Kevin de León discusses his mayoral platform with the editorial board

The following is a transcript of Kevin de León’s meeting with the Los Angeles Times’ editorial board on March 3. It has been lightly edited for clarity.

Kevin de León

It’s an honor to be here. I’ll say that on June 7, in just a few months, Angelenos will be asked to vote for their next mayor of Los Angeles at a time when the average home is a million dollars or the average apartment is over $2,600 rent; at a time when college students are living in their cars, wondering if they could live in a city that they love; at a time when an eviction moratorium is the only thing standing between many Angelenos keeping a roof over their head or living out in the streets.

I think the question is very simple and clear: What kind of city do we want? Do we want an L.A. that works only for the super wealthy and elite? Or a city that works for people like us? Working people, middle-class people. Do you want a doer? Someone who will tackle the challenges before us with a sense of urgency? Or people who are well intentioned, but come up short due to a lack of experience or vision or perhaps even courage?

At a very young age, my mother — a single immigrant mother with a third-grade education — taught me the value of hard work, that good things don’t come easy for those of us who are overlooked, undervalued, underappreciated and often underestimated. And just like my mother would do — I work hard, I keep my nose to the grindstone, I keep my head down and I fight like hell for everything that we’ve accomplished.

For me, it’s never been about just being a good vote, or being a good Democrat. It’s about using my power to solve major problems — taking on challenges no other Democratic politician would even touch to get things done for working families. That’s why I have a track record of getting things done and leading on issues that weren’t necessarily popular at the time, but eventually became part of our political lexicon.

I made California the largest economy in the world to legally commit itself to 100% clean renewable energy. I made California a sanctuary state, we even got sued by Department of Justice. I tackled ghost guns before ghost guns were even a thing. I negotiated the minimum wage to $15 an hour. I divested thermal coal from CalPERS [California Public Employees’ Retirement System] and CalSTRS [California State Teachers’ Retirement System]. I created affirmative consent for UCs and CSUs and private independent colleges. And even challenging LAHSA [Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority] and taking on nonprofits that have a track record of delivering projects over budget and behind schedule.

And when you endorsed my candidacy for city council back in 2020, it was because of my mission to envision ambitious solutions to major problems and building alliances and using political savvy to get them adopted. And in less than a year I’ve delivered more housing opportunities than anyone else in the city: built the largest tiny home village in the nation, transformed three hotels into permanent and interim housing. My city council has already unanimously adopted my vision, 25 x 25. We’ve already had a huge impact, just in CD 14, which has the largest homeless population anywhere in America except for three cities: New York, L.A. in the aggregate and Chicago.

I’m about action and doing what’s right for the people I represent. That means authoring and drafting three ballot initiatives: Prop 39, Prop 2, and Prop 68. That means going back and forth to Washington D.C. on my own dime to rally for retirement security or immigration reform. That means fighting Wall Street and even then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, so be it.

I would say in conclusion, L.A. needs a [audio glitch] mayor because these are not normal times. Someone who takes big bold ideas and actually turns them into action. I believe in the power of this great city and what this city has to offer, but only with the right leadership.

So I’m honored to be here with all of you, to have this opportunity. I know that a lot of us know each other — I think for Terry, this is the first time that we’re meeting. And I look forward to the questions that you have.

Kerry Cavanaugh (assistant editorial page editor)

So you have an extensive legislative career, yet you’re running for an executive position. How do you convince voters that you’ve been the person to draft legislation but you haven’t necessarily been the person who’s been responsible for implementing that legislation? Or overseeing and directing and managing the agencies for carrying out those bills? Why are you ready for this job?

Kevin de León

Well, that’s a very good question, Kerry. Let me say that when I was the leader of your California State Senate, I oversaw an operation of over 1,000 employees. I know the city of Los Angeles is exponentially much larger in terms of the departments and the number of employees and the complexities. But as being part of a co-equal branch of government, along with the executive branch, and as being the leader of a bicameral body — you know, I have a huge responsibility. And with that came HR [human resources] issues, with that came budget issues — not just negotiating the budget as a whole for the state of California, but the budget that we have for the California State Senate, over $100 million.

I was not just — and let me underscore — just a legislator per se, because I see the perspective that you’re providing with regards to being a legislator and having the role of an executive, and how those skill sets are very different. I think that when I led our California State Senate, I took a role of executive on some of the biggest issues that, quite frankly, nobody really wanted to tackle. And I negotiated very complex deals, arcane deals with the governor, then-Gov. Jerry Brown. They are decisively two different types of roles.

