1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Worst Year Ever, a production of I Heart 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: Radio Together Everything. Hey guys, welcome back to Worst Year Ever, 3 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: the show all about the Worst Year Ever. My name 4 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: is Katie Stole, Mine's not. It's Cody Johnston and I 5 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 1: am Evans, Robert Evans, Roberts Um. Today we have a 6 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: very special interview with Nythia Ramen. She is a candidate 7 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:51,200 Speaker 1: for Los Angeles City Council fourth District. She is really 8 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: something special, you guys. I was so excited to have 9 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: her on the show. I think we had a great 10 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,480 Speaker 1: conversation and I'm just chuffed that you guys get to 11 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: hear it now. I've been watching a lot of it, 12 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: is um. One of the comforting things I've been doing 13 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: during the pandemic is rewatching the entirety of The Great 14 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: British Baking Show, even though I've seen it all and 15 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: they say chuffed a lot and and apparently that's part 16 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: of my vernacular. Now, no going back. We can't edit this, No, 17 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: it's impossible, but anyway, this is live. The important thing 18 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,040 Speaker 1: is that you're about to hear an interview with Nuthia 19 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:37,039 Speaker 1: and she rocks take it away us today. We are 20 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: thrilled to be joined by Nipia Rahman, a candidate for 21 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: Los Angeles fourth District. Hi, Nthia, thank you so much 22 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: for being here today. I'm sure you're incredibly busy right now. 23 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: How are you doing. I'm fine, all considered, All things considered. 24 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: Can't complain good good? Well, yeah, sure there there there 25 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: are some complaints that can be made. But we need 26 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: you healthy. Um, as we will explore how much we 27 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: need you throughout this episode. UM. It's pretty much impossible 28 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 1: to be a liberal progressive here in Los Angeles and 29 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: not know who Natia is at this point, especially throughout 30 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 1: the city. Yeah, you've you've been a real leading voice, 31 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,640 Speaker 1: I think for a lot of us lately, um, but 32 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: for our listeners in other parts of the country, in 33 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:38,359 Speaker 1: the world. Nthia is an urban planner. Uh. She's done 34 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 1: a lot of incredibly important work for the in housed 35 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 1: here in Los Angeles. Uh. You've also served as the 36 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: executive director for Times Up Entertainment, UH, furthering equality and 37 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:52,920 Speaker 1: safety for women in the entertainment industry. UM. But you 38 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: can do a better job explaining your background than I can. 39 00:02:56,880 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: So could we start by just telling us a bit 40 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: about the war that you've been doing prior to running 41 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: for city council. Well, you did a great job there, yes, 42 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, I'm a mother of two. I have 43 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:14,559 Speaker 1: twin preschoolers as well. That's probably the old twinning. Yeah. 44 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: Therefore almost five now four and a half years old, 45 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: and big job in and of itself. Yeah, and it's been, 46 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: you know, challenging because their school closed and their preschool 47 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: closed and now it's only partly open, and you know, 48 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: but it's been a it's been a journey with them. Yeah. 49 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: But yes, you're right. I'm an urban planner. Um, I've 50 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: spent most of my career working on urban poverty issues. 51 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: I spent actually the first part of my career in India, 52 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: where I was working with people who lived in slums 53 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: and informal settlements there and who were fighting for things 54 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: like running water, for toilets, and for land rights. The 55 00:03:55,960 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: way I got into that work was that I saw 56 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: that there was a huge eviction happening in the city 57 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: that I was living in at the time, which was Deli, 58 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: and there was a massive demolition of a community that 59 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: had about a hundred thousand people living in it, and 60 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: their homes were raised within just a couple of just 61 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: a few days, if I remember correctly, and it was 62 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: covered in the English press for just a couple of days, 63 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: and then the story just disappeared and I couldn't believe it. 64 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 1: I couldn't believe that a massive community within Delhi had 65 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: been totally demolished, and that was the entirety of the coverage. 66 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: And so I looked for organizations that were working on 67 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: those issues. I found a group that was organizing residents 68 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: in that area. Uh. And then the more I started 69 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 1: working on those issues, I realized how important local government is, 70 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 1: how important it is for I think, you know, cities 71 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:55,839 Speaker 1: are a real place of opportunity, or they can be, 72 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: and so for me, the local government was the place 73 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: where you translate that into reality. And whether you're working 74 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:07,359 Speaker 1: in India or whether you're working in the US. For me, 75 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 1: ensuring that we have eyes on local government, that we're 76 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:13,839 Speaker 1: intervening in local government, that we're engaging with it, that 77 00:05:13,960 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: became very very important to me and my career, and 78 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,799 Speaker 1: that's why I ended up studying urban planning and continuing 79 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: to work at the city level for forever after that, Yeah, 80 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: that you're you're touching on something that I was planning 81 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: to bring up towards the end. But yeah, we spent 82 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,240 Speaker 1: a lot of time on this podcast. We we have 83 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: a pretty wide breadth of stuff that we've been covering 84 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:40,320 Speaker 1: under the umbrella of worst year ever. Um. But the 85 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:43,840 Speaker 1: initial outset of this was an election podcast, and we 86 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: spent a lot of time talking to people and candidates 87 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:54,679 Speaker 1: organizers who feel disenfranchised, to feel disillusioned that our leaders 88 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: do not represent what we think and feel in need 89 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: um and frustrated at the people that say one thing 90 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: but do another. And it all comes back to getting 91 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: involved at a local level. Um And And I mean 92 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,080 Speaker 1: it's just it. It can be very daunting for the 93 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,279 Speaker 1: average person. But you know, I guess now the good 94 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: time to to talk on that about like the impetus 95 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: for you to say, like, you know what, I am 96 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: going to do this. I need to actually get involved 97 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: with this party with politics, not just the organized organizing 98 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: outside of it. Yeah, And I think, you know, Los 99 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: Angeles is one of those places where the sentiment that 100 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 1: you just expressed, this feeling of I have all these 101 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:48,280 Speaker 1: values and I don't see that reflected in the governance 102 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: around me. Los Angeles is one of those places where 103 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: I feel like a disjuncture between that is the greatest. 