1.What would you do, if anything, to change the neighborhood council system?
I believe the Neighborhood Council system is an excellent addition to our City’s governing process. I am particularly impressed with the Neighborhood Councils of the 11th District and the level of commitment and passion the members of the Councils have to their neighbors and to the City as a whole.
In their ideal sense, Neighborhood Council’s should be a body which seek to represent the ideas, issues and concerns of the residents and neighborhoods which they represent. The Neighborhood Council’s should link the residents of a particular neighborhood to City Hall and should be a conduit to assist the Council representative in connecting directly to the constituents in his or her district. I believe the City’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) have a responsibility to facilitate this process and to be a support to the Council’s as they seek to establish their own identities.
If I could make any changes to the Neighborhood Council System, they would be as follows: (1) increased training for all Neighborhood Councils and their members on City government and the process; (2) the creation of a common set of basic by-laws and procedures by which all Neighborhood Council’s operate; (3) more effective communication between the Neighborhood Councils and DONE.
2. Do you support community control of development? If so, would you make any exceptions?
I support greater involvement and input from neighborhoods and communities in development projects. As a City Councilperson, one of the first things I would do is convene a “Summit on Development in the 11th District”. The primary goal of this Summit would be to bring together the residents, neighborhood leaders, business and other stakeholders, along with representatives from my office and the City’s planning and transportation departments, to discuss development goals in the District. Through this Summit, we would discuss the need to revamp the City’s general and specific plans in certain neighborhoods such as Venice and discuss what types of development projects are needed in the 11th District. I applaud the work of such groups as the Venice Community Coalition and believe this group, along with others is a model for how we involve residents in determining the development needs of our neighborhoods and communities.
3. Section 8 housing is being cut back and tenants share of the rent is being raised from 30 to 40 percent. What would you do, if elected, to address this problem?
Section 8 housing is very important to maintaining diverse housing opportunities within our District, particularly for seniors, the disabled and women and families that are in transition. Hence, I believe it is very important that we maintain our Section 8 housing programs and try identifying places within our City’s housing budget where we can continue to subsidize Section 8 housing rents at 70% as opposed to the proposed 60%. As a member of the City Council, I would work with federal legislators to lobby for funds to ensure the City of Los Angeles receives its full and fair share of housing dollars so we can prevent any further rent increases to Section 8 participants. I am particularly concerned about increased costs to seniors and the disabled who generally are on fixed incomes and cannot afford increased rental costs.
4. How would you promote low-income housing throughout the city, including Venice?
Our City needs to increase its development of affordable and workforce housing. It is unfortunate that much of the housing being built today makes it impossible for those who work in our City to live here. As a member of the City Council, I would develop a plan to attract more developers who are willing to build more affordable and moderately priced housing. I also would fight to have a greater portion of our City’s 100 million dollar housing trust fund designated for affordable and moderately priced housing.
5. Many Housing and Urban Development (HUD) buildings are being privatized and residents evicted. What would you do about this?
It is unfortunate that housing intended for the public is now being privatized and that private entities are not willing to maintain the initial governmental intent. As a member of the City Council, I would work with our federal legislators and our City’s housing department to find money within our federal and local budgets to maintain ownership of government housing properties. In the alternative, I would propose a plan to our City housing department which would seek private owners who are willing to maintain the public nature and intent of our City’s publicly-owned properties.
6. Venice's largest low-income housing complex, Lincoln Place, is being depopulated and may be demolished. Would you support the tenants' efforts to save it? How?
I definitely support the efforts to save Lincoln Place and have before now. I submitted a letter to the State ‘s Office of Historical Preservation and to the office of the current Councilwoman expressing my support for designating Lincoln Place as a historical site. I also have attended meetings regarding the preservation of Lincoln Place and am in communication with the leaders attempting to save this project. As a Councilwoman, I would continue in my efforts to have Lincoln Place designated as a historical site and would work with State Legislators to accomplish this goal. I also would seek to have a letter of support issued from the entire Los Angeles City Council and the Mayor’s office.
7. What is your position on the future of LAX and Santa Monica Airport?
I am against LAX expansion but for LAX modernization. Being the second largest City nationally, we must ensure our airport is fully secure and accommodates the needs of the residents of the City of Los Angeles. I believe we can do this for a lot less than the 11 billion dollar plan proposed and can do it for approximately 3 to 4 billion dollars. I also believe we need to expand the Green Line into LAX and ensure we allocate mitigation funds for increased traffic and pollution to surrounding neighborhoods such as Westchester. We also need to place greater focus on regional airport solutions and looking at the possibility of expanding Palmdale and other smaller airports to accommodate the needs of our region.
As to the Santa Monica Airport, we need to advocate to have the Santa Monica Airport Agreement revisited and include plans to mitigate the increased air pollution in the surrounding neighborhoods.
8. Do you support rail transit on the westside, such as, extension of the Green Line and building of the Exposition Line? How would you support bringing cheap, safe, efficient mass rapid transit to more riders in Venice and other westside locations?
I definitely support the extension of rail transit to the Westside, including extension of the Green Line and the building of the Exposition Line. One of the solutions to decreasing congestion on our streets is encouraging people to get out of their cars and to use mass transit. However, as a City, we need to put the infrastructure and transportation alternatives in place to provide incentives for people to use public transportation. Hence, I support integrating and expanding our current rail system to ensure they fully connect with one another and any new systems are built along major transit corridors. I also support the expansion of our City’s express bus lanes, the use of express buses and the expansion of our City’s bike lanes and paths. To fund such projects, I will work with the MTA to lobby for funds at the State and federal levels for increased funding of transportation projects.
9. If residents of Venice submit a petition for reestablishing cityhood, what would be your position?
I could not support such a petition. Venice is an important and unique community in our City. It would be a great loss to lose a neighborhood which provides so much pride to our City. It would be my hope to work with the Venice community to address its many frustrations and to try working together to resolve its problems.
10. How would you solve homelessness without punitive action against the homeless?
The homelessness situation in our City is at a critical stage. To address this problem, we first need to identify increased funding to ensure the maintenance of our City’s emergency shelters and transitional housing programs. We also need to advocate for more funding for support programs to treat individuals with mental illness and addiction problems.
11. Do you support or oppose rent control? Do you support or oppose vacancy decontrol?
I support rent control. With rising housing prices in our City, it is very important that we maintain the rents at a reasonable rate so the people of our City can continue to live and work here.
12. Do you support or oppose further expansion of Playa Vista?
I was against the approval of Playa Vista Phase II without further study of the environmental and traffic impacts of Playa Vista Phase I. Although Phase II has been approved by the current City Council, as a new member of the Council, I will fight to ensure that Playa Vista delivers on the Community Benefits Package and will fight to ensure increased funding for the increased traffic and environmental impacts that will result from the continued development of the project.