a primary area of a solution
that we need to focus on, and the way that
(15:42):
I'll do that is that currently our housing prices are skyrocketing,
our rent is skyrocketing. So how do we stabilize real estate?
How do we stabilize rents? It means that we need
more options of affordable housing. But what we need is
not affordable housing for a lots, while we need permanent
(16:02):
affordable housing. What does that mean? Social housing, like I
mentioned earlier, is something that I've been championing for the
last six years of my career. Social housing is permanent
affordable housing that is permanently off the speculative market because
it's owned by the community or the public. Public housing
(16:23):
is a form.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Of social housing.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I have met numerous public housing residents who have lived
there for thirty forty fifty years. They feel safe, it
is their home, They have community, they know all their neighbors.
We want to be able to create neighborhoods where you
can live and die in the same house. If you
(16:45):
wanted to, you can pass that house down to your grandchildren,
down to your great grandchildren.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Social housing can provide.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
This, and the best part of it is that residents
get to govern and manage the house or the home
or the apartment themselves. Social housing has been successful in
many other countries, so it's time we also bring that here.
And if we have enough social housing, enough stabilized housing
is what we call it, then the rest of the
(17:13):
real estate market stabilizes too. That is one way that
we can do this.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
I think also what we're getting at here is the
big picture that relates to the policy is about like
quality of life, correct, and not just for the current generation,
but for future generations.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
If the current.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Generation has stable housing, it's more likely that the next
generation can inherit stable housing, own property, and so on
and so forth. And I'm also curious about another like
kind of broad picture idea, which is democracy. And something
you've said in the past is that democracy works when
it works for everyone. And I wonder if you think
(17:53):
that Los Angeles is a working democracy.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
No, we need to move into that direction right now.
It is so difficult to be able to have your
voice heard in city hall. You have to take time
out of your day from work. City hall meetings are
during the day, during the work day, and you have
(18:18):
to And we all know how bad traffic is too.
So if you want to go and vocalize your opinion
about a particular law or particular concern. You have to
take time off of work a lot of times, get
over the city hall and then you have either one
minute or two minutes to speak. I want to bring
democracy to the neighborhoods of Angelino's. Participatory budgeting is something
(18:42):
that I've been working on since twenty twenty. Alongside Black
Lives Matter LA, we have been carrying out a campaign
called the People's Budget Los Angeles. What is participatory budgeting?
It is when taxpayers get to decide and determine where
their money should be going. In the budget of Los
Angeless we need real accountability and transparency and where our
(19:05):
tax dollars are going. We also want more say and
where our money is going. A lot of Angelinos are
sick and tired of paying out these half a billion
dollars of liabilities for the mistakes primarily of the police
and the fact that we have such bad infrastructure that's
been a huge thing in the news recently.
Speaker 4 (19:24):
Taxpayers are also sick.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Of paying our taxes because we want to solve the
housing crisis. Over and over again, Angelina's have voted yes
to paying more money to solve our homelessness crisis, and
yet we've been seeing fraud. We've been told that our
money is going to help and solve our housing crisis,
but yet we haven't been seeing the results. And so
participatory budgeting is a place where Angelinos can vocalize what
(19:52):
they need and what they want. And I am a
fan of Kenneth Mihea. He's been doing a great job
of creating this stashboard to expose and help us on
the nderstand where our tax dollars are going. I think
a mayor needs to work in tangent together with the
city controller to ensure that taxpayers are learning and understanding
where their money is going so that they have a
(20:14):
say in this. Co governance is an extremely important culture
and value of mine in my campaign and will be
in my administration. I am a coalition builder, I'm a
community organizer. I am all about ensuring that people co
own our city. It's not the mayor does ensure that
(20:39):
the systems and departments are functioning and working together so
we have a good infrastructure to help support enforce our
laws and make sure our city is working. But the
same time, our residents ought to feel like they also
have a say and co own the city too. We
are building our city together we are solving our problems together.