104 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: You know, we've had a city government here that has 105 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: been so narrowly serving the interests of really those people 106 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: who have already been elected to power. It's essentially been 107 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: serving their interest in staying in power, um and it's 108 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:16,679 Speaker 1: been serving a group of donors who have been involved 109 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: in city council campaigns for a number of years, mostly 110 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: those who want to profit from the city. You know, 111 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: whether it be real estate, whether it be UM landlords, 112 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: whether it be UM cannabis, whether it be I mean, 113 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: there's all kinds of industries that end up donating big 114 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: to city council campaigns, billboard companies, styrofoam companies, fossil fuel companies, 115 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: I mean, it's you can go on and on, but 116 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 1: essentially people who want to influence decision making at city hall. 117 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: And that's how decision making has happened for for a really, 118 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: really long time. But in this election we had an 119 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:54,480 Speaker 1: opportunity to really blow that wide open because for the 120 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: first time in l A where elections have been really 121 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: low participation affairs. So just to give you an example 122 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: of how low participation they have been in this district 123 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: in the previous general election, a total of two thousand 124 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: voters voted right, so those were split between two candidates 125 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: in my primary. Um, because our elections are not overlapping 126 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: with federal elections, turnout exploded, and because we did so 127 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 1: much work to get out the vote and to inform 128 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: people that they needed to look down ballot. We had 129 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: over seventy six thousand voters just in the prime right. 130 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: So every district that was voting at the same time 131 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: saw an increase right because just because more people were 132 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:47,200 Speaker 1: just at the polls, but because we did so much 133 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 1: get out the vote work, and because we did so 134 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: much door knocking. We knocked on three thousand doors in 135 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: the primary with our volunteer support. It was crazy. And 136 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: Los Angeles districts are big. I mean, there are a 137 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 1: hundred and for Doel don't quote me on this number, 138 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: but there's like a hundred forty thousand registered voters let's 139 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: say in this district two residents. Just an enormous number 140 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,839 Speaker 1: of voters in each district. Uh. And so we had 141 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,319 Speaker 1: this opportunity to say, hey, guys, you're probably going to 142 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: be voting already, and here's something that you should care about. 143 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: Here's something that matters for you. Here's something that matters 144 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: for the health of the residents you see who are 145 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: living on the streets in front of your home potentially, Um, 146 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:30,719 Speaker 1: here's something that we could change in l A that 147 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:35,719 Speaker 1: would absolutely transform all of our lives. And inviting them 148 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: to participate in the local election. And it it totally worked, 149 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:45,079 Speaker 1: you know, it really really worked. Just amazing. Yeah, I 150 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: was really exciting. It was really floored and prepping for this, 151 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: I knew it was close. But running against the incumbent, 152 00:09:52,800 --> 00:10:00,080 Speaker 1: David ryu Uh, you got the vote to his and 153 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: he outspended I'll spend you more than three to one. Yeah, 154 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: and you you go count if you count pack money even more. 155 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 1: Really well, we should dig into that in a little bit. 156 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:12,120 Speaker 1: I want to go back and talk before we talk 157 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 1: about him, I want to talk about your platform and 158 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: what what you focus on. We've already been talking a 159 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:22,120 Speaker 1: bit about it, um, but a big focus on your 160 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:28,320 Speaker 1: campaign is on the unhoused, on rent forgiveness. Uh, just 161 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: as a starting point. We'll get into the other aspects 162 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:32,959 Speaker 1: of it. But this is something that we needed to 163 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: be addressing anyway, but especially now during the pandemic. And 164 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:41,760 Speaker 1: I would love to start off by by hearing a 165 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: little bit about your plans and about what the stakes 166 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: are here. Yeah, so let's talk about renters, because I 167 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:52,440 Speaker 1: think that doesn't I talk a lot about homelessness on 168 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,000 Speaker 1: the campaign trail, I've talked about it a bunch on 169 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:57,840 Speaker 1: my website, and I would love to talk a little 170 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: bit about renters because I think because I think what 171 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: we've set up in Los Angeles right now is, you know, 172 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: we have a city where we have majority renters, right, So, 173 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:11,560 Speaker 1: the majority of people here do not own their homes. 174 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 1: They rent, either in single family homes or in apartments. 175 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: And we've had huge increase in rents over the last decade. 176 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,000 Speaker 1: We've seen a sixty seven increase in rents just over 177 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:29,000 Speaker 1: the last ten years, just incredibly striking increase, with no 178 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: commensurate increase in wages. Right, So the wages of renters 179 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: are not going up, but their rents are going up 180 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:39,600 Speaker 1: and up and up. And so we have this situation 181 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:45,200 Speaker 1: here where renters are feeling ever more squeezed in this city, 182 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: and we have tenant protections on paper. Right. So this 183 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: is where I think there is this real sense of, oh, 184 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 1: this is a progressive city. We already have, we must 185 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,840 Speaker 1: have all these rules in place already or whatever, But 186 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,559 Speaker 1: in reality, we have not set up a system through 187 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: which we and actually enforce a lot of those tenant protections. 188 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: When residents are actually trying to get the help that 189 00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:09,280 Speaker 1: they need or get the get the information that they need, 190 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 1: it's just not available. I'll talk about one thing which 191 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,920 Speaker 1: I think is incredibly important. So we don't have a 192 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: database of rentals here in Los Angeles, right, So in 193 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: a city that's really defined by renters, we don't have 194 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: a comprehensive database of renters and landlords. That means that 195 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:27,480 Speaker 1: the city does not proactively send out information to both 196 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:31,040 Speaker 1: tenants or to landlords, informing them about their rights, informing 197 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:34,480 Speaker 1: them about their obligations, telling them about changes in rules. 198 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: So when we actually changed our evictions protections at the 199 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:40,679 Speaker 1: beginning of the pandemic, council members had to go and 200 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: ask the Housing Department to send out information to the 201 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: smaller subset of units for which they did have records. 202 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,560 Speaker 1: Because they don't automatically tell people about those changes, they 203 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: don't collect the kind of information that would actually enable 204 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 1: Los Angeles to hold landlords to account for enforcing rules 205 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: that are already on the books. About tenants rights right. 206 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,079 Speaker 1: So we so we've set up a system where it's 207 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:10,079 Speaker 1: very very hard for tenants to actually realize the rights 208 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: that they have on on paper. We also don't have 209 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: a guaranteed right to a lawyer for tenants who are 210 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,079 Speaker 1: facing eviction. This is in a city that is defined 211 00:13:19,160 --> 00:13:24,320 Speaker 1: by a housing and homelessness crisis that has seen the 212 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:27,079 Speaker 1: experience of other cities that have done this. So New 213 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:30,040 Speaker 1: York has done this, San Francisco has done this. Other 214 00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:34,320 Speaker 1: cities that have had incredible affordable housing crises like ours 215 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: have have provided tenants facing eviction lawyer. And the evidence 216 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: shows over and over again that when tenants have access 217 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 1: to a lawyer, they're able to stay in their homes. 