Nonetheless I will say that given the profound challenges that are before us, especially in my city council district — which, by the way, as I had mentioned a few moments ago, my city council district has the largest number of unhoused individuals in the entire city of Los Angeles. Not just in Los Angeles but in the United States of America, except for three cities. I also have, for example, the largest number of freeways: the 2, the 5, the 10, the 60, the 101, the 110, the 134, the 210, and the 710. So, these are nine major freeways, and dealing with the issue with climate, as well as carbon dioxide equivalents — ozone, non-particulate matter — I’ve taken a strong leadership role not waiting for the federal government, the state or the local government to act on these issues.

And lastly, I’ll say that, I built a very strong team — a team that is led by women, almost primarily, whether it’s my city council team, or my political team — in terms of this campaign. So, I think I am ready, Kerry, to take the reins of the second largest city in America given the body of work. But not just the body of the work, but dealing with some of the most complex, arcane, controversial issues that we have ever been confronted with.

Kerry Cavanaugh

You mentioned the 25 x 25 plan. What’s the status of that?

Kevin de León

The 25 x 25,000 plan. It was voted on last year —

Kerry Cavanaugh

Yeah, it was passed. But what’s the status of that?

Kevin de León

The status is: all the departments are working it out right now, as we speak right now. I’ve asked them how we’re going to execute it, how we’re going to roll it out specifically. It is a combination of both interim housing as well as permanent supportive housing. And the reason why the 25 x 25 plan was very critical for the city of L.A. is I don’t think we actually had an overarching master plan with regards to dealing with the large unhoused community that we have on our city streets today. It was akin to, perhaps, walking blindly in the middle of the desert without a roadmap, without a plan — specifically how many units we’re going to build, and specifically by when are we going to build, and how they can hold us accountable.

So right now, the planning department, building safety department, as well as LADWP [Los Angeles Department of Water and Power] are to submit specifically back to the city council the roadmap of how we’re going to actually execute this plan, as we speak.

Kerry Cavanaugh

And some of those motions had said report back some 30 days, but those were a year ago. I mean, are you getting the reports back?

Kevin de León

We’re actually getting the reports back. I will say this, and that’s why we’re going back and forth. We’ll get a report back, we’ll have private meetings or we’ll push back on certain things because we want to accelerate, for example, the permitting process. We want to accelerate, for example, issues dealing with building safety. We want to accelerate, perhaps, for example, LADWP in hooking up electricity as well as sewage. Giving priority to housing, for this case, for an unhoused neighbor. Interestingly, that doesn’t exist right now. If we have so many people living on our streets today, they’re not really sort of given concierge VIP service — you get ahead of the queue — if you will, to move quickly. They’re competing with folks who are developing market rate luxury housing. And as we know in the city of L.A., those who have the financial wherewithal can access the best and the most powerful lobbyists to get their projects ahead of the queue quickly. So, they’re sort of mired in that quagmire, for lack of a better word right now. But we’re actually getting the reports back, but we’re still engaging with them.

Carla Hall (editorial writer)

I thought the 25,000 were all going to be permanent housing units — they’re not?

Kevin de León

No, it’s going to be a combination, Carla, of both the interim as well as permanent supportive housing.

Carla Hall

How much will be —

Kevin de León

Well, obviously the majority is going to be permanent supportive housing. The reason why I made a modification is that there is a major humanitarian crisis on our streets, and with the current system it’ll take years to get folks off the streets and into permanent housing. It takes too long and it costs far too much money. And that’s why I want to build quickly. An example is, I built the largest tiny home village — not in L.A. or in California, but in the United States of America. I did that in record time, within three months and I did that under budget. Robert may be familiar with them because it’s in the Highland Park community. It’s off the 110 freeway on the Arroyo Seco, and it’s the largest of its kind in the country.

And I do believe strongly that we have to get folks immediately off the street in some type of shelter. I’m not a big fan of congregate shelter. I do believe in non-congregate shelter in immediate, and then we move toward the permanent. But to your point Carla, the vast majority of 25 x 25 will be permanent supportive housing — and that is adaptive reuse, that is building new units, and that is a master lease.