(21:05):
We are coexisting and co living with each other, and
so we want to be able to create more spaces
to do that.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Well, thank you for expanding on the people's budget, and
to my understanding, you're proposing expanding the fiscal year to
two years. Can you talk about that and what those
potential impacts on departments and residents of the City of
la would be if the fiscal year were to expand
or be prolonged.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Yeah, we need to know in advance what our plans.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
And budgets are.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
When you so, I've done a letter strategic visioning with
private and public institutions over the years of my career
as a consultant. I actually quite enjoy it and then
pretty good at it. And how you do what The
reason we have strategic visioning plans is because you need
to know what's going to happen two years from now,
five years from now, ten years from now can plan
(22:00):
for it. The reason why we should be having two
year budget cycles is so that way departments will know
what to expect further in advance and be able to
plan for things if we do it year after your cycle.
It's just it requires so much time and energy and
resources to have to come up with a budget proposal
(22:22):
and then to pass it. It's too much time that
we should be putting into just implementing the plan.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
That we have.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
And so if we do a two year budget cycle,
it means it gives us more breathing space, more time
for participatory budgeting processes. It gives departments a sense of
stability because they know what to expect and then they
can plan for the two years later for the next
budgeting cycle. So this would relieve a lot of the
(22:50):
stress and give us more time, more breathing space, and
preparation for the future of Los Angeles. And I want
to mention it's not just to your budget cycles that
I interested. And I'm also wanting to ensure that we
have a capital infrastructure plan right now, the city has
only proposed a capital infrastructure plan for the Olympics. Where's
(23:11):
Angelino's future in this. We're constantly only talking about the
Olympics for tourists. We're going to come in for just
a moment in time. I'm proud of our city. We
are proud of our city. We want people to come
and enjoy it. But we have seen over and over again,
that when the Olympus come to people's cities, it ends
(23:32):
up causing displacement, it ends up in most recently, with
the new technologies we've been experiencing, there's more surveillance of
our communities, and surveillance right now for us in the
US with the deministration, with ice all around is deadly.
So these are the kinds of things we need to
(23:53):
be thinking about. I digress a little bit. So capital
infrastructure plan we need to be thinking about one, not
for the Olympics, we need to be thinking about one
for Los Angeles. What's the plan for us to actually
move into the future, to actually achieve our twenty thirty
twenty thirty five one renewable climate goals. What's our plan
(24:19):
to expand our metro so that we can finally move
off of our dependency on cars. What's the plan to
actually ensure that our communities and our economy can thrive?
And I guess I'll just because I'm talking about the economy,
just throw in that I'm also supporting a public bank.
A public bank is a bank that that we get
(24:43):
to run. It's our cities. That means when we the
fees and all of those transactions are not going into
the pockets of Wall Street. They don't just disappear, and
there's our money. In fact, when the money comes back
to us, it comes back to the city. So we
can fund our own infrastructure plan. We can fund our
small businesses. We can fund small vendors who just need
(25:04):
a very small loan, and a lot of business banks
private banks are unwilling to provide that small of a loan,
but a city public bank can, right, And so these
are ways that we can support our small businesses as
well as support small and medium sized productions. We're proud
of Hollywood. Let's make sure that we keep Hollywood here
(25:24):
and bring it home.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Don't go anywhere, locomotives, We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
I'm so glad you touched on Hollywood and the creative
industries because I think this wraps into production and all
of the chatter that we hear about production being unaffordable
in La, production leaving La, and a lot of that
is happening. But I think also a lot of production
is just morphing and evolving and changing, And I wonder
(25:54):
what your plans are to keep production and the creative
industries in La. So La remains the entertainment capital of
the world.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
Yeah, I'm very proud of our platform, particularly around the
creator economy and also around Hollywood the more standard traditional
forms of production and media. I've now held two different roundtables,
both with entertainment workers including a number of people from
various unions, and as well as a creator economy roundtable
(26:27):
to be able to hear out and discuss what are
the challenges that people are facing and what are the
solutions that they want to offer to the table. Your creators, yourselves,
so I'll mentioned that first, and one of the things
I heard out is more third spaces for creators that
come together and share out and support one another in
(26:48):
the work that you are doing. It can be a
very isolating job. People tend to work in their homes
or it's very expensive to find production studios where they
can go film or record their stories and their content.