218 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: This is incredibly important again to being able to actually 219 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: realize the rights that we have on paper, right, But 220 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: we haven't done that in Los Angeles. So these are 221 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: the ways in which I think we can think about 222 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: actually providing the scaffolding for people to be able to 223 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,080 Speaker 1: thrive here in l A, to be able to stay 224 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:06,320 Speaker 1: in their homes here in Los Angeles, and the kind 225 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: of focus that we need to have to understand what 226 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: is wrong with our system right now that is allowing 227 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 1: so many people to fall through the cracks, you know, UM, 228 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: and I think it's incredibly important. Another thing that we 229 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 1: talked about in the primary all the time was a 230 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: rent freeze. So we don't have um rent control here 231 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: in l A. What we have is rent stabilization, right, 232 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: which means that certain apartments which were built before a 233 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:36,320 Speaker 1: particular year are covered by the rent Stabilization Ordinance, which 234 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: means that rents can only rise a limited percentage every year. 235 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 1: That covers about of apartments in the city, right, so 236 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: that it's not all of the rental units, because there's 237 00:14:47,080 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: a ton of rentals that are in this single family 238 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:54,520 Speaker 1: home UM, you know area, and so there's it's not comprehensive, 239 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 1: but it is a large percentage of our renter base. 240 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:01,000 Speaker 1: So we could have this whole time been using our 241 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:06,800 Speaker 1: control over rent stabilized units to actually help keep rents lower, 242 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: to make it a zero percent rent increase for a 243 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:12,240 Speaker 1: year or two, to allow people's wages to catch up 244 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:16,840 Speaker 1: with their rents. We never did that except when COVID 245 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: hit so right at the beginning of the pandemic, we 246 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 1: actually use those powers to make sure that we instituted 247 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: a rent freeze um in these units. So what that 248 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: tells me is that we had that power this whole time, 249 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 1: and we never used it, despite the fact that rents 250 00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 1: were skyrocketing, you know. And so that's really what when 251 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: you talk about the gap between kind of the rhetoric 252 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: or people's values and the reality of what the government 253 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: is doing, um, And where I see those gaps in 254 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: Los Angeles is so clearly in how they've responded to 255 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 1: their immense powers here in l a UM, which is 256 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:00,720 Speaker 1: mostly to look away from those powers, you know. UM. 257 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: And now, because so many more people are engaged on 258 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: these issues, so many more people are getting informed on 259 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: these issues, I think we have a real opportunity to 260 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,200 Speaker 1: make sure that we hold them accountable for using those 261 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 1: powers to benefit us, to keep us safe, to keep 262 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:18,040 Speaker 1: us housed. Yeah. Yeah, that feels like this is a 263 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 1: great example of so many things that we say see 264 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,080 Speaker 1: happening with our government when we talk about health care 265 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: and access to it, like well, that's not possible. It 266 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: is possible. There's lots of stuff that's possible there. There 267 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 1: there answers to all of our problems if people are 268 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,880 Speaker 1: willing to not turn away from it, and the reality 269 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: is is that so many of the people that we 270 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:42,760 Speaker 1: have elected benefit from the status quo, benefit in different 271 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: ways from not changing the system. But you're right, push 272 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: comes to shove, we can make these things happen. Yeah, absolutely, 273 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:51,320 Speaker 1: And I wanted to I wanted to talk about one 274 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 1: one thing, about the fact that there's a reason why 275 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,480 Speaker 1: these changes haven't happened either. Right, So, last year there 276 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: wasn't push to actually create a rental database at the 277 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:09,719 Speaker 1: state level, um, and there was a significant lobbying pushed 278 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 1: to make sure that that didn't happen, you know, and 279 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: because I think it would have made it harder for 280 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:16,919 Speaker 1: a certain group of residents here in Los Angeles, right, 281 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: made it harder for our apartment owners, for larger corporate 282 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 1: owners to be able to go about their business the 283 00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 1: way that they would have preferred to. And I think 284 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,919 Speaker 1: we have to be cognizant of who is you know, 285 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: pushing for changes and who are elected officials have traditionally 286 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:34,960 Speaker 1: been listening to and make sure that the rest of 287 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 1: us make our voices heard, the rest of us make 288 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:40,520 Speaker 1: put our own pressure on our elected officials to do 289 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,399 Speaker 1: the right thing. Yeah, there's no sort of database that 290 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,040 Speaker 1: lists you know, who owns, what building, what rent is 291 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,199 Speaker 1: being charged, and or there's a limited database which was 292 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:53,919 Speaker 1: only created in of just rent stabilized units, and it 293 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,280 Speaker 1: does not collect information about rent being charged. So even 294 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: though there's rules about how much rent increase, the city 295 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 1: actually does not collect the information required to hold landlords 296 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: accountable for following those rules. And I would guess that 297 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:12,679 Speaker 1: most people don't know that they live in rent stabilized units. Yeah, 298 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 1: I will say even rent stabilization. I lived in a 299 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: stabilized place for five years, and my rent went up 300 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 1: a lot over the time I moved because it was 301 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 1: now reaching a point that was no longer affordable after 302 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: four and a half years, five years, you know, and 303 00:18:32,440 --> 00:18:35,600 Speaker 1: that's fine, I'll move on. Now he's charging so much 304 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:39,239 Speaker 1: more than what I left it at. UM, but I 305 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 1: was grateful that it wasn't being hiked up every year 306 00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:48,480 Speaker 1: and an absurd amount. So it was grateful for that 307 00:18:48,800 --> 00:19:02,320 Speaker 1: at least. Well together everybody, Oh yeah, I just wanted 308 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,320 Speaker 1: to um see sort of. UM. I know you have 309 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:09,560 Speaker 1: this program sella is seller Cela Cela? Yeah, it's that 310 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: I started. Yeah, there's so many ways that um, people 311 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:17,400 Speaker 1: fall through the cracks, and UM, you have a lot 312 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 1: of ideas on how to help people that have already 313 00:19:19,520 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 1: fallen through the cracks, which we see more and more of. 314 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:23,520 Speaker 1: I just wonder if you could speak on that a 315 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: little bit. Yeah, for sure. I mean, so I talked 316 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: about renters and tenants rights and stuff, and I think 317 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:30,720 Speaker 1: there's two other things that we need to be doing 318 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: to address our housing and homelessness crisis head on. One 319 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,479 Speaker 1: is to promote the construction of more affordable housing, and 320 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,040 Speaker 1: that there is a you know, I have. I have 321 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: some um policies that are on my website about that already, 322 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: and I invite people who are interested in that to 323 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:46,840 Speaker 1: take a look. And we're actually going to be updating 324 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: some of that in the coming weeks, which I'm very 325 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,680 Speaker 1: excited about. But I think for homelessness, the way that 326 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:55,680 Speaker 1: we respond to homelessness now in Los Angeles, I think 327 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: there's a lot of ways in which we can make 328 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: that process significantly better. And some of the ways in 329 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,119 Speaker 1: which we can make it better are things that I 330 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: learned from my work in Sila. So when I was 331 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,119 Speaker 1: at I actually worked at city Hall a number of 332 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:13,920 Speaker 1: years ago, and I wrote this report about how the 333 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: city was responding to homelessness. And I found that the 334 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,040 