The original proposal was to increase rents by 7+2 percent which I opposed. After the economy was back on track after four years, it was time to reinstate the provisions of rent control and approve a modest rent increase. The original proposal was way too high and only supported by a few. The adopted increase was also less than what the State allows for jurisdictions not covered by rent control.

Under Measure ULA, the City has continued to provide millions of dollars in rental assistance to tenants to help with this modest increase and provide stability to renters, while the City Council is developing a Right to Counsel ordinance that I’ve sponsored to help tenants who are going through an eviction process, and strengthening our Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance (TAHO).

The most immediate concerns I have with respect to public safety is the attraction, hiring, and retention of good police officers who understand the residents of the City and their needs. With the passage of the recent budget, as well as the police officer contract negotiated under Mayor Bass’ leadership, the City is back on a path toward a more secure and safe community. We also need to continue to invest in a non-violent response and have LAPD focus on crime, and as the Chair of the Transportation Committee, I look forward to taking the next steps in our conversation together on a non-violent traffic response. All of these strategies together will provide the public safety net the community wants, and increase the quality-of-life for all our residents and visitors.

I supported the Metro digital billboard program for two reasons: the elimination of at least 200 static billboards throughout the City reducing visual blight and improving quality-of-life; and an additional $500 million for transportation infrastructure improvements over the next 20 years. Digital billboards are not a contentious topic in Council District 10, and most of the opposition has historically come from wealthy communities in other districts. We need access to as much transportation infrastructure funding as possible to fully implement our Mobility Plan under Measure HLA, make major reductions in pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities, and create self-enforcing infrastructure that reduces public interaction with the police over traffic issues.

1,200 units per year

As someone who has raised my family in this community and turned my house into a home, I know how critical it is that this same opportunity is provided to future generations. We have built over 2,600 affordable units since 2021 and provided permanent housing to over 1,500 formerly unhoused individuals since I’ve been the Councilwoman. We need to ensure that affordable housing is built in every neighborhood of the city, and should not come at the expense of our historic homes and communities. There is a tremendous need in my district and the City of Los Angeles for senior affordable housing, something I continue to focus on as the silver tsunami is upon us. We also need a much more proactive approach to investing in preventative care like guaranteed basic income.

The City Council has commissioned a study from the Economic Roundtable, which I supported, to look at the rent increase formula the city uses for rent controlled apartments and report back with recommendations. While I support a review of the formula and believe it to be outdated, a 3% maximum is not in line with other jurisdictions. Los Angeles County has a minimum threshold for most years at 3%, and the state’s maximum allowable increase is 5% with no floor plus inflation up to 10%. There must be a balance between what tenants pays and what property owners need for maintenance, utilities, and insurance, which is why I support the use of Measure ULA funding for continued rental assistance for tenants to help prevent homelessness and provide housing security.

The city’s success in reducing homelessness is rooted in expanding effective homeless street engagement services and building long-term supportive and affordable housing, not enforcement that will just push the unhoused from one street to the next. Properly funding and training workers to help transition people off the streets and into housing is my focus, while continuing to fund and build capacity for mental health and street medicine teams. We also need to continue to keep encampments away from sensitive uses like schools, parks, and day care centers, while at the same time building as much affordable housing as possible. With this approach, I am proud to report a 13% reduction in homelessness in the last year, and a 37% increase in sheltered individuals in the district.

There are several projects I’ve been working as the Councilwoman, and my priorities are two-fold: reducing pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and expanding public transportation opportunities. These include: the Ballona Creek Bike Path extension to build a dedicated bike path from Syd Kronenthal Park to Venice Boulevard and Cochran Avenue; dedicated bike lanes on Venice Boulevard from Fairfax Avenue to Arlington Avenue; Vision Zero Pico Boulevard project from Crenshaw Boulevard to Figueroa Street; and the Vermont Avenue Transit Corridor project from Hollywood Boulevard to 120th Street. As chair of the Transportation Committee, I am also focused on building more speed humps/tables around schools, committing to self-enforcing infrastructure to reduce injuries, and implementing Measure HLA to build out our Mobility Plan.

Discretionary funding for the District is spent on homelessness (down 13% in the district this year), food insecurity, and events that bring the community together. The city’s success in helping our unhoused neighbors is contingent on street outreach teams being equipped with a significant infusion of resources to help transition people off the streets and into long-term housing. That’s why the resources for the 10th District go to street outreach and engagement teams and street medicine teams, including gang intervention and prevention programs to help with outreach and public safety for the unhoused. We also support significant events district-wide like the Taste of Soul, the Los Angeles Korean Festival, Dia De Los Muertos, South LA Pride, and the Pan African Film & Arts Festival.