So if we are able to provide and support third
spaces like that, it allows for the creator economy to
(27:12):
be able to flourish and to feel supported. And if
we don't, they won't move, as we've been seeing Hollywood
move as well, making our city affordable as a whole,
making housing more affordable, making transit more affordable. These are
all ways that we can sustain these kinds of creative
artistic economies in our city.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
So I'll give you one example.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
There was a YouTube studio where people came together, where
YouTubers could come together and work on their content together.
When YouTube left the city, it was bought out and
bought by a private company, and it still is here
on the West side of Los Angeles. However, it's very
expensive to be able to be a member there and
(28:00):
utilize their services. And also it's on the west side,
so if you live on the East side, it's a
bit too far. I love the idea, and this is
what was asked by the Creator Economy roundtable individuals. What
if this city supported and provided more spaces like this,
a kind of library content creator space where we could
(28:21):
share resources, share technology, and just make it more livable
and fun and be in community as we create content together.
This would be so supportive of our creators. On the
side of Hollywood, we know that it's so expensive to
film here. There's support for these big, huge studios, but
(28:42):
no support for small and medium sized productions, and what
a travesty. One of the best things about Los Angeles
is the fact that we are so good at storytelling,
and that we are so creative in this moment to
tell stories over and create new ideas and things, and
it really tends to come from these independent spaces, these
(29:04):
smaller spaces where new creations come. The bigger studios tend
to make these big marvel studio things, but I would
say the more interesting and fun creative art really comes
from these independent filmmakers. And so we need to support
them by cutting the fees, cutting the red tape, making
the permitting system cheaper, faster and more supported. And if
(29:27):
we are able again to make the city in general
both safer and more affordable to get around. That was
one thing that both round tables brought up, was just
so hard it is to get around Los Angeles, that
would be able to help support them. We have to
remember that our Hollywood economy is way bigger than just filmmakers.
It's also the caters who serve them. It's also the
(29:51):
designers who make the clothes for all the costumes. It's
also the hair stylist, the makeup artists, the drivers of
the trucks of the moving all of these, all of
the equipment.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
These are all part of Hollywood. We are so proud.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
This is what makes our industry grow and move. So
we need to support all of these aspects, and so
I just want to name that. Lastly, AI technology is
killing and strangling our art and culture community, so we
need to find regulations on AI. One of the things
(30:28):
I plan on carrying out is creating an AI account
Accountability Commission. It's going to oversee how technology use is
impacting our residents in a negative in a positive way.
So we need to ensure that technology as it's growing,
is going to serve us, not hurt us. It is
(30:51):
important on two respects. One is on job creation. I
don't see technology as a threat if it's there for
us to use to support our lives, to make it
easier and more beautiful. But if it's taking us away
and enslaving us, that's a problem. The other side of
it surveillance. I'm calling for the end of the flock contract.
(31:15):
I've been making that very public. There's a lot of
other cities now that are beginning to end the flock
contracts because the surveillance has been used and it's all
around the city. By the way, if you ever see
a tiny black box on the streets that you can
actually look it up. You can see where your flock
camera is if you want to look it up on
the internet. Those cameras have been used to identify people
(31:38):
and surveil them. Ice has been found to use that
surveillance technology. There was one incident where a Texas sheriff.