Speaker 1: city was spending over a hundred million dollars on homelessness 335 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,639 Speaker 1: without really counting it as homelessness related spending, but that 336 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: almost nine of it was spent putting unhoused individuals in jail, right, 337 00:20:30,119 --> 00:20:31,960 Speaker 1: So that was where the bulk of the money was 338 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: going to. Yeah, it was about eighty seven million, almost 339 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:39,320 Speaker 1: eighty seven million dollars was being spent on jailing people 340 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 1: who were experiencing homelessness, a response which is both it 341 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:47,439 Speaker 1: is just cruel, but it also it's inhumane, but it 342 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:52,400 Speaker 1: also does not address the reason for why that person, 343 00:20:53,520 --> 00:20:56,879 Speaker 1: uh was violating laws that you have in this city, 344 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,520 Speaker 1: Like there were probably violating laws like sitting or sleeping 345 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:02,919 Speaker 1: on the street, or public drinking or um, you know, 346 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:05,879 Speaker 1: we're having a shopping cart. These are all municipal codes 347 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:10,200 Speaker 1: which are on the books, which essentially criminalize the very 348 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:14,400 Speaker 1: act of being homeless, of not having a home, being alive, 349 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:17,440 Speaker 1: of being alive without a place to go and park 350 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,879 Speaker 1: your things, exactly. And so that had been our response 351 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 1: to homelessness in Los Angeles for many, many years. And 352 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: so what we were trying to do in Seela was 353 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: to develop an alternative to that very punitive model and 354 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,320 Speaker 1: to say, in our neighborhood, just through a bunch of volunteers, 355 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:36,359 Speaker 1: is there a way that we can get to know 356 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: people who are experiencing homelessness and is there a way 357 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:42,119 Speaker 1: that we can ensure that they're able to build relationships 358 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,440 Speaker 1: with outreach workers and case managers who can actually help 359 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 1: them navigate a very long process of getting housing and 360 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: getting off of the streets or potentially getting help like 361 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:58,159 Speaker 1: mental health help or addiction support or whatever it is 362 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 1: they may need to actually aren't their journeys off of 363 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:03,479 Speaker 1: the streets. And so that's what we did in Cela. 364 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: We we started with just a group of volunteers going 365 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,119 Speaker 1: out and doing outreach to encampments. And now I'm not 366 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,480 Speaker 1: I stepped down from the board to run for the seat, 367 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:16,480 Speaker 1: but now we have multiple locations across Los Angeles in 368 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:18,680 Speaker 1: in this area and this part of Los Angeles, where 369 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,320 Speaker 1: there is a shower truck that comes in, where there's 370 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:24,840 Speaker 1: food that's served, and where a case manager comes in 371 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: every week um at each of these locations and works 372 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,119 Speaker 1: with residents to make sure that they're moving along that process. 373 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: And this effort, like in every other neighborhood where a 374 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: group of people have come together and put outreach and 375 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:43,679 Speaker 1: services first, it has worked to get people housed. And 376 00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: so what we're saying in our response to homelessness in 377 00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:51,440 Speaker 1: in in the campaign is can we put services first? 378 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:53,920 Speaker 1: Can we put outreach first? And there has been more 379 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: investment in outreach over the past couple of years thanks 380 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: to greater funding from something called measure H. What I'm 381 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,199 Speaker 1: talking about is making sure that that funding is delivered 382 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,200 Speaker 1: at the neighborhood level, making sure that outreach workers are 383 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: stationed in each neighborhood, that they get to know individuals 384 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:14,200 Speaker 1: in those neighborhoods by name, and that actually that residents 385 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: can hold them accountable, you know, for moving people along 386 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,000 Speaker 1: that long process of getting housed. The cops who don't 387 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:29,680 Speaker 1: know what you're doing, harass them and hurt them. And yes, 388 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: and and that for non violent calls for service, that 389 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: you have an option to call someone who is an unarmed, 390 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:44,679 Speaker 1: trained professional who can help uh a nunhoused resident with 391 00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 1: whatever they may be needing at that time. So you 392 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,160 Speaker 1: can you actually have somebody to call that can come 393 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,240 Speaker 1: in and address the problems that you're calling about. You 394 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 1: know what I love. There's a lot that I love 395 00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:56,280 Speaker 1: about this. But the thing that jumped out to me, 396 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: and what jumps out about your campaign in general, it 397 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: is the humanity of it. How that humanizes people getting 398 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 1: to know having somebody that's dedicated this is their area. 399 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,080 Speaker 1: They get to know the people that are there. You 400 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:13,159 Speaker 1: get to know their names. They're not just some person 401 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 1: that's there that you ignore and and you know, call 402 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,439 Speaker 1: the cops or whatever you know, and then you can 403 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,919 Speaker 1: start to get to the root of what they need specifically, 404 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 1: because it's not one like we we tend to lump 405 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 1: people generalize this. They they weren't good enough, so they failed. Nope, nope, nope. 406 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:36,960 Speaker 1: There are a million reasons and it could be any 407 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: one of us, especially right now, that ends up in 408 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: this situation, and we have no idea the stress of 409 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 1: what that is. I mean, we don't have to. This 410 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: is just something I wanted to share because it's it's 411 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,400 Speaker 1: struck me. I mean, I've been aware of your campaign 412 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: for a while now, I guess over a year. I 413 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:56,240 Speaker 1: can't believe I've been running for a year. What even 414 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,719 Speaker 1: is this year? It let us talk about how they 415 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: make this very hard for non non incumbents to ever 416 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: run for these I do want to that, I definitely 417 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,159 Speaker 1: want to dig into it, but I just want to 418 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: share based onf it just this, this conversation reminds me 419 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,880 Speaker 1: of it. If you go to Netthea's Twitter page, Uh, 420 00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:17,879 Speaker 1: you have a pinned campaign video talking about homelessness and 421 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,560 Speaker 1: you know the skyrocketing cost of rent, and it really 422 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,160 Speaker 1: gets me um in it. You spoke with this man 423 00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:26,480 Speaker 1: named Jeff who's living you know, he's been on housing 424 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 1: nine ninety six. He's living by the l A River 425 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 1: and he tells a story about how he found a 426 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 1: place to live, paid the nine dollars, went to get 427 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 1: his belongings and his dog, and then the landlord said, no, 428 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 1: we won't let you have a dog here, but that 429 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:44,160 Speaker 1: dog has kept him alive. Uh. That dog is his life. 430 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,680 Speaker 1: And it just gutted me. And I have no point, 431 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 1: I guess, other than to share that this is the 432 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,359 Speaker 1: thrust of what you're focusing on and the work that 433 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,920 Speaker 1: we need to be doing. Also, I always just think, 434 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:00,440 Speaker 1: why can't we do something to allow people to have 435 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,880 Speaker 1: dogs in there? Yeah, they're I mean they're trying, they're 436 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,399 Speaker 1: trying to get more of that. You know of housing 437 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:08,359 Speaker 1: where you can bring pets, and because they you know. 438 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:10,920 Speaker 1: I think it's just the progress has been too slow. 439 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,679 Speaker 1: I think we need to have every level of government, 440 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:16,520 Speaker 1: at every level of the bureaucracy. You need to have 441 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,000 Speaker 1: people in there who feel that urgency to make