Carla Hall

Ok, and while you have departments waiting to submit their visions of how it’ll work, what’s your sense of like, where it will be land wise? And who’s paying for it?

Kevin de León

Land wise, that’s what we’re looking for right now because I don’t believe we have the luxury to be waiting for private land. Because oftentimes we lose out because private market developers have much more money than we do to purchase lands. And if, in fact, we do purchase lands, oftentimes it’s going to be very, very expensive. I do believe strongly, and I’ve said this from day one, we should be utilizing government taxpayer-owned land — whether it’s city, whether it’s county, whether it’s state, or whether it is federal lands. We can eliminate the cost altogether, if in fact we’re going to build, but also do its adaptive reuse, which are buildings that are already in existence that we could purchase. Hotels, I purchased two hotels. For those who are familiar with the community of El Sereno on Huntington Drive — we talked about this, Carla — I had a mile-long encampment. I was sworn in October 15 of 2020, two months earlier [than usual], due to the trials and tribulations of my predecessor. And one week thereafter, I submitted the motion; I had purchased two hotels in December 28 and I closed escrow on March of 2021 of last year. I got the whole mile-long encampment into what is Homekey, but we’re converting that Homekey into permanent housing; so those two hotels will actually be now permanent housing. It can be done. We just have to be innovative and willing to move quickly.

Carla Hall

Some of that is Homekey hotels and stuff, and some of that is, you know, you’re getting state money for Homekey. Are you thinking of incentivizing affordable housing developers to build? Or are you thinking of like a [Prop] HHH 2.0 program?

Kevin de León

Well, I know that the United Way is floating the idea of, to your point, a HHH 2.0. They’ve submitted to my office for my review, not so much my approval, but just my review. I’m looking at it, I’ve had concerns about the whole idea. I think that when the civic leaders back in the day moved forward HHH, I think it was a wonderful idea. I think — I give them kudos for politically doing the right thing and persuading the voters to do the right thing.

The challenge with HHH was the execution on the backside, which was bringing product, you know, to the market. In this case, they’ve done it and in a very expensive manner and it taking a very, very long time as far as I’m concerned, given the crisis that’s on our streets today. That being said, that is a potential, you know, viability.

I know that Governor Gavin Newsom is going to release $12 billion that is statewide — we will get a portion of that money. We have to utilize that money and then we have to economize and use it in a much more efficient manner if we’re going to be successful in housing the sizable homeless community that we have on our streets today. The question also too, is because it’s a very important question financing wise — because what you can’t do is go into your general fund. Because the general fund is dealing with sanitation; it’s dealing with public safety, whether it is police or fire; it’s dealing with recreation and parks; it is dealing with new programs such as our youth department that we have created under the leadership of Councilmember Monica Rodriguez.

So we need to make sure that we utilize resources from the state because the surplus dollars, to your point with regards to HHH, perhaps junior or 2.0, I think has to be done, drafted in a much more prescriptive manner that doesn’t allow a lot of unilateral calls that will rise costs. I think that’s very, very critical. And also too, we’re going to have to lean on the federal government. With that being said, I do recognize if there is a change in the makeup of the Congress in the next electoral cycle at the end of 2022, that may be much more difficult.

Carla Hall

What role do you think police play in enforcement of anti-camping rules? You’ve got a lot of anti-camping ordinances. You have a number of neighborhoods in your district that are under the anti-camping ordinance. And other councilmembers do too, I’m not singling you out. But I mean, what role for the city, overall, does the police play? Will the police play in the enforcement when it comes to homeless people on the streets?

Kevin de León

I think that our LAPD should play a very minimal role, if that, when it comes to our unhoused neighbors living on our streets. To be quite honest, at any given moment, say right now, we could have LAPD, a team of LAPD, on the corner of Sepulveda and Ventura Boulevard dealing with someone who is half-naked, having a psychotic breakdown, while at the same time you have someone who’s a victim of gun violence or a mom-and-pop store or restaurant that is being held up or be burglarized. So I actually want to get our LAPD officers off the mental health front lines and put them back on the line of duty.

What I would like to do is hire a minimum of, you know, 500 mental health specialists to engage and deal with the mental health crisis. I know that Governor Gavin Newsom today made his announcement that has to be fleshed out into the very early stages right now, if he’s going to move it legislatively. We have some time to deal with what he’s attempting to do very specifically and have that opportunity to have input. But I do believe that LAPD and mental health and our unhoused neighbors on the street are not a good combination.