This wasn't Ice, but it's bad enough. A Texas sheriff
used flock cameras to identify a woman who is leaving
the border of Texas to be able to get out
an abortion. That's terrifying. So we need to ensure that
(32:02):
new technology is not hurting our communities, not putting us
in danger, and we need to be serious about it,
and we need resident participation in thinking about what kind
of security and protections we need and recommendations on ensuring
(32:24):
that technology is moving with us and not against us.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Oh. I've been thinking about this for a long time,
that we are in a society now where we voluntarily,
like self, surveil ourselves and our neighbors. And I think
about that with all the recording cameras that we put
on our homes in our backyards for this sense of safety.
But actually we're like surveying our neighbors and ourselves. Right,
(32:50):
we don't get to opt into them if our neighbor
has it, because sure there's like that recording that's through
being recorded, but I'm actually not really opting into this.
So this is really interesting that you bring this up.
What do you think Angelino's think about did this type
of program and if it's is it supposed to be
helpful for us?
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Most people have no idea that it's happening, right, not
even aware because these boxes just came up overnight and
no one even noticed it, and it's just happening. So
most people don't even recognize it and don't know that
we're being surveiled on a regular basis, and we're being
told it's for our safety. But safety for who and
for whom? Protection for who and for whom? That's the question.
(33:33):
I do want to name something about surveillance, and this
is important here. Traffic surveillance is something that's been talked
about a lot, and there's debate about this, right, the
red traffic light surveillance where you pass through and it
takes a photo of your license plate and then you
get a ticket in the mail. The idea is it's
(33:54):
supposed to encourage you not to go through a red
light again.
Speaker 4 (33:58):
And I get that, But here's the.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
Thing is that we need to remember and think about
the fact that surveillance is after the crime has already
been committed. So is it actually making us safer or
is it that it's about providing the penalty. So I
want us to be thinking about how do we create
(34:22):
safety to begin with a lot of the ways that
we think about crime here, not just in Los Angeles
but actually across our country and talking about policing, for example,
is that we need more police because we can stop crime.
(34:42):
The problem is the crime has already occurred, and then
you call the police officers, so the crisis has already occurred.
It doesn't stop crime. I want us to be thinking
about being proactive about safety, preventing harm before it happens.
The reason I have been championing eviction defense is because
(35:05):
it prevents homelessness from beginning to begin with. It prevents
harm from happening to begin with. And we all know
that if you prevent homelessness, that's the best form of
ending homelessness keeping people housed, because once you fall into
that homelessness cycle, it continues on same thing with all
of these other areas. As we're thinking about safety. If
(35:30):
we want to prevent crime from happening, it means that
we need to provide people with good jobs where they're
making enough money. They're not scrambling to have to find
money elsewhere. They don't have to work multiple jobs, or
if they can get a quick bit of cash, they
won't choose the alternative. Right, we want to be able
(35:52):
to provide people with the opportunity to pursue their life interests,
their goals, their dreams. Because people who live meaningful lives,
live abundant lives, live happy lives, they're less likely to
fall into crises, into mental health concerns, into depression, into anxiety,
which is oftentimes in those spaces and places, that's where
(36:15):
crisis occurs. And when crisis occurs, we're in fight or flight.
That's when mistakes are hurt is done to ourselves or
to others. Right, we want to get people out of
the cars. We want to get people out of their
cars because the biggest killer of our children, it's not homicides,
(36:36):
it's not violent crime, it's actually traffic collisions, and three
hundred people die a year because of traffic collisions here
in Los Angeles. So let's get people out of their cars.
And we can change that by making our lives easier,
by making transit more accessible, by making transit faster, and
(36:58):
if we make it free, it not only provides safety
for communities by which they can access their resources to
get to their doctor, to get to school, to get
to work. You have no idea how many people have
had fights altercations with their bus drivers because they forgot
their metro card or they didn't have enough money to
(37:20):
get on the bus and they're going to miss their job.
If we make the dash bus free, it means that
immediately thirty percent of ridership goes up. We've seen that
in research, and if thirty percent more ridership goes up,
it means more people are not driving in their cars.