For years, California has clearly been in a housing crisis, with a dire need for more affordable housing. We need to ensure that these units actually get built, and that the process happens more quickly — something I’ve been able to accomplish as Councilwoman for the 10th District. We have built over 2,000 affordable units and provided permanent housing to 936 formerly unhoused individuals since 2021. Although we’ve made progress, we must continue to rethink what our community housing looks like to ensure that the so-called affordable housing units are actually affordable for working families, particularly someone making less than $25,000 who’s providing for their family. As someone who has raised my family in this community and turned my house into a home, I know how critical it is that this same opportunity is provided to future generations. There is a tremendous need in my district and the City of Los Angeles for senior affordable housing as well, and we’ve opened up new housing at Crenshaw and Pico, and at Buckingham and MLK in the last year.

We are also in the midst of negotiations to build up to 800 more senior affordable housing units co-located with a new Costco in the 10th District, and we need policies and regulations in place to require accessible architecture and to meet space needs in senior housing to ensure that residents and caregivers have all the tools they need. Our state and our region also clearly need a much more proactive approach to addressing homelessness and housing insecurity by investing in greater affordable housing units and preventative care like mental health and emergency services. I hosted the National Conference on Affordable Housing in the 10th District at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center to bring together like-minded people from across our city and nation to discuss solutions in 2022 so we can be much more proactive. As someone who has personal experience with housing insecurity, I know that we need to combat our region’s homelessness epidemic head-on by prioritizing housing-first solutions and by investing in wrap-around mental health services and other preventative measures.

Vision Zero has not been a failure as much as the failure of the city to invest in and properly program transportation projects. This failure is rooted in the lack of transparency and coordination of transportation funding across the city. No one truly knows which projects we are funding, what we are building and what needs implementation. There is nowhere within the city’s documents that one can point to and comprehensively understand the upcoming transportation infrastructure.

As Chair of the Transportation Committee, I have committed us to moving forward on four major policy changes that will make the funding, construction and implementation of transportation and public works projects more efficient, expeditious, and transparent. These changes include a rolling 5-year Capital Improvement Plan dedicated to transportation projects, improving coordination in DOT internally, improving coordination between DOT and Public Works and funding transportation projects through an equity framework. Once successful and we learn best practices, this model can be applied to other major issues in the city that will help government become more customer-friendly and service-oriented.

As a mother who has had all three of my sons fall victim to senseless gun violence while in college, I know all sides of this issue very intimately.  I saw how my sons were treated like criminals by police officers after they were shot, but I also saw the good cops who worked tirelessly to achieve justice for my sons. Look, the protests in 2020 made clear to the world what people of color have known for a long time, which is that our policing and criminal justice systems are in desperate need of reform.

That’s why I supported Measure J for the county and continue to scrutinize every police-related item that comes to city council. I’ve said NO to the Robot Dog … NO to more police helicopters. At the same time, I’ve said YES to a larger LAPD budget and YES to a collectively bargaining contract that will increase hiring, increase retention, and continue our pursuit of the most diverse and progressive police department in the nation. One example of a policy I’m pursuing is implementation of an “Unarmed Traffic Response,” and we just had a presentation of the final Task Force report in my committee on Dec. 6. As Chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, I know all too well how law enforcement might abuse traffic stops to harass our communities of color. It’s time for the City of Los Angeles to transition LAPD out of routine traffic stops and back to dealing with real criminal matters. The city already has the funding available, and with more assistance from the county and the state, we will be able to complete transitioning to an unarmed response in many areas of the city.

As the appointed City Councilwoman for the 10th District, I have personally endured the demoralization and discouragement that scandal has brought to the residents of the city. I have been working tirelessly with L.A. City Council President Krekorian and the other members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Governance Reform to put several charter amendments before the voters, including an independent redistricting commission, increasing the size of the city council, revamping and creating a truly independent ethics commission, and creating an ongoing commission that looks at L.A. City Charter reform.

Within my own office, I have two seasoned city hall veterans leading my staff who are known for their integrity, ethics and ability to get things done. I am also looking into ensuring that all ethics and sexual harassment training is conducted in-person and not through a video platform that makes it all too easy not to pay attention or have the ability to ask questions. These are just a few of the ideas I’m working on, and will continue to be vigilant on these issues.

One thing my life and career has taught me: If you don’t fight, push and demand your rights you simply won’t get them. I’m committed to fighting for the rights of working people and their families, and I won’t back down. I am currently the Councilwoman for the City of Los Angeles’ 10th District, appointed in 2022 and then reappointed to fill Mark Ridley-Thomas’ unfilled term. I am the first woman in the history of Los Angeles to represent this Council District. The road here was an interesting one. I was born and raised in the district, raised my three sons here, and have built my life and career here. From being a homecare worker with SEIU, to founding my own small business, to serving as statewide director from California to the U.S. Senate, I’ve put my life and soul into improving the community and the lives of the people who live here.