Let me underscore one thing to clarify, Carla, that the [Los Angeles Municipal Code] 41.18 that you’re referring to in terms of enforcement and the encampments — I have a handful in downtown Los Angeles area, but as of today, we haven’t had to have anyone cited or even arrested.

We’ve done a tremendous amount of leg work, which is the hard one; which is actually rolling up your sleeves and going out there and doing the outreach. I myself as a councilmember, I go out there personally without cameras. I was there on Christmas Eve by myself and with one other staff member; we spent the whole morning out there engaging folks at El Pueblo, to be specific. We had about 90% of individuals from that containment zone. We got them into, you know, shelters; we had about maybe 10 that were left, maybe 18 now, and I went out there to still work with them. But we don’t have to have police enforce if we do our job by creating the housing units that are needed desperately.

Carla Hall

Thank you.

Robert Greene (editorial writer)

I’d like to ask you about your assessment of the plans and programs to make sure that the city doesn’t run out of water — it’s current plans and programs — and where you see them lacking?

Kevin de León

On the issue of water. I think it’s really critical because on the issue of water I’ve been very clear that we as a city, the second largest in America, we have to control our destiny when it comes to the issue of water. And we can’t rely on Northern California, we can’t rely on Shasta [Reservoir] or snowpacks because of extreme weather patterns, because of climate.

For those who advocate either the Twin Tunnels or advocate one tunnel, I’m not convinced at all whatsoever. And when I was a leader of the Senate, I was still not convinced, even though there was a lot of pressure to move forward with the Twin Tunnels by then-Governor Jerry Brown, as well as others to gravitate strongly for it. That if we build it, that the water shall come to Southern California —

Robert Greene

I’m sorry to cut you off, but is Los Angeles right now doing enough? And if it’s not doing enough, what would you do differently?

Kevin de León

Well, we can do better. I think we can do better. Number one, we’re going to have to still conserve much more water in Los Angeles because the reality is this: even during a drought, our per capita basis has increased, even during the course of the COVID pandemic. So, our consumption is actually on a per capita basis, starting to increase up more so. We’re going to have to do much more in terms of outreach to Angelenos that we’re going to have to conserve because this is going to be the new normal with extreme weather patterns.

Our aquifers, both the San Fernando Valley as well as the San Gabriel Valley — we know the legacy. Many corporations that, in the San Fernando Valley in particular, that contaminated much of these aquifers are going to have to clean up those aquifers so we can store and recharge water, any water that we get from above. And we know that’s going to be limited now with extreme weather patterns. So, to your point, Robert, we need to do more.

Robert Greene

The city has been working on cleaning up the aquifers for quite some time. Are they thinking—

Kevin de León

We’re not there yet. I think they’re going about it the right way, but I don’t think we’re there yet, you know, when it comes to cleaning up our aquifers. And I think we still have to press upon that we have to conserve as a city. This is going to be the new new, you know, in terms of this drought. Australia went through 12 years of a consecutive drought. We go into drought and then when the state of California declares we’re no longer in drought conditions, I think what happens behaviorally with Angelenos — and for Californians as a whole — is we go back to our old fear which is not conducive to conserving the little that we have right now.

Robert Greene

Do you support completion of a tunnel to divert Sacramento River water to Los Angeles around the Delta?

Kevin de León

The Twin Tunnels or a single tunnel?

Robert Greene

You tell me.

Kevin de León

I don’t support a twin tunnel. Beforehand, I was supportive of the idea of a single tunnel from the fragile Delta ecosystem that we have. But I’m not thoroughly convinced if we do build it that we’ll have a flow of water coming down 400 miles from Northern California to Southern California. And that’s why, Robert, I do believe that we have to control our water destiny — which means conservation, and means more drought resistance of plants, and means cleaning up our aquifers, recharging our system. It is absolutely critical if we’re going to survive as a city.

Tony Barboza (editorial writer)

Quick question for you on environmental issues. Can you give us a sense of your plan to fight climate change and air pollution? And particularly, you know, Eric Garcetti, has had this green New Deal plan, it’s got a number of goals and targets. Can you give us a sense of how your approach would either differ or contrast with that?