It means that people are making smarter choices about getting
(37:41):
around town. If they had a little bit to drink,
had a little bit too much to smoke, they can
get on a bus instead. They can make smarter choices
about that because there's huge incentive. And it also means
that we're more interconnected. A busy bus is a safe bus,
more opportunities than meet and greet your name means less
(38:02):
stereotyping of other people around you and more connections.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
I sold my car when I moved downtown and started
grad school at USC and as a lifelong Angelina, it
was like so unheard of and unthinkable, and my family
was like, what are you doing?
Speaker 4 (38:20):
You need a car in LA.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
But it's made it so much more accessible for me
to get to school, to afford school, to afford life.
Taking the Metro with my student U pass which allows
me free rides, and so given the option between ubering
or taking the Metro, I get my steps in, I
take the train and it's free and it's lovely, and
I'm so grateful to have that option.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
And to me, when I think of.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Countries that are really serving their population and that have
very high qualities of life, these countries, a lot of
them being in Europe or in Asia, they have a
lot of free, accessible, fast, public transportations. So I really
appreciate that you are bringing that into your campaign.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Don't go anywhere, locomotives, We'll.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Be right back.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
So on the topic also of safety and of community
and being out in public, going back to ice and
our community feels very unsafe in public, unsafe taking the train,
unsafe taking the buses because of the threat and the
fear of ice kidnappings. So how do you plan on
(39:34):
protecting Angelino's from ice raids? And how do you plan
to hold LAPD accountable for collaborating with the federal government
Despite the fact that Los Angeles is at least a
name a sanctuary city.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
It is time that we just stopped talking about being
a sanctuary city and we actually do the work of it.
And that means that when laws are broken, such as
when of your chief of police is refusing to follow
the state law which mandates that federal agents should not
(40:07):
be wearing masks, that.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
You follow the law. The police are there to make
us follow the law.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Why I can't the police.
Speaker 4 (40:14):
Chief follow the law? So that's one thing is we do.
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Accountability means making hard decisions and firing your police chief.
That is step number one. Step number two, put people
who believe in making Los Angeles actually feeling like a
sanctuary state. Put those people onto the Police Commission. As mayor,
(40:40):
you get to decide and appoint people on the Police Commission.
Let's make sure you put people there who are impacted
by the LAPD who are impacted by ICE for them
to make determinations about what it would look like to
have a police that actually serves and protects the people
of Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (41:00):
Number three, Let's.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Make sure that we have full representation, legal representation for
everybody who is impacted by ice, everybody who's impacted by
our unjust immigration system. Right now, we have defunded represent LA.
It's time that we take seriously when we're at sanctuary state,
that we put our money where our mouth is. Number four.
(41:24):
Our communities are the ones protecting our neighbors because the
police isn't, because city hall isn't. We're the ones showing
up with rapid response when bad stuff happens. Right when
ice shows up in our neighborhoods, we're identifying their cars
and their vehicles, We're identifying their what they look like,
where they are. La Taco has been highlighting sites of ice.
(41:47):
We should be doing that as a city. So these
are things where again, our neighbors and our residents of
LA are leading and the city should follow. We should
be funding and supporting that progress instead of making it
harder or just leaving our residents to their own devices
to protect and thank goodness, we're doing it because that's
(42:09):
what's stopping Trump's administration. But also, I just can it
makes no sense to me that we have to be
the ones protecting ourselves when we pay the police to
protect us. So it's time we actually force the police
to do their job. And the police are under the
city jurisdiction, not the state, not the federal. This is
(42:34):
our city, not Trump's city, and so that means we
get to decide what the laws are here and what
our city is going to look like and what protections
look like.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
And feel like, thank you so much for breaking that
down for us, because that's definitely top of mind for
a lot of people in our community. Is this feeling
that local government is not doing enough, that the electeds
are not doing enough. And yes, there are electeds who
have been very outspoken, like council member Owns set A
one this and others, but there has been a feeling
(43:03):
of disappointment in terms of other elected officials and yeah,
city leaders. Because we've been talking about public safety, you
also have this initiative that I think is really important
to safety and the ecosystem of LA which is creating
the first Office of Nightlife, and I loved your social
(43:25):
video about that because we have a lot of friends
who are DJs or work in nightlife, who host parties,
and you attribute this idea of the office of Nightlife
because La has the most night shift workers of any
city in the country. So I'm curious, how do you
envision this office functioning and what type of services would
be offered.
