I signed a pledge to receive support ONLY from neighbors, family, and friends. Our campaign receives No corporate funds. No funds from polluters. No funds from lobbyists, No funds from elected officials.

We must ensure that impacted communities are given a seat at the table. When there are high-level meetings with state and federal officials about congestion at the port, cancellation of the SERFF incinerator, or the Clean Air Action Plan, our communities must have an opportunity to address these bodies with priority over polluters.

Recently the Colorado Lagoon in wealthy east Long Beach was given a green light, with $35 million in funding from the port as compensation for the impacts of the port on our communities. Meanwhile our district suffers the greatest impacts of the port and how much did we get? Zero.

Other examples of poor representation of our district:

2014 The incumbent voted to renew the contract to export highly-polluting fuels from the port to countries with lax environmental regulations.

2017 The incumbent voted for the expansion of the 710 freeway; thankfully the project was cancelled last week.

2022 City Council approved the Parks master plan that did not add any new parks to our district.

Community & environmental groups were consistently ignored by city council.

I will bring decades of experience in housing and homelessness to City Hall to advocate for housing affordability for our residents, for those who are at risk of falling into homelessness, and for the unhoused. I will not take campaign investments from the developers like the incumbent does because I am beholden only to the residents of my district.

Our leaders speak about “the housing crisis” while avoiding the word “affordable.” Thus in Long Beach they provide incentives to real estate developers that create luxury housing, while ignoring the real issue, housing affordability. Meanwhile they offer subsidies and tax breaks to developers of luxury housing who finance their campaigns. What about tax breaks for the residents?

The City of Long Beach spends nearly half of the general fund on policing yet violent crime is on the rise. We must follow the science and to recognize that more policing does not equal safer communities; instead, communities with more resources have less crime. In City Hall I will advocate for programs that are proven to reduce crime.

Law enforcement officers are trained to enforce laws, not to prevent crime. We need to provide adequate training to our police department from the top down as is done in many industrialized countries.

We rely heavily on overtime policing that results in undue stress to an already stressful occupation. Our police department is costly beyond salaries and benefits; including hefty settlements to victims of police abuse.

To address the latter, we must relieve the police department from duties for which there already exist well-trained professionals such as dealing with homelessness, drug addiction, mental health, and domestic violence, while recognizing that there will be some instances where their assistance may be required.

From a socially and fiscally responsible point of view, I support spending our limited funding on programs that have a direct, positive, and proven impact on crime reduction and prevention, such as:

• Invest in Youth - After school programs, parks with youth-oriented sports activities and community centers, youth job opportunities in meaningful career-oriented apprenticeships

• Jobs - Career counseling, job training, broader and more stringent local hire programs.

• Housing Security – Supplementary housing assistance that will ensure residents at risk of becoming homeless remain in their homes. A stable community is a safe community.

• Food Security - Promotion of healthy food alternatives to fast food, community-based grocers, food distribution.

• Multigenerational Community Centers – We have an aging population that are a huge asset to the community. Imagine senior citizens imparting their wisdom to the youth with purpose and meaning to their own lives by creating programs for after school homework help and supervision!

I will always be a loud voice for my district and for the entire city.

I led the effort to oppose the authoritarian measure to increase term limits while the incumbent voted for them, which is now allowing him to increase his family’s dynasty from 16 to 20 years.

I led the effort to oppose the farcical “ethics commission” that keeps “ethics” under control of City Hall.

I vocally opposed the fiscally irresponsible projects that are sinking the city into the red and are overburdening our residents under regressive taxation and are creating impediments for our small businesses; the incumbent supported them.

I vocally opposed City Hall’s effort that reduced our ability to use our voice during council meetings, including reducing the time to comment on our charter amendments to just 36 seconds, while the incumbent supported them.

For speaking truth to power, the incumbent and others in City Council violated our First Amendment, the Brown Act, and the City’s own ethics regulations by censoring its most vocal critics.

Prioritize spending on the 7th District, particularly the forgotten Westside. Subsidize licensing fees and cut the red tape to entice the creation of small businesses that are the driving energy behind local employment. Repeal the regressive taxation of Measure A to entice more local spending. Prioritize infrastructure spending for roads and parks. Establish city-financed business improvement districts on the Pacific, Willow, and Santa Fe corridors. Pull in funding for facade improvement grants to local businesses similar to the L.A. County model. Bring pharmacies, urgent care, markets, and financial institutions. Cancel public transportation cutbacks that impact our seniors and low income residents and make public transit free for seniors, disabled, students, and those on financial assistance. Create safe pedestrian and bicycle crossings on the bridges over the freeway and L.A. River.