Kevin de León

Thank you, Tony. LA100, I know everyone’s familiar with LA100. LA100 is SB 100, only with an accelerated timeline which is 2045 to 2035. So, in terms of dealing with issues such as tailpipe — one of the largest emitters was our municipally owned utilities as well as investor-owned utilities up and down the state of California. We have reduced our GHG [greenhouse gases] as well as our carbon dioxide quota tremendously by moving towards renewable energy in decarbonizing our grid.

You know, this is L.A., and as I mentioned a few moments ago, I have nine major freeways that crisscross my district — that’s heavy duty diesel, as well as individual tailpipe vehicles. We actually just finished the meeting today in terms of how we’re going to execute more than 120,000 chargers to be built out within the city limits of Los Angeles. Also too, we have 2,900 gas pumps in Los Angeles limits; the 2,900 gas pumps specifically are whatever product you use: Chevron, Tesoro, Argo, Mobil, Shell, Chevron, etc. We have 2,900 — I made sure today in our committee meeting that we’re going to have at minimum 3,000 DC [direct current] chargers, which are the super-fast chargers.

Tony Barboza

So, just in terms of Garcetti’s plans, are there any specifics you can give us about specific goals or targets that you would either, you know, tackle more aggressively or slow down? Any specifics on how it would be different?

Kevin de León

I think on the LA100 we’re on the right track in terms of decarbonizing the grid for LADWP. I think we’re on the right track with regards to charging stations. I think at the end of the day when we build out that infrastructure, it will be a role model for the rest of the state as well as the rest of the country.

To your point, in terms of what can we do better — you know, specifically, I think the Port of Los Angeles, we can do better. I think the Port of Los Angeles, if I’m correct, roughly contributes about 30%-35% of overall greenhouse gas emissions, as well as carbon dioxide equivalent — NOx and SOx — which come out to 0.5. We know because of our consumerism and because of the number of ships that are out there on the docks waiting to unload, they burn some of the dirtiest fuels there are in the world.

I believe we’re going to have to clearly send a message to the shippers throughout the world. Whether it be Maersk, whether it be [audio unclear], whether it be Evergreen or [audio unclear] — you know, or our very own Matson, or Hapag-Lloyd, the German shipping company. They’re going to have to switch to alternative fuels, because the current fuel load that they utilize contaminates a lot of neighborhoods in San Pedro, in Wilmington, in the harbor — the asthma rates are extraordinarily high. They’ve been poisoning the community due to our consumerism.

So if you live in Paducah, Kentucky, if you live in Bloomington, Indiana, and you go to Target and you buy a plasma television set, chances are extremely high that it came through the Pacific Rim through the ports of either Los Angeles or our next-door neighbor, Long Beach, went up the 710 corridor, and it contaminated all that pollution from the tailpipe of heavy duty diesel. So, the Port of Los Angeles is what I would tackle because that’s a really huge, huge source, Tony, of our ozone.

Tony Barboza

Is the current target, which is to try to get a 100% electric trucks by 2035 in the ports, is that appropriate? Would you move on any different timeline on that?

Kevin de León

Well, I think we can help accelerate it but I think it’s contingent, Tony, on the technologies that are available. I think that one thing is setting a goal and setting an ambitious goal. And one thing is can we actually secure the technology to bridge us to that specific goal?

I’m keenly aware that when I said the year 2045, you know, for 100% clean renewable energy, I think I was sober in my assessment, knowing at that time that we didn’t have the technologies to get us to 100% clean renewable energy yet. But by setting that goal, we could send a very strong signal to the market that will deploy the capital that was on the sidelines to create the technologies that were critical to help accelerate goals and to meet what some folks would call very hubristic goals. The reason why it’s important is because at the federal level we just simply were not getting the help that we needed.

Even before Donald Trump got elected, the makeup — it’s very difficult to get things done in Washington D.C. And that’s why it was very clear that, you know, we should send a real clear market signal to the private sector to deploy that type of capital government, whether it is the federal, state, or local. But primarily, it’s been the state and local governments [that] have led the charge nationwide.

If we don’t set the standards, then the private sector won’t move. And that’s why, to your question with regards to 100% [electric trucks] — whether it’s electric or some other type of zero carbon technology, without picking winners or losers — how we move our goods will be very critical. Right now it’s established to be 2035. Could be faster, it’s all going to be contingent on the advancement of the technologies that are needed.

Tony Barboza

Do you support a ban on new natural gas hookups in new buildings?