As a public servant for over 30+ years, I’ve focused on improving the lives of people who work for a living: With U.S. Senator Harris, we fought to help UC and CSU employees get a fair contract; on the L.A. City Council, I’ve fought for better working conditions for city employees, and I’ve partnered with labor to push for the needs of working families to thrive again and again. I’m not afraid of a fight. As the Councilwoman, my priority will always be to serve. In the first few months, we have increased our capacity to serve and have accelerated city services and resources to residents. We are doubling down on our investments to house our unhoused neighbors, investing in city facilities, and making our constituents proud to call this district their home — because this district is our home too.

Growing up, my mom worked for Los Angeles City Councilmember Bob Farrell and I spent a good portion of my childhood in City Hall. One of my favorite experiences included bringing our report cards to Mayor Tom Bradley and — if we had good grades — he would pass out candy to us. My life was deeply impacted by these interactions and memories, instilling public service and service to community as core values throughout my life and career.

The city has a housing crisis, our city leaders have not moved quickly enough to address homelessness, and we lack affordable housing. Therefore we must work with building owners and landlords to ensure that they are able to provide affordable housing. We must balance that with the ability of people to pay rent and know what amount of increases they may face. Many landlords, especially “mom and pop” landlords have struggled to keep up with the costs of mortgages and repairs as inflation has skyrocketed. A 4% increase (or 6% if utilities are included) seems reasonable after four years of no rent increases. We do not want rent increases to force more people into homelessness, but we also need a stable housing market. Balancing the two is a challenge that the City Council must accomplish.

If I had been the Councilmember, I would have liked to have had an opportunity to ask more questions along with having more discussion and data before voting on the budget. Of course we need law enforcement to have the tools to do their jobs including funding to pay salaries, but it seems like the council voted for a 4-year budget without knowing a lot of important information such as how many officers are working full-time, how many are actually working in the community, are we spending too much on overtime, etc. We should be examining how much can be saved by using outreach specialists to focus on calls related to mental health crises and homelessness. Prior to a budget vote is an opportunity to ask questions, collect information, and decide if changes need to be made.

Revenue is important but so is quality of life and safety. The digital billboards are very bright and distracting. The city says they excluded digital billboards from residential areas, but given how bright they are, that statement is doubtful. It is also very worrisome to have them facing freeways where we need drivers to be less distracted, not more.

Having a digital billboard flashing at your home from 5 a.m. to midnight is not just distracting, it can greatly impact people’s quality of life. The City Council should be much more focused on the residents’ well-being and happiness.

1,533 units per year

Each of the 15 council districts in the city needs to build affordable housing units to meet the goal. If the goal is 23,000 units, Council District 10 needs to build 1,533 per year. That sounds like a lot, but it does not all need to be new construction. We can rehab vacant buildings, unused office space, and get creative with options like adding tiny homes or prefab buildings on unused government-owned land. We need to work better with non-profit organizations, religious entities, and governments to find affordable options that will allow us to quickly make units available. Our city leadership does not appear to be engaged in serious solutions and increasing the stock of affordable units is just part of resolving our homelessness crisis.

The 4% increase is acceptable (6% if utilities are paid). We don’t want rent increases to force people out of their homes and exacerbate our homelessness crisis. At the same time, we need building owners to provide affordable housing, so they earn enough to cover their expenses such as mortgages and repairs. This is a delicate balance. Inflation and the cost of living has impacted everyone.

I want to protect tenants and landlords. I am concerned for the small landlord with very few rentals, who has been keeping the rents low and not raising the rent, being in a situation where they are no longer able to pay all their expenses and coming out in the red each month. We need to protect everyone.

The city needs more data on the number of affordable units and rent control vacancies.

Criminalizing homelessness is not a solution and will not work long-term. Arresting people who are unhoused creates an additional barrier for them to access housing and strains our police and legal system while not resolving any issues. Encampments are a serious problem, but rather than arresting people we need supportive temporary housing and eventually permanent housing. The city needs to provide more affordable housing and work with the state and county to provide wraparound services for people with mental health issues and/or addiction. And these facilities need to be able to serve families, individuals with pets, and other challenges.

My first priority is safety. Injuries and deaths have increased due to speed and distracted drivers. This is unacceptable. There are several streets where drivers ignore speeding limits, Adams, Crenshaw, Jefferson, La Brea, Obama, Pico, Venice, Washington.

I will work with transportation and safety experts to implement the best solutions including speed cameras to slow down traffic. I also want to make sure street lights are in working order and add lights where necessary.

I would allocate discretionary funds towards projects that directly improve the quality of life in our district, such as expanding affordable housing, enhancing public safety through community policing and unarmed response programs, and investing in infrastructure improvements like bike lanes, pedestrian safety, and public transit. I’d also prioritize funding for social services, including programs that support the unhoused population and low-income families.

