OneLA -IAF hosted a candidates’ forum at Leo Baeck Temple featuring Los Angeles mayoral candidates Councilwoman Jan Perry, Councilman Eric Garcetti, Controller Wendy Greuel and Kevin James. The forum was a venue to present the candidates with a specific agenda and obtain a pledge from each candidate to support that agenda should he or she win the Mayoral election.
OneLA presented a three-pronged agenda: education, housing and mass transit.
Janet Hirsch, a parent of students at University High School asked, “Will you commit to spend a day with us in our schools and neighborhoods and attend a house meeting? That way you will get to know our students, parents, teachers, community members ad our strategy to put the ‘public’ back in public schools.â€
The second area of concern was housing; specifically, principal reduction that would help families stay in their homes. To that end, Yvette Roland from Transfiguration Church in South Los Angeles acknowledge Controller Greuel and Councilmember Garcetti for passing the Responsible Banking Ordinance and said, “The next mayor must bring the banks to the table to use the millions of dollars that remain unspent to provide principal reduction for Los Angeles families. If elected, will you work with us to get this done?â€
The agenda also listed the following stipulations:
• Strengthen the Rent Stabilization Ordinance in LA and its enforcement
• Develop new “transit zones†in a manner that will increase affordable housing for working families that live in those communities.
The candidates were asked to agree to:
1. Commit to assign the Deputy Mayor of Housing and General Manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department to work with the OneLA team in designing a plan with these key elements.
2. Working towards implementation of that plan to incorporated it into the agenda of this year’s Mayoral Housing Summit
The final points were about mass transit. After studying the problem and discussing the issues with their stakeholders, OneLA determined that the 405/Sepulveda Pass corridor is a significant problem affecting the quality of life in Los Angeles, specifically, traffic congestion and a lack of adequate mass transit facilities. The candidates were asked to commit to the following agenda items:
1. Demonstrate a commitment to rapid transit in the 405-Corridor by meeting with OneLA to discuss funding, design and construction in the first 100 days in office
2. Partnering with OneLA and with stakeholders in the first year to assure that these stakeholders are specifically represented in discussions affecting the 405-Corridor and public transportation
3. To appoint people who will champion the concerns of the stakeholders and transit users to the MTA board
In each case every candidate agreed to these stipulations, mindful that OneLA intends to track performance and hold the future mayor accountable.
OneLA is a broad-based non-partisan coalition of congregations, schools, unions and nonprofits committed to strengthening and building community to affect change in Los Angeles through citizen leadership. It is an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) one of the largest broad-based networking organizations in the nation.
The Forum brought together communities from South Central to the Valley from a diverse range of organizations, faiths and schools with the intention of holding the candidates to commit to their agenda.