Kevin de León

You’re talking about new ones?

Tony Barboza

Yes, for new construction.

Kevin de León

Prospective, the answer’s yes. We have to decarbonize our grids. Not our grids, I’m sorry. We have to decarbonize, you know, stationary sites and these stationary sites are huge emitters of CO2 and CO2 equivalent. But this is prospective.

Robert Greene

I’d like to ask you about the recall of District Attorney George Gascón. Do you support that?

Kevin de León

The recall of District Attorney George Gascón — I don’t support the recall. I’ve been a strong believer that recalls should only be utilized if there are very severe allegations of high crimes. Short of that, doesn’t make a difference if you’re on the left or the right or in the middle points in between. We have an election process which is when candidates or when elected officials are up for election and the voters themselves can determine the future of that individual.

So I know that there’s a lot of controversy at this moment surrounding Mr. Gascón for many of the policies he has set forth.

Robert Greene

So where are you on his policies? Do you support or oppose any of the particular policies?

Kevin de León

This is the way I would say it, Robert, I do believe that we have an opportunity to move forward with criminal justice reforms and disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline that have put so many young men and women, particularly young men of color, in our correctional facilities; whether it be San Quentin, whether it be Pelican Bay, whether it be Vacaville, Folsom, or elsewhere.

But at the same time, I do recognize someone who has kidnapped a child, sodomized the child, tortured a child, and left him for dead or killed that child, those individuals shouldn’t be covered in a huge flank, if you will. We don’t live in a world of absolutes.

So, we can also deal with criminal justice reform for the vast majority of folks who, quite frankly, have been unfairly sentenced with higher, longer years with the enhancements either because you’ve had a weapon or because you’re affiliated with a gang. There are many young men and women who have an opportunity to be rehabilitated if we provide that opportunity. However, there are a group of individuals who, quite frankly, have committed some heinous crimes — they should not be having any enhancements reduced.

Robert Greene

Has Proposition 47 contributed to the increase in crime and should we roll it back?

Kevin de León

This was a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Robert, and wherein lies the conundrum because the voters of California overwhelmingly supported the initiative. It’s constitutional, it was not driven. It was not a legislative solution, but it was driven through the ballot process because of the U.S. Supreme Court. You know, justice is ruling on prison overpopulation.

Robert Greene

So, I guess my question is should we change your mind?

Kevin de León

We always have an opportunity to change our minds. Are there things that we can modify there? Of course. We had Three Strikes, which I believe was one of the worst or probably the worst social experiment when it came to criminal justice in the state of California. So, we can always have an open mind and make the necessary modifications. That will be up to the people of California, that cannot be done legislatively or by executive order.

Robert Greene

Would you as mayor appoint Police Chief Moore to a second five-year term?

Kevin de León

I think that if I have the honor to be the mayor of the great city of Los Angeles, I’ll be reviewing every position of the highest level, then I’ll be making that determination — then and there.

Laurel Rosenhall (editorial writer)

I wanted to ask about one of your accomplishments when you were in the Senate, I think that you called it the No Place Like Home initiative. It was, you know, changing the mental health funding so that it could be used for homeless housing in combination with people who have mental health needs. Now that you’re at the city level, are you seeing any benefits from that, and why hasn’t it been as transformational as it seemed it would be at the time that you were pushing it in the legislature?

Kevin de León

The No Place Like Home was a proposition that passed on a ballot back in 2018. It was Proposition 2, and it was legislation that I secured with bipartisan support, both Democrats and Republicans. Then-Governor Jerry Brown signed the measure and it was litigated almost immediately. I need to make a decision, do I litigate it? Do I continue the litigation merry-go-round? Or do I try to circumvent the courts and move forward with new legislation and place it on the ballot before the voters?

So, I made the decision not to get caught up in the litigation merry-go-round and I dropped a new legislation, got the governor to sign it and replaced that on the ballot, which is Prop 2. Laurel, that’s an excellent question. It’s $2 billion. It was not new parcel tax or new sales tax; it wasn’t personal income tax. In retrospect, now that I am a member of local government, there were things that I would have done differently in terms of drafting the initiative.

Laurel Rosenhall

Like what?

Kevin de León

I would have made it much more prescriptive. I think I would have detailed the specs. Put price caps, if you will, in terms of what will be funded. I think these are the lessons that I’ve witnessed.