We must build more affordable housing, but the city’s elected officials must be much more engaged and dedicated to making this a reality. As a council member, I will support developers who want to build 100% affordable housing, especially permanent affordable housing. I will work towards changing laws and processes to lessen the bureaucratic challenges and avoid the current long delays. As a council member, one of my priorities will be converting existing properties. Abandoned commercial buildings along with unused city infrastructure can be utilized to build 100% affordable housing. With 26% of L.A.’s office buildings estimated to be vacant due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic ramifications, the city has updated the 1990 Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (ARO) to address the 44 million square feet of office space going unutilized.

Various benefits of converting unused office space into affordable housing include maintaining the sense of place, extending the life of buildings and retaining much of the resources that went into their initial construction. The same repurposing principle can be applied to any abandoned building. LAUSD, the largest owner of the land in the City of L.A., has various unused properties that can be repurposed. We have tremendous opportunities in Los Angeles, but we lack the leadership who can help house people today while looking decades into the future so the next generations can have quality, safe, dependable, affordable housing.

Unfortunately, Vision Zero has not reduced the number of fatalities among pedestrians and bicyclists. Traffic-related deaths continue to rise across the state. Recently, Gov. Newsom has taken action to address this issue by signing into law AB 645, which allows the installation of cameras on a trial basis in six cities, including Los Angeles. The cameras would be prioritized in areas around schools, high-injury intersections, and known street racing corridors, to reduce speeding and traffic fatalities.

I fully support this law, and I will do everything I can as a council member to make sure this program is installed and utilized in Council District 10. I believe this would serve as a meaningful deterrent in the community, and serve as just one of the steps I will take to ensure that streets are safe for everybody.

My top priority will always be public safety — for the residents, business owners, and those who visit our city. To achieve this, we must ensure first responders have the tools and resources to do their jobs effectively; dedicate resources to social workers, mental health clinicians, and community outreach teams to focus on homelessness so LAPD can focus on fighting violent crime; and require our partners at L.A. County to provide more temporary healthcare beds for those with mental illness and/or drug addiction. Police need to respond to violent crimes. That said, most calls are about non-violent incidents including someone having a crisis related to mental illness or addiction.

L.A. needs a public safety network that includes social workers and trained mental health professionals, among others. One program that appears to have promise is LA’s CIRCLE program which I would expand. It sends unarmed, trained individuals to respond to non-violent incidents involving the unhoused. I would also expand LAPD’s SMART teams to assist police officers in dealing with people facing a mental health crisis. I also like the idea of the city creating an “Office of Unarmed Response,” but, as a council member, I would make it a priority to ensure this isn’t another example of politicians creating a new layer of bureaucracy in order to appear as if work is being done without actually working to solve the problems.

I want the people of Los Angeles to trust their elected officials, yet the sad reality is that trust is established over decades but broken in a moment. One person, no matter how trustworthy and transparent, cannot transform the culture of a city council mired by scandals overnight. However, I can begin to help usher in an era that begins to bridge the gap between city hall and local communities to bring about transparency and accountability. We need an independent City Ethics Department, an independent redistricting process, and for the Controller’s office budget to be set similarly to the L.A. Public Libraries, with set funds instead of being dependent on the City Council to apportion funds. I would also like to see the city do more performance audits.

Talking with city workers and learning where there are challenges and opportunities can help leaders make effective changes. These audits (or reviews) must also include community leaders and the public at large. The city also needs to do a much better job of informing the community of work that is being done by city departments. The challenge seems to be that the city likes to work in silos so each council district, or department, decides how and when to inform the public which leaves gaps and allows for misinformation to spread.

I am running for city council because it is time for the district to have a leader who will implement the smart, common-sense public policy needed to address our most pressing issues including affordable housing/ unhoused persons and public safety. I will ensure that the district has fair representation, reliable city services, and a local focus. For over 30 years, I have been a voice and representative for my communities and an active leader in nonprofit and community organizations. I have decades of experience as a community leader fighting for real people.

As an attorney and having served as an executive director of both a national and local nonprofit, I have worked daily to help people navigate confusing bureaucracies so they can get the services, support, and help they deserve. I am passionate about enacting change and reform throughout Los Angeles and within city hall. Angelenos deserve civic leaders who will work on behalf of the families, business owners and communities that call Los Angeles home. I will prioritize the needs of my fellow Angelenos and community members. I believe elected officials should listen to their community and act on behalf of the people. I am running for city council because I believe that government should work in the best interest of the people it serves. I’m a community advocate and attorney who has dedicated my life to standing up for children and families that are too often neglected. Together, we will move L.A. forward in a positive direction.

I'm a pretty good cook, and I can make most Korean dishes, including my signature dish, Japchae, which is actually my mother's best dish, which she learned from her mother.