the change, 442 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: and I think unless we have that, we're just not 443 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 1: going to see it. There was another woman that I 444 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,639 Speaker 1: knew who had a housing voucher. So she got a 445 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,200 Speaker 1: Section eight voucher after years of being on a waiting 446 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,200 Speaker 1: list so hard to get, so hard to get. The 447 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,120 Speaker 1: waiting list is so long, hundreds of thousands of people 448 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,119 Speaker 1: apply every time there's a window to apply. And then 449 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,320 Speaker 1: she got the voucher and it expired before she could 450 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,440 Speaker 1: find a landlord who was willing to take it, which 451 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:48,360 Speaker 1: happens to a huge percentage of people who get those 452 00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,399 Speaker 1: Section eight vouchers. I think half of Section eight voucher 453 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:55,119 Speaker 1: holders their vouchers expired before they're able to find a 454 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:56,879 Speaker 1: landlord who's willing to take it. I mean, it's like 455 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,400 Speaker 1: the system we've set up is so laborary and theme 456 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,080 Speaker 1: so full of pitfalls. I mean, we have to do 457 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,719 Speaker 1: better at making sure that people are able to access 458 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: the help that they need to navigate this system, and 459 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: that means just a faux single minded focus on making 460 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 1: it better. You know. Um, I definitely want to get 461 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: to running against incumbent and what this campaigning during a pandemic. 462 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: But first, piggybacking off of this conversation, I want to 463 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 1: bring up your another campaign, UH platform tenant is the 464 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,520 Speaker 1: public broadband because this does go hand in hand with 465 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 1: solving homelessness crisis, you know, having people's access to being 466 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,640 Speaker 1: able to do work, but especially I mean at any 467 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 1: point in time, but again especially now during this pandemic. 468 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: You know was is it's drawing clear lines in the 469 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:54,600 Speaker 1: sand of income inequality. We have people kids needing to 470 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,440 Speaker 1: go to school. This is all from your your website, 471 00:27:57,680 --> 00:27:59,560 Speaker 1: but I'm going to share it as you know, background 472 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: for this comment station A survey from the nonprofit Partnership 473 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: for Los Angeles Schools found that sixtcent of families didn't 474 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,119 Speaker 1: have internet access and of families didn't own a computer 475 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:14,680 Speaker 1: or tablet. Uh USC researchers found that one in four 476 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:17,440 Speaker 1: families with K through twelve students in l A County 477 00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:20,920 Speaker 1: don't have access to both a computer and a broadband connection. 478 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: I mean it goes on and on, you know, some 479 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,440 Speaker 1: of this information that you shared, um And yeah, I 480 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:30,399 Speaker 1: would just love to to talk about that because this 481 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: is a real barrier to entry for anybody that wants 482 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:38,720 Speaker 1: to take control of their life or just survive right now. Um, 483 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: it would love to hear about your your plans for this. Yeah. 484 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:44,880 Speaker 1: So just as background, I think one thing I'll say 485 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 1: is that what the exploration that initially drew us to 486 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,800 Speaker 1: thinking about public broadband efforts, I think came out of 487 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:57,760 Speaker 1: a realization that under investment in proactive city services like 488 00:28:57,880 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: a rental registry, like a proactive effort to protect tenants, 489 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,480 Speaker 1: like a lack of investment in a right to a lawyer, 490 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: like lack of investment in some kind of public internet access, 491 00:29:09,080 --> 00:29:15,320 Speaker 1: all of these things end up ultimately reinforcing kind of 492 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: racial divide socio economic divides that are already existing in 493 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: the city, deepening those divides. UM. And I think that's incredibly, 494 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: incredibly important to emphasize that when we choose to under 495 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: invest in all of these kind of public goods, we 496 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: hurt black and brown Angeline knows the most. We hurt 497 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: lower income working people in Los Angeles. The most, and 498 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: so I think it's really important to think about the 499 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: context for this in that in that framing because public 500 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,320 Speaker 1: brond band the way we talked about it. The thing 501 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:53,400 Speaker 1: that we kind of are thinking about in that policy 502 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:57,160 Speaker 1: proposal is to invest in a public fiber network, which 503 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,680 Speaker 1: only a few cities have really invested in. Chattanooga is 504 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: the most um, the example that's been held up the 505 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: most as the most successful. UM it is. Yeah, other 506 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 1: cities have done it through public private partnerships. They've done 507 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,960 Speaker 1: it through partnerships with Google. Google Fiber had this big 508 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 1: effort to partner with cities across America to do this. 509 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:25,000 Speaker 1: And while public private partnerships take some of the initial 510 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,560 Speaker 1: financial investment off of cities, they end up not having 511 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 1: as positive outcomes in terms of actually access. They don't 512 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: honor sometimes their commitments to ensure access to all, or 513 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:40,800 Speaker 1: they just walk away from projects if you actually insist 514 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:45,120 Speaker 1: that equity and access be a core component of that partnership, 515 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 1: which is what happened in a couple of cities. But 516 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 1: so so the investment is up front is very high. 517 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:56,040 Speaker 1: It's expensive. Um. Putting down a public fiber network in 518 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:58,640 Speaker 1: Los Angeles would cost something like three billion dollars. So 519 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,160 Speaker 1: it's in normal. It's a big, big investment right out 520 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: of we have an annual budget of only ten billion 521 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: here in the city. That's the thing about an investment, 522 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: right and and where, but where cities have done it, 523 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 1: they've made that money back through revenues because there's an 524 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 1: increase in revenues that comes about there's an increase in 525 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 1: businesses wanting to sit in areas where there's faster internet. 526 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: Right now, Los Angeles has some of the slowest and 527 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 1: the most expensive internet in the country. Uh, And so 528 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,360 Speaker 1: it's an opportunity to push back against that right and 529 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: to really set it up so that we have this 530 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:36,200 Speaker 1: incredible resource here in Los Angeles. So it's not so 531 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: we've called it a policy exploration because you know, I 532 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: think it was something that I think we have to 533 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 1: consider whether we're able to do, particularly at a time 534 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 1: when we have shrinking revenues and we may be taking 535 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 1: on additional loans or really issuing bonds to meet people's 536 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 1: very very basic needs, you know, to keep people housed, 537 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: to make sure we're able to pay their rent. But 538 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,880 Speaker 1: I do think it's very very important consider and something 539 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 1: that I want to think about in five years when 540 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: the economy is back to If we don't do it now, 541 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:08,960 Speaker 1: let's talk about it when we are thriving. Let's talk 542 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:12,680 Speaker 1: about making investments in our future. Yeah, it's so important 543 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:16,400 Speaker 1: to start having these conversations now. We always look to 544 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:20,360 Speaker 1: Bernie Sanders Medicare for all, you know, especially Cody here. 545 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: I don't want to take credit for this, but you know, Uh, 546 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,960 Speaker 1: prior to sixteen, Medicare for all was not something that 547 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:34,080 Speaker 1: people considered possible. It's expensive, it's daunting, how do you 548 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:38,960 Speaker 1: organize it? And now the majority of Americans there's positive 549 