Candidate for California State Assembly - District 57 in 2024 California Primary Election.
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Get StartedCalifornia’s criminal justice system has been filled with inequities, misappropriation, and incidents of violence against our community. To reduce the impact of this flawed system on our homes and our public budgets, we need to examine, fund and implement more productive ideas of public safety. We don’t feel safe and putting more tax dollars into this system of oppression is not the answer. Starting with our schools, our communities need non-armed responses when there is a nonviolent crisis. Working with Students Deserve over the past several years, we have successfully redirected funding to eliminate the school to prison pipeline and increase the funding necessary to create thriving, intelligent, confident students ready and prepared to be productive adults without the trauma of unwarranted body searches and prison-like school environments. We want a system that reflects the needs of the community and shows respect to the people regardless of color or social status. Learn more
As a Project Coordinator for Corporate Accountability, one of the main campaigns is Climate Change. I’m committed to a better world, one where all people can survive and thrive. Climate change poses an unprecedented threat to that vision. Right now, the people who have contributed the least to the climate crisis are experiencing the most devastating impacts. And climate change is deepening racial and economic inequality in California and around the world. Only by removing and holding accountable the fossil fuel industry and other Big Polluters from climate policy will we be able to advance meaningful, sustainable, and equitable solutions in the state. I support and will fight for the Green New Deal concept as a source for good paying union jobs. California is the few oil producing states that doesn’t tax oil extraction from California wells. That money could be used to fight climate change and provide more funding and incentive for non-polluting automobiles. Learn more
I have been involved in fighting for healthcare as a right, not a privilege, since the mid-80s. My daughter broke her leg. The job I had didn’t have healthcare. It took me over a decade to pay off the bill. I never forgot. Many California families have the same concerns for their children and themselves. It doesn’t have to be that way. I support the same approach the Veteran Administration and Medicare use: a single payer system. It is more effective and efficient, saves millions of dollars, and is universal. The single payer system is like Social Security insurance. We all pay into the program and when we need it we have access. When a person goes to court and can’t afford an attorney, because the legal process can be complicated, an attorney is appointed, and the person isn’t asked if they have insurance. Insurance companies don’t provide healthcare, they provide paper and process for healthcare providers to be paid. Learn more
The cost of housing is too high; so is the cost of so many people without homes. As a former San Diego Housing Commissioner and the Chair of the Liberty Community Land Trust, I understand the obstacles to ending homelessness. The first step is the repeal of Costa-Hawkins, a law that prevents local governments from establishing any form of rent stabilization or rent controls, then we streamline the process to approve and build new affordable housing. Second, we invest in community land trusts which can purchase land and keep it permanently affordable. Finally, we mobilize state support for the Federal Section 8 housing program. If California takes the lead in contributing to the program, per federal dollar, we could reduce the decades-long waiting list of cities asking for help. Learn more
The state must consider the issue of houselessness the same way we respond to natural disasters, like earthquakes and fires. To be successful in ending the crisis our approach must be comprehensive, building more housing and providing wrap-around service, but first house the person and don’t blame the victim. Streamline the process, develop a five-year plan to acquire state lands and build housing and incentivize local support that are willing to build on city lands, because this is a state emergency. Protect and strengthen tenants rights set up the California Division of Tenants Rights in the Housing Department. Learn more
As a labor organizer and co-founder of a union, I recognize the value of having good paying jobs. I have been supporting the City of Los Angeles on the 1000 Job Strong Campaign to educate, involve, and engage people and marginalized workers in the community about available city jobs, and to support and streamline the process. I would fight for the same program at the state level. The fight is also about creating and sustaining good paying union jobs. Starting with a living wage connected to the price index, universal healthcare workers shouldn’t have to be concerned with that. We must continue to strengthen protection for workers with the Worker Bill of Rights. Learn more
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