left photo by samuel hernandez below right photo by michael frey below left photo by wendell benedetti
The City of Los Angeles is
home to people from all walks of life, from different ethnici- ties, cultures and religious backgrounds, both straight and LGBTQ. It’s our ability to share with one another our
experiences and our common humanity that defines us as Angelenos.”
Through his years of public service, Councilman Huizar has proven to be an ardent supporter of educational reform, public safety, environmental protection and sustainable economic development. He has helped create thousands of new jobs, promoted historic preservation and created a framework to bring the much-loved streetcar back to the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Huizar took a little time out of his busy schedule
to answer some questions forThe Rage Monthly about his beloved city.
You’ve enjoyed many accomplishments during your time on the Los Angeles City Council. Of which are you the most proud? Thank you! Beyond the day-to-day work my staff
and I do to serve our constituents, I’m really proud of the work we’ve done to promote our “complete streets” policy throughout the district and the city to encourage and support increased safety and pedes- trian activity, public transit and bike use. We look at our main thoroughfares, including Broadway, as destination points and not just as means to get from point a to point b. Our effort to build more parks and repair existing ones citywide by overhauling for the first time in 31 years a fee system that developers pay to support green space. Our park-fund reform will more than double by tens of millions of dollars annually the amount of money available to increase the city’s much-needed greenspace. We’ve also helped shape environmental policy by committing the city to get off of coal by 2025, increase solar power and ban plastic bags. But, if I had to choose one accomplishment, I
would have to say the work we’ve done, to at long last address homelessness. For decades, the city had an out-of-sight, out-of-mind view of homelessness. It was regulated to a few areas of the city: Skid Row, Hollywood and Venice, and city policy was really set by reacting to the latest lawsuit…that was a
failed policy. In my time on City Council, I’m very proud to
say that I helped create the city’s first full-time committee to address homelessness, which led to our comprehensive, Homelessness Strategic Plan. My office helped create a homelessness service outreach program in Skid Row (C-3) that is today the model program for the entire county and I coauthored Measure HHH, a $1.2 billion bond that voters approved in 2016, which will build 10,000 units of supportive housing over 10 years. There is clearly so much more to do to address homelessness, particularly in assisting people with mental health issues who make up a third of all individuals experiencing homelessness. But, there is no doubt we’ve done more in the last few years than at any time in the city’s modern history.
What do you consider the most pressing issues facing Los Angeles right now? And, are there any solutions in the works? The need for affordable housing. Our Strategic Homelessness Plan said we should first address homelessness through housing and a funding source, and we came up with Measure HHH. The second thing the report recommended was creating an affordable housing funding source, with the city’s federal and state affordable housing funding decreasing dramatically in recent years. The city council recently approved a Linkage
Fee Affordable Housing ordinance that we worked on extensively in my planning committee. The Linkage Fee will generate about $100 million annually for the city through developer fees. We need to build new affordable units and protect the affordable housing we currently have, by extending agreements we have with property owners to keep units affordable. We also need to increase our affordable housing stock to keep Angelenos from falling into homelessness in the first place.
What are some of your other visions and goals for the city? Our city’s greatest strength is our diversity, and
we need to protect it. The City of Los Angeles is home to people from all walks of life, from different ethnicities, cultures and religious backgrounds, both straight and LGBTQ. It’s our ability to share with one another our experiences and our common humanity that defines us as Angelenos. Affordable housing is a critical issue and we need to address it before too many of us have to move away and we lose what makes us unique as Angelenos…each other.
Why should people come out to the Night On Broadway event? Night on Broadway has been described as a love
letter to Los Angeles and that is exactly what it is. This is the one, free festival in the city where you can experience incredible performances on the street or in six of Broadway’s 12 historic theatres from talent that are as varied as the people who make up our great city. Through 10 years of our Bringing Back Broadway initiative, which Night On Broadway celebrates, we have focused on revitalizing what used to be the city’s entertainment and retail capital. In doing so we have honored Broadway’s past while making sure its future is just as bright. That will be on display for all to see at Night on Broadway. Beyond being a really cool, fun, eclectic event, Night on Broadway is a celebra- tion of Los Angeles and one that all Angelenos should experience.
Night on Broadwayis a free event taking place on Saturday, January 27from 3 p.m. to 12 a.m. Broadway will be closed to from First Street to Olympic Boulevard. For more information, go to
nightonbroadway.la.
For more about on the DTLA Proud Block Partythe same night, go to
facebook.com/DTLAProudOrg
JANUARY 2018
JANUARY 2018 | | RAGE monthly
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