HHH predates me, but from what I’ve witnessed on the rollout and execution of HHH, there’s some similarities with regards to No Place Like Home. In fact, what I did was sort of give it to the 58 counties, and L.A. County being the largest county in the state and also having the largest homeless population — almost primarily in our own city of L.A. — I would have been much more prescriptive.

I think it was a question of trusting too much and then, you know, allowing them to come up with the criteria in the distribution of the dollars.

Laurel Rosenhall

So what’s not happening that you wish was happening with that?

Kevin de León

I don’t think the dollars are getting up quick enough. I don’t think that they’re accelerating or they’re moving with a sense of urgency. Be mindful of one thing, when I moved forward with the measure, the measure came from the millionaire’s tax — you know, Prop 63 — and the measure came from the accounts. That’s why I didn’t have to raise taxes. But what I witnessed was many counties, and L.A. was the largest one — they had surplus dollars, huge surplus dollars that were just sitting there while we have a mental health crisis on our streets. And that’s why I targeted the money for those who are chronically homeless but severely mentally ill.

I wish that they would accelerate it and utilize the dollars much quicker. I wish that they would have price caps in terms of how much money you can spend. In retrospect, I would have been much more prescriptive.

Laurel Rosenhall

So how could that be fixed? Would it necessitate another statewide ballot measure?

Kevin de León

Yeah. Now it can change locally, unless, you know I were to make the suggestions, they don’t have to follow, obviously. If you remember, my very own L.A. County opposed me in the beginning stages. They didn’t want the money utilized, but I thought it was nonsensical that you have severely mentally ill people living on the streets while we can house them very quickly and utilize the $2 billion. Although the $2 billion was statewide — I think roughly under $1 billion — maybe about $800 million came to L.A. County.

It’s interesting you brought that up; I was talking with my former Chief of Staff Dan Reeves about if we can move some legislation and see if the legislature would require specifically a two thirds vote and to place it on the ballot for the modifications. But we know the counties would most likely oppose it.

But let me just say one thing really quickly: not being at the time an expert on the issue of homelessness, I think there was leadership, I didn’t have to write a ballot. I wrote that ballot, Prop 2, and I wasn’t a housing expert, I wasn’t a homeless expert, but I saw what was happening and I moved quickly. And I convinced the governor, he agreed with me to do it and we placed it on the ballot. But it’s a lesson that I’ve learned to be much more prescriptive.

So, to Carla’s other point, if there is a HHH 2.0 for example, it has to be very clear and spelled out —specifically the number of units that we want to create and how we’re going to create those units and provide the innovative flexibility so we can utilize our dollars in a much more efficient way. The reason why the problem we have is that huge, the amount of money that we have is that much — so we have to be much more efficient, you know, and effective in the way we utilize and leverage those dollars.

Mariel Garza (deputy editorial page editor)

I think we need to move on, sorry. We’re getting close to the cut-off point. I want to bring it back to the city of Los Angeles to talk about quality-of-life issues. You focus your campaign a lot on homelessness and that’s good, it’s the number one issue facing Los Angeles. But there’s a sense among just regular Angelenos that no one’s in charge.

I mean the streets are filthy, the trees are untrimmed, acts of petty vandalism, the Hyperion bridge has been systematically denuded of its lights — and it’s just this sense that nobody’s in charge and the quality of life is slipping even as home prices are increasing. What are you going to do to show Angelenos that you are in charge, that these basic fundamental responsibilities of city government are being addressed?

Kevin de León

That’s a very good question and I did [audio unclear] I’m not waiting to become mayor to lead on these issues because I think I’m leading right now. I won’t expound too much on this issue because I know we talked about it but I’m leading on the issue of homelessness. I’ve housed more unhoused neighbors in Los Angeles in one year than any elected official has done in the past year and I’ve only been on city council for one year and two months. The city council has adopted my 25 x 25 plan; it’s the first of its kind in the city of Los Angeles.

And so, on the issue of homelessness, what I’m doing in CD14 is what I want to do for the entire city of L.A. On the issue with regards to it feels like no one’s in charge, you’re so right. I don’t disagree with that whatsoever. And that’s why about three weeks ago, about a month ago, I had a press conference — I think it was covered by David Zahniser, he was there at least, and it was quite a few press who actually showed up — with regards to illegal dumping. I found out CD 14, Boyle Heights, as well as the industrial area of downtown Los Angeles is a site of a lot of illegal dumping; and the average number of staff members that we have to deal with illegal dumping on any given day is six.