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,720 Speaker 1: polling for this, and and it is starting the conversations 550 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:46,040 Speaker 1: now that is really tricky and hard, but it starts 551 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 1: to pull people left. It starts to change the way 552 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,600 Speaker 1: we look at a problem and how we approach it. Uh. 553 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:55,320 Speaker 1: And that's why it's so important. Um. Yeah, And for me, 554 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: I would say, it's never been about right or left. 555 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,720 Speaker 1: It's really about, like, what is the scope of investment 556 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,080 Speaker 1: that we need to make to address the problem that 557 00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: we're facing here. What is the role of the government 558 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: in making sure that X suffering ends, or what is 559 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,520 Speaker 1: the role of government to intervene in this space? And 560 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:18,440 Speaker 1: I think opening up the window, um, in terms of 561 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 1: what is possible, what is doable. That is such an 562 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,560 Speaker 1: important part of what Bernie Sanders did. That's a part 563 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: of what Elizabeth Warren did with her campaign. I feel 564 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: like she she also made it possible for so many 565 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:35,760 Speaker 1: more people to come in to a place where they 566 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:38,280 Speaker 1: have a more expansive view of what the government can do, 567 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:42,040 Speaker 1: you know, like Sanders of course did it so much, 568 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:47,120 Speaker 1: but she expanded it even further. Yeah, more accessible to 569 00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,640 Speaker 1: different types of people with different perspective. The more people 570 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 1: who have some sort of power or leadership role say 571 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: something is possible, the more people who have been told 572 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,240 Speaker 1: for so long that it's not possible, we'll believe that 573 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:13,319 Speaker 1: it is right exactly exactly, Yeah, yeah, everything, don't let's 574 00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:19,799 Speaker 1: talk about running against an incumbent. Uh, love to hear 575 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,239 Speaker 1: all of your perspectives. Um. You know this this race 576 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:28,799 Speaker 1: is being framed as a runoff between two progressives. Um. However, 577 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:33,839 Speaker 1: there's yes, definitely a question of what Rau's priorities are. UM. 578 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: I'll tea this up by saying, for example, the l 579 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:42,600 Speaker 1: A Police union donated I believe dollars to his campaign 580 00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:46,760 Speaker 1: to a pack support to a pack supporting him, okay, 581 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 1: was and then he recently signed a pledge to not 582 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:55,080 Speaker 1: accept money from cops, but only after you did it, um. 583 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,320 Speaker 1: And and you know, I read this piece from the 584 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: l A Time Times, you know, talking about during the pandemic, 585 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:06,960 Speaker 1: Ryu you know, pushed for putting a rent freeze or 586 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: you know, and ended up stopping some evictions or like 587 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,880 Speaker 1: putting in new rules for how people's things can be 588 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:17,840 Speaker 1: dealt with a public storage and whatnot. But everybody is 589 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:21,040 Speaker 1: just kind of saying that this is um gestures that 590 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:28,239 Speaker 1: seem politically uh convenient for him and and anyway, uh yeah, 591 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,840 Speaker 1: that's that's my perception of David Ryu. Would love to 592 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:33,920 Speaker 1: hear your thoughts. Just if you drive around l A 593 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:37,000 Speaker 1: see see what houses have yard sides for him. Sure 594 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,239 Speaker 1: that's a pretty good tee off. But some of our 595 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,759 Speaker 1: our listeners don't live here. But yeah, yeah, I would 596 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:45,120 Speaker 1: love to hear your thoughts on him. And again running 597 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:49,520 Speaker 1: against an incumbent, because we know that the democratic establishment 598 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:53,880 Speaker 1: probably isn't very supportive. Yeah, I mean everyone lines up 599 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,160 Speaker 1: behind incumbents here and so we have you know, in 600 00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:59,040 Speaker 1: l A. We it's a nonpartisan race on paper, but 601 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:01,480 Speaker 1: it's a blue city. Everyone who is in l A 602 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: City government right now identifies as a Democrat except for one. 603 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:09,560 Speaker 1: There's always one Republican from the valley district that that is, 604 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 1: you know, has all historically always been in government as well. Uh. 605 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:20,319 Speaker 1: And the real story in Los Angeles is of incumbency 606 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,880 Speaker 1: versus non incumbents, right, So incumbents have always lined up 607 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:28,040 Speaker 1: behind one another, the they always endorse one another. They 608 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:31,560 Speaker 1: don't really allow new voices to come in, and I 609 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:36,840 Speaker 1: think that results in real challenges to how governance happened. So, 610 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:40,960 Speaker 1: for example, there's only two women in all of l 611 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:44,759 Speaker 1: A elected leadership out of eighteen potential elected positions. So 612 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:49,400 Speaker 1: that's fifteen council members, fifteen council members, city attorney, a 613 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:53,960 Speaker 1: city controller, and a mayor. So out of all of 614 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:58,440 Speaker 1: these positions, only two our women. And I think there's 615 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,759 Speaker 1: the system is is designed to keep women out, you know, 616 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:06,279 Speaker 1: is designed to keep people who are not traditionally in 617 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:09,959 Speaker 1: those roles out. So, yes, the l A Times article 618 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,319 Speaker 1: that you cited talked about how after the primary, RU 619 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:17,800 Speaker 1: suddenly tacked towards a more progressive direction. He started pushing 620 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:22,200 Speaker 1: for policies that are more openly progressive than he has 621 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:25,520 Speaker 1: been pushing for in his career so far. I think 622 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:30,200 Speaker 1: that's really exciting because what it shows to me is 623 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:35,279 Speaker 1: that the policies that we're pushing for, the kind of 624 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:40,239 Speaker 1: language that we're speaking has real electoral residence in Los Angeles, 625 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 1: has real electoral power here. And I it feels to 626 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:49,640 Speaker 1: me like elected officials can't ignore that power anymore, because 627 00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:51,200 Speaker 1: we're all going to be showing up to the polls. 628 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:54,399 Speaker 1: I mean, I think in November, I estimate that there's 629 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 1: going to be over a hundred thousand people voting in 630 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,640 Speaker 1: the city council race, you know, and most of those 631 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:03,320 Speaker 1: people probably voted on the more progressive end of the 632 00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:08,000 Speaker 1: Democratic presidential candidates, and so you really have a huge 633 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:13,280 Speaker 1: show potential, huge show of strength for more progressive policy 634 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,440 Speaker 1: making in Los Angeles. And so as hard as this 635 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:22,839 Speaker 1: has been and as long as it has gone, I mean, 636 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: it has gone on for so so long. By the 637 00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:28,120 Speaker 1: by November three, I will have been running for fifteen months, 638 00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:33,560 Speaker 1: which that is a whole other thing. Everything starts way 639 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:37,439 Speaker 1: too early and last way too long. These days so expensive, 640 00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:40,080 Speaker 1: it's so expensive. I couldn't agree more. And you know, 641 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 1: I have to tell you that, like, I come to 642 00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:44,400 Speaker 1: this with a significant amount of privilege, and I just 643 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,400 Speaker 1: want to acknowledge that. You know, I have a partner 644 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,600 Speaker 1: of my husband is working right now, and so I 645 00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:52,520 Speaker 1: had to resign from my job. I was the head 646 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:55,920 Speaker 1: of a nonprofit Times Up Entertainment uh and and I 647 00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:58,120 Speaker 1: was not able to do that nonprofit work and be 648 00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:00,120 Speaker 1: running for office at the same time. It just was 649 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:02,960 Speaker 1: not possible given the work that we did at times Up. 650 00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,560 Speaker 1: So I had to leave that job. And I haven't 651 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:12,239 Speaker 1: had a paying job since August of last year. And 652 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,200 Speaker 1: the only reason I'm able to do this is because 653 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:17,200 Speaker 1: my partner is able to support me through this. Is 654 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: it fair that we are limiting political activity and political 655 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:24,560 Speaker 1: you know, people who are able to be involved in 656 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:30,319 Speaker 1: politics to that kind of um, you know, two people 657 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:32,640 Speaker 1: who are able to have that kind of support to me, 658 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:36,120 Speaker 1: strikes me as incredibly problematic for the future of Los Angeles, 659 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:40,959 Speaker 1: you know. And and while so it's incredible that there's 660 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,279 Speaker 1: a bigger electorate coming to the polls, and that is 661 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:47,160 Speaker 1: an undeniable good thing for Los Angeles. Like I'm so 662 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,719 Speaker 1: glad that our municipal elections in our federal elections are overlapping. 