Speaker 2 (43:46):
Yeah, here's the thing, we don't think about our nightlife
at all. It's not even something that comes past their minds. Right,
this city shuts down in such a crazy way. For
being the second largest city in the nation, we have
everything shuts down. Even the streets are really dark, which
is a real problem and we actually need to fix
for safety reasons. We need to have a dedicated team
(44:08):
and office thinking about the questions of how to make
our city safe as safe at night as it is
during the day, making sure that systems are working and
functional to support every single Angelino at night as much
it is during the day, because we are a city
that is a week all hours.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Of the night.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
What I mean by that is we have workers doing
the night shift, like you just said who and they
are oftentimes essential workers making sure that we're being taken
care of doing these late shifts to make sure that
when emergency happens at any hour of the day, somebody
is available to take care of them.
Speaker 4 (44:45):
The other thing is that we are a city of artists.
Speaker 2 (44:49):
That's like a huge part of Los Angeles's history and
something we're.
Speaker 4 (44:52):
So proud of.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
And for those her artists out there, I'm sure they
can all relate. My best time of day where my
creativity comes out. It's not the same for everybody, but
it is for me and a lot of my friends.
Is it does come out in the middle of the
night because everything is quieter, our minds are slowing down,
and that's oftentimes when I make the best music, when
(45:16):
I have some ideas around my painting and I'll just
be processing, and so that's when the art comes out.
We want to support every single aspect of Los Angeles,
and if we support our art and culture side of
Los Angeles, that does also oftentimes include supporting our nightlife.
One of the things I want to highlight and name
(45:37):
is we tend to criminalize the night. Raves are still
seen as illegal right places where people are able to
dance and have fun. We should be supporting spaces where
people are able to let go. We should be supporting
spaces where art and dancing these are there beautiful spaces
(46:01):
of camaraderie. Third spaces of greeting, community life, like you said,
where DJs can do their art and we can breathe
a little bit. We should be supporting this side of
our economy. This is a great space for economy to grow.
We love our restaurants, we love our bars. Why not
(46:21):
support that even more. Make it safer and easier to
get around at night as it is during the day.
Have available bathrooms and water fountains to make it safe
to go out so people can have fun. That is
a growing industry. And when people can have fun, it
helps their mental health, it supports their emotional and social life.
(46:43):
And then that actually means that we're spending more money
going out, creating more jobs, and supporting more Angelinos to thrive.
Speaker 3 (46:53):
I love that idea so much. We love our night life,
and we love the people who make our night life possible,
who fuel it. Something I think about all the time
being downtown is that there are no public bathrooms and
it makes the city so much dirtier and less hygienic.
So I love the idea and I'm so glad it's
top of mind for you. I want to end by
(47:15):
asking how you plan on engaging communities voters who are
unfamiliar with your work and with your campaign.
Speaker 4 (47:22):
How do you reach those folks.
Speaker 2 (47:25):
Yeah, we have been focused primarily on using social media
as a form of communication because a lot of people
no longer watch typical TV, don't follow more traditional forms
of media and education. This is where we're receiving a
lot of our education and materials, and it's so localized.
(47:48):
We also have been knocking on doors, and we've also
been doing a lot of meet and greets with different
organizations and community groups and inviting folks to be able
to meet with us if they have a large group
of friends and they want me to come out and
meet them, And we've been holding events for people to
come out as well. Definitely, for those who are listening,
I would love you to come and volunteer and make
recommendations and offer ideas of other events that we can
(48:11):
host or that you would like to host and invite
me to attend so that I can get to know
different communities. I'm running for office to represent those who
are not typically centered in city hall, whose voices have
been silenced. I'm talking about those who are most impacted
by the affordability crisis that we have are people who
(48:33):
are black and brown, who are indigenous, where English is
a second language, or maybe English is.