663 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:54,640 Speaker 1: I think the challenge is that now you also need 664 00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:56,640 Speaker 1: to raise a lot more money to be able to 665 00:39:56,719 --> 00:40:00,319 Speaker 1: get out to all of those residents now, particularly during COVID. Right, 666 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:04,960 Speaker 1: So in the primary, we were able to get volunteers excited. 667 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:07,959 Speaker 1: We had over six d unique volunteers go and knock 668 00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:10,760 Speaker 1: on thousands, tens of thousands of doors across the district, 669 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:13,200 Speaker 1: and we were able to get the word out. In 670 00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:18,440 Speaker 1: some ways, we were able to substitute volunteer energy for money. Right, 671 00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:21,600 Speaker 1: so for every five mailers that he would send a 672 00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,239 Speaker 1: knock on the door from an excited volunteer telling you 673 00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:28,560 Speaker 1: how cool this candidate was, was way more effective. Now 674 00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:35,680 Speaker 1: in COVID pandemic um pandemic organizing pandemic constituent outreach. We 675 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:37,920 Speaker 1: can do phone banking, we can do text banking, we 676 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,840 Speaker 1: can write postcards, which all of which we're doing. But 677 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:44,319 Speaker 1: it's just not you know it, it's not the same. 678 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:46,799 Speaker 1: It's not quite the same as being able to knock 679 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:48,759 Speaker 1: on someone's store and to have a real face to 680 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:51,400 Speaker 1: face conversation with them and to convince them. And this 681 00:40:51,560 --> 00:40:54,880 Speaker 1: is something that progressive candidates across the country are struggling 682 00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:57,359 Speaker 1: with right. And this is why I think the push 683 00:40:57,480 --> 00:41:00,879 Speaker 1: for publicly financed elections half to be at the core 684 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:05,279 Speaker 1: of every single platform across America. The fact that even 685 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:07,960 Speaker 1: I spend a lot of my time fundraising, you know, 686 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,920 Speaker 1: means that I end up speaking to people who have 687 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:16,520 Speaker 1: money yeah more, Um, I actually don't. I don't know 688 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:19,040 Speaker 1: that it's more than other but you all spend a 689 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:21,000 Speaker 1: lot of that energy. Yes, but I have to do 690 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:24,319 Speaker 1: it right. I have to do it. And I feel 691 00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:27,600 Speaker 1: like other candidates I've seen do it way more, um, 692 00:41:27,719 --> 00:41:30,480 Speaker 1: and other politicians I've seen do it way more, you know. 693 00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:33,920 Speaker 1: And it's like, how do we make sure that our 694 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:37,000 Speaker 1: priorities are not being shaped by the need for fundraising 695 00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:39,879 Speaker 1: and they need to make sure that your your your 696 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:43,239 Speaker 1: campaign dollars are still flowing in the only way we 697 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:46,080 Speaker 1: can do that is through publicly financed elections. Yeah. Just 698 00:41:46,239 --> 00:41:48,480 Speaker 1: it's not a skill that I think we should require 699 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,040 Speaker 1: of our leaders to have. That's not that shouldn't be 700 00:41:52,080 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 1: involved at all. That shouldn't be a thought to be 701 00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:58,439 Speaker 1: had when we don't want is to help people. People 702 00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:04,000 Speaker 1: that are good at soliciting money and giving promises. That's 703 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,080 Speaker 1: not that's not what we need. We need people that 704 00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:09,000 Speaker 1: have values that are showing up to do a job. 705 00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:14,399 Speaker 1: They're very different skill sets. Um that creates a huge 706 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:18,680 Speaker 1: obstacle for anybody that wants to just get involved and 707 00:42:18,960 --> 00:42:21,759 Speaker 1: and start making a difference at the local level. Do 708 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:25,080 Speaker 1: we have term limits for city council? Yes, three terms, 709 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:27,960 Speaker 1: so about twelve years. Okay, that's that's a long time. 710 00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:34,759 Speaker 1: But it's still a long time. Yeah, shorter than forever. Yes, yes, 711 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,680 Speaker 1: that's right, that's right. But but yeah, but I do think, 712 00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:43,359 Speaker 1: I mean there is I think having done nonprofit work 713 00:42:43,520 --> 00:42:46,560 Speaker 1: for a really really long time, having been an activist 714 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:51,799 Speaker 1: who's protested and blocked roads in India from the very 715 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:57,280 Speaker 1: beginning of my career, I have tried to influence policymaking 716 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:01,239 Speaker 1: in so many different ways throughout my life, and I 717 00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:05,800 Speaker 1: will say that this effort of getting into the campaign 718 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:12,000 Speaker 1: and pushing policy dialogue in a particular direction in Los 719 00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:16,440 Speaker 1: Angeles has been really, really fulfilling. And to anyone who 720 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:20,879 Speaker 1: is thinking about running, to anyone who's thinking about who 721 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:24,360 Speaker 1: is questioning the value of being involved in electoral politics, 722 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:28,640 Speaker 1: I would encourage you to reach out to me, preferably 723 00:43:28,680 --> 00:43:33,319 Speaker 1: after November three, But to talk to you because I think, 724 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:36,759 Speaker 1: no matter what happens in November, this has already been 725 00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:40,680 Speaker 1: an incredibly positive campaign for Los Angeles, you know, And 726 00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:42,960 Speaker 1: that's that's what I hold onto on a day to 727 00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:46,719 Speaker 1: day basis. We have these volunteer on boardings, so we 728 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:50,520 Speaker 1: have tons of volunteers who are still getting involved in 729 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:53,560 Speaker 1: the race, and so we do zoom introductions to all 730 00:43:53,600 --> 00:43:58,320 Speaker 1: of them to invite them into the campaign. And initially 731 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:00,680 Speaker 1: it was all people who had already in engaged on 732 00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:05,320 Speaker 1: municipal policy for a long time. And as we've moved 733 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:09,480 Speaker 1: ahead in the campaign, as more people were made aware 734 00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:12,399 Speaker 1: of the power of local government through the uprising, through 735 00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:17,960 Speaker 1: the protests, by making connections between police brutality against against 736 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:22,160 Speaker 1: Black Americans, but racial injustice as a broader question and 737 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:27,640 Speaker 1: the role of local government in perpetuating inequity and violence, 738 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:32,160 Speaker 1: the people who started getting into those volunteer on boardings 739 00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:34,399 Speaker 1: started to change. And it was people who had never 740 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:37,880 Speaker 1: engaged in local politics before, you know, who had never 741 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:41,600 Speaker 1: really engaged on politics at all. And that is that 742 00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:44,680 Speaker 1: to me, is durable change. I mean that had nothing 743 00:44:44,719 --> 00:44:46,560 Speaker 1: to do with this campaign. We just happened to be 744 00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:50,560 Speaker 1: a place where they could put their new activist energy. 745 00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:52,320 Speaker 1: I would say it does have a lot to do 746 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,920 Speaker 1: with your campaign, but yes, but we're a part of 747 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:57,879 Speaker 1: a bigger, much bigger change. We're a tiny little piece 748 00:44:57,920 --> 00:44:59,400 Speaker 1: of that, and I'm very proud of the fact that 749 00:44:59,440 --> 00:45:00,960 Speaker 1: we're able to be a tiny little piece of that. 750 00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:03,640 Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, thank you so much for saying that 751 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:09,200 Speaker 1: this is hard. This is a really hard year. That's 752 00:45:09,239 --> 00:45:14,680 Speaker 1: the name of the podcast. Where hard year year. Whereas 753 00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:19,600 Speaker 1: your ever um And it's a lot, it's all a lot, 754 00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:22,680 Speaker 1: but it's hard to find the silver linings and the positives. 