Speaker 4 (48:39):
Not a primary language at all.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
We need to be centering those voices and increasing our
ability to communicate and serve and support every single corner
and aspect of Los Angeles. I live in Sawtel in Japantown.
It is an era, It's an ethnic encore of a
lot of Asian immigrants.
Speaker 4 (49:03):
In the past.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
My family history, if you were Chinese, they had the
Chinese Exclusionary Act for generations.
Speaker 4 (49:12):
Being Chinese or Taiwanese, you were not.
Speaker 2 (49:13):
Allowed to move to the US if you already hear,
because you were rid before the Exclusionary Act, or because
you were a paper son, which I won't go into
the history of. Basically, it was a way of being
able to migrate into the US. We were not allowed
to live here full lives. We're now at a place
(49:37):
in our society where we need to repair the racism
and the classism of the past. We're not there yet,
but we do need to begin somewhere, and that's what
I'm advocating for is not just a reform of a
bad system. The system's not working for us, it's not
meeting the ninety nine point nine percent of Angelino's. We
(50:00):
need to transform and change the system to one that
actually serves Angelinos who have been living here for generations,
Angelinas who were born and bred here but always still
seen and treated like an outsider and a foreigner. It's
time to center those voices and ensure that they have
priority and voice in city Hall and that their communities
(50:26):
are centered and embraced.
Speaker 4 (50:30):
And so that's the that's.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
The Los Angeles that I'm fighting for, and that's the
Los Angeles that I want to represent.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
Thank you so much for giving us this incredible download
of your policies and politics and really what, in our perspective,
like a very innovative way of looking at Los Angeles,
one that we have not seen thus far in previous
mayoral races. So we're really excited to talk to you
(50:59):
because the Office of Nightlife, the Social housing, right like,
these are things that are not necessarily new, but they
would be new for the City of La if you
were elected. So we really appreciate you spending time with
us and breaking some of this down. I want to
end by just asking you, how can folks support you,
how can they volunteer?
Speaker 4 (51:17):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (51:19):
So I'm very proud to say that we have over
a thousand volunteers in our campaign. We have raised over
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and we've asked also
by tonight, we will unlock our ability to receive matching
funds in the city, which means that every dollar that
Angelino spends to donate to our campaign will be matched
(51:41):
six times. I am not accepting any dollar from any
lobbyist group or any corporations because I believe that this
is for Angelinos, by Angelino's. That's the campaign that we
are running, and so I would welcome as many Angelinos
who believe in this campaign as much as I do
(52:01):
to please donate any money that you are able to support,
knowing that it's going to be multiplied six times by
the city, and also please come out and volunteer. Please
consider canvassing. We want to reach half a million doors
by June second, so that way we can tell people
(52:21):
about our campaign, invite them into the vision, invite them
into the future along with us. If you can just
choose one weekend to volunteer. This is how we're going
to do it. And if you don't want to, canvass.
There are so many other ways to volunteer. Our platform
was created by Angelinos. There are values that are through
and through, but this platform is actually created by every
(52:45):
day Angelinos who live here, by policy experts, by neighbors,
by people who are doing the rapid response work. They're
the ones who came up with this platform and it's
still being shaped by them. So if you are somebody
who has something to add and share, even this morning,
if someone called me please, will you add more information
about this area and I said, please join our team.
Speaker 4 (53:05):
I want you. This is about us.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
So that's how people can help today and all the
information is on my website ray for La dot com.
Speaker 3 (53:13):
Raywan, thank you so much for joining us on Look
up our Radio.
Speaker 4 (53:17):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (53:18):
I appreciate both of you, and a huge shout out
to look at Dotter Radio, Look at a Radio, Loca
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