755 00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:27,480 Speaker 1: But you are one right that there are big strides, 756 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:32,000 Speaker 1: uh that are happening, just the fact that your opponent 757 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:34,400 Speaker 1: is going to the left, the fact that people are 758 00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:37,000 Speaker 1: having there are more and more places throughout the country 759 00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:40,440 Speaker 1: where people can can can put their progressive energy, put 760 00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:42,719 Speaker 1: their donate their time and their energy and their money 761 00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:46,839 Speaker 1: into um you know, people like you paving the way 762 00:45:47,200 --> 00:45:50,920 Speaker 1: and and and showing people the power that we have. 763 00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:55,320 Speaker 1: This is all. It's not going anywhere, regardless of what happens. 764 00:45:56,440 --> 00:46:00,399 Speaker 1: And sometimes I could I look at every think that's 765 00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:02,960 Speaker 1: happening and worry about how it's going to get twisted 766 00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:04,920 Speaker 1: or what steps back we're gonna take. We're not going 767 00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:07,160 Speaker 1: to take steps back. It might look like that, but 768 00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:10,239 Speaker 1: there are more and more of us and and we're 769 00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:13,839 Speaker 1: more and more empowered, and I I think I need 770 00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:16,080 Speaker 1: to at least focus on that in my life to 771 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:19,640 Speaker 1: stay positive and stay and keep going for the next 772 00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:24,040 Speaker 1: few months, you know, take us through the home stretch here. UM, 773 00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:26,480 Speaker 1: I do want to dive in a little bit about 774 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:32,360 Speaker 1: how how the campaign process has worked. Oh, during COVID, 775 00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:38,360 Speaker 1: we have just tried to move as much of the 776 00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:43,000 Speaker 1: voter contact online or digital as possible, so we're really 777 00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:46,080 Speaker 1: expanding our We did some phone banking in the primary. 778 00:46:46,520 --> 00:46:51,000 Speaker 1: We've really expanded our phone banking this time. We started 779 00:46:51,080 --> 00:46:54,040 Speaker 1: texting much earlier, so we did one round of texting 780 00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:55,960 Speaker 1: to the entire district. We're going to be doing another one. 781 00:46:56,480 --> 00:46:59,560 Speaker 1: We are investing more in digital outreach this time, so 782 00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:03,080 Speaker 1: we're in testing more in kind of UM. I do 783 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:05,880 Speaker 1: remember getting a test from your campaign saying Hi, do 784 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:10,720 Speaker 1: you need anything? And I was like, what from somebody 785 00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:14,680 Speaker 1: running in politics asking if we need anything? Like? Are 786 00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:22,640 Speaker 1: you joking? You're treating us like we're people. I'm glad 787 00:47:22,719 --> 00:47:25,880 Speaker 1: that you responded that way, that's great that it was. 788 00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:28,080 Speaker 1: You know, it was hard too, because we didn't want 789 00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:31,040 Speaker 1: to put at a time when people were struggling so much. 790 00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:33,800 Speaker 1: We really did not want to put the campaign first. 791 00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:38,440 Speaker 1: But we also did feel like we wouldn't be able 792 00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:43,040 Speaker 1: to know what to do in response to people's needs 793 00:47:43,120 --> 00:47:45,880 Speaker 1: unless we reached out to them first. And actually, you know, 794 00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:47,560 Speaker 1: so it was like it was, it was a hard 795 00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:50,520 Speaker 1: few months trying to figure out, Okay, how do we 796 00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:52,319 Speaker 1: how do we do this outreach in a way that's 797 00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,480 Speaker 1: really respectful of where people are in their lives right 798 00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:59,399 Speaker 1: now and at the same time this is vitally important. Yeah, 799 00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:01,800 Speaker 1: I think it's only made it more important that we 800 00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:05,920 Speaker 1: have people in there whose primary focus is on making 801 00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:09,480 Speaker 1: sure people are thriving in l A, that every resident 802 00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:13,720 Speaker 1: is thriving. That. Yeah, I just think it's it's become 803 00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,520 Speaker 1: the energy and the urgency that I felt has only 804 00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:22,440 Speaker 1: intensified over these last few months. And I'm impatient for 805 00:48:22,600 --> 00:48:28,080 Speaker 1: change me too. Um So, how could what what's the 806 00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:30,879 Speaker 1: best way for people to support you? I know, going 807 00:48:30,920 --> 00:48:33,479 Speaker 1: to the website and everything, but are you specifically looking 808 00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:36,800 Speaker 1: for more volunteers? Um with the phone banking, the text 809 00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:40,520 Speaker 1: message stuff. Yeah, we definitely need more people on phones. 810 00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:44,280 Speaker 1: We're writing postcards. We have a huge postcard writing campaign. 811 00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:46,319 Speaker 1: That's only if you're in l A. But if you're 812 00:48:46,360 --> 00:48:49,719 Speaker 1: outside of Los Angeles, you can phone bank, you can 813 00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:53,480 Speaker 1: spread the word on social media, follow us, share our posts, 814 00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:56,720 Speaker 1: lift our platform. You can always donate to our campaign. 815 00:48:56,800 --> 00:49:02,040 Speaker 1: We use every dollar really efficiently. And yeah, I think 816 00:49:02,080 --> 00:49:03,480 Speaker 1: those are really the ways. If you live in the 817 00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:06,920 Speaker 1: district and you know a lot of your neighbors, organize 818 00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:10,440 Speaker 1: a digital event, bring your neighbors in, tell them about 819 00:49:10,560 --> 00:49:12,520 Speaker 1: the campaign, tell them about the change that we can 820 00:49:12,600 --> 00:49:14,560 Speaker 1: have in l A. You know, there's all kinds of 821 00:49:14,600 --> 00:49:16,520 Speaker 1: ways to get involved. We actually it's on our website 822 00:49:16,560 --> 00:49:18,160 Speaker 1: India for the City dot com. We have a list 823 00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:21,839 Speaker 1: of ways you can help me win and and yeah, 824 00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:24,799 Speaker 1: so it's all your website on socials and in our 825 00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:29,040 Speaker 1: episode description. Yeah, definitely check it out. Definitely follower. I mean, 826 00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:33,480 Speaker 1: everything we can do to support this campaign. But like 827 00:49:33,600 --> 00:49:36,600 Speaker 1: I said at some point earlier, just your voice in 828 00:49:36,719 --> 00:49:40,760 Speaker 1: general during this time has been really special and powerful. 829 00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:45,160 Speaker 1: So I I think you guys should definitely check her out. 830 00:49:45,239 --> 00:49:48,839 Speaker 1: She does very very thoughtful threads about issues that are 831 00:49:48,920 --> 00:49:51,880 Speaker 1: very informed, incredible source. You feel like you're really getting 832 00:49:52,120 --> 00:49:55,759 Speaker 1: the actual information and not something that's been twisted and 833 00:49:55,880 --> 00:50:01,760 Speaker 1: turned to show to you to influence you. It's it's authentic, 834 00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:05,440 Speaker 1: it's real. It's what you're you're showing us, what you're seeing, 835 00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:11,040 Speaker 1: not something that's been manipulated or Yeah. Well, thank you. 836 00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:13,239 Speaker 1: I appreciate that you guys are enjoying that. We put 837 00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:15,160 Speaker 1: a lot of work into it. Behind the scenes. There's 838 00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:17,520 Speaker 1: a whole team of people who are doing research and 839 00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:22,000 Speaker 1: citing everything and putting it together and so I'll I'm 840 00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:25,160 Speaker 1: so glad that it is received well and that people 841 00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:30,960 Speaker 1: are enjoying reading it. Yeah. I mean, I've shared several 842 00:50:31,160 --> 00:50:34,400 Speaker 1: and I will continue to. Um. Thank you again so 843 00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:37,640 Speaker 1: much for for taking time to chat with us today. 844 00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:41,319 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. It's been such 845 00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:44,759 Speaker 1: a pleasure. Good. We will be following closely and doing 846 00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:47,640 Speaker 1: everything we can to support you. Thank you, Thank you again. 847 00:50:48,480 --> 00:50:51,920 Speaker 1: Thank you so much again to nthia uh. If you 848 00:50:52,480 --> 00:50:57,640 Speaker 1: enjoyed that, You're cool, go check out her website Nitti 849 00:50:57,760 --> 00:51:00,560 Speaker 1: for the City dot com. I believe it is. It'll 850 00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:04,879 Speaker 1: be linked in our episode description and posted on socials. Also, 851 00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:07,640 Speaker 1: please follow her she posts aw some stuff and you 852 00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:11,240 Speaker 1: can also follow all of us on Twitter and Instagram 853 00:51:11,320 --> 00:51:14,120 Speaker 1: at Worst Your Pod. You can follow Katie at Katie's Stole. 854 00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:16,480 Speaker 1: You can follow Cody at dr Mr Cody. You can 855 00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:19,600 Speaker 1: fall Robert on Twitter and I right, okay, it's a 856 00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:24,799 Speaker 1: public store. Oh, I'm Sophie Hey, and she is at 857 00:51:25,160 --> 00:51:30,320 Speaker 1: why Sophie Why um. Thanks again for listening. Guys, you 858 00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:32,720 Speaker 1: have the very best chance in all of the world 859 00:51:32,880 --> 00:51:37,279 Speaker 1: that ever were who was oy? I'm done talking now 860 00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:51,200 Speaker 1: everything everything again. I tried. Worst Year Ever is a 861 00:51:51,239 --> 00:51:53,880 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my 862 00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:57,000 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 863 00:51:57,120 --> 00:51:58,960 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.