I asked, “You mean six for my district?� And they said, “No, there’s six for the city of Los Angeles.�

Geographically, we’re the largest city in the United States of America, number two population-wise. But that is when you see, Mariel, a lot of illegal dumping, and the trash, and the feeling that our city is being trashed. And it’s getting trashed here as days go by, you’re absolutely right. And that’s why I’m leading on this issue right now. I’ve already submitted a bunch of plans about priorities — but how are we going to clean up our city and beef up our response time, which is an average of nine days to pick up the illegal dumping, to a maximum of 48 hours?

Mariel Garza

I’m looking for bigger picture as mayor. How are you going to take control or at least convey to people that you’re taking control of the city and that you’re going to get things back on track?

Kevin de León

No, no, I respect what you’re saying and I agree with you 100%. You’re the chief executive officer of the second largest city in America. And the people of Los Angeles want to feel that there is one individual who is in charge and is doing everything that he or she can to move forward an agenda that impacts the quality of life of every day Angelenos.

I think that my track record on the whole issues — whether it’s been climate change, whether it’s been a sanctuary state, negotiating minimum wage, and in this case now, homelessness — has demonstrated the boldness and the leadership, and that’s what I plan to do if given the opportunity to lead on these issues. Let me underscore, I know you may be tempted to push it back a little bit, but I’m not waiting to become leader or have the title of mayor, because on these issues I’m leading right now.

Kerry Cavanaugh (assistant editorial page editor)

Two quick questions. First, would you make it easier for street vendors to operate in L.A.?

Kevin de León

I would.

Kerry Cavanaugh

And for the next mayor in Los Angeles, the federal relief money will run out; a lot of the additional money that we’ve gotten will run out. There’s a financial cliff coming and the next mayor is going to have to deal with a serious budget shortfall. How would you prioritize? Would you look at raising more money? How would you deal with a budget crisis or a massive budget deficit in the city?

Kevin de León

That’s a very good question, because without the federal stimulus dollars — the three main pillars of our budget, of our economy, our property taxes, their hotels, hospitality, small businesses, restaurants, bars, etc. — two out of three economic pillars for Los Angeles were completely eviscerated because of COVID-19. So, we have very limited to no revenues coming into the city coffers. We’re not the federal government. We don’t have a printing press at the Treasury, we can’t continue to print money and go into debt. We’re not like the federal government or the state government where we have capital gains, abilities.

Well that’s why in Sacramento, you would say, our life has changed completely, it’s been impacted. State, Sacramento has surplus dollars in the billions. Local government doesn’t have that capacity. So those funds will terminate very, very soon, especially if we have a change in the makeup of the Congress. So, when the musical chairs, the music stops playing — who’s going to have a chair to sit on and how are we going to deal with the budget shortfalls?

Those are excellent questions that you’re posing because those are part of our reality. As the city of L.A., we’re going to have to be all hands-on deck without question. The priorities without a doubt are going to have to be public safety — that is a critical issue — police, as well as fire. The issue with regards to sanitation is very important.

Mariel brings up an excellent point, the city looks trashy, but especially in low-income neighborhoods that I represent. Sanitation is a very, very critical issue with regards to DWP. And how we modernize our antiquated grid and meet our 100% renewable clean goals by the year 2035 is going to be really critical. We’re going to have to make some very tough decisions, there’s no doubt about it. But we’re going to have to be much more fiscally prudent in terms of our priorities.

But I laid out our priority is, for any mayor, the safety and wellbeing of Angelenos. It’s the first and foremost of the highest priority. So public safety, fire, as well as sanitation will be very critical. But with the relationships that we have, we’re going to have to go to Sacramento and we’re going to have to work with our governor and with our legislative leaders. Bicameral bodies will soon be having new leaders in both the Assembly and the Senate as well too.

So, Sacramento will be playing a key role too in the fiscal wellbeing of the city of Los Angeles and given the fact that I have very close relationships I think will help Los Angeles.

Kerry Cavanaugh

Okay, so let’s pivot to the Q&A. Okay, so the first couple of questions are pretty short answers and then we’ll have ones that are one-word answers. So, we’ll start with the short answer, like one to two minutes max. Why are you the right person to be LA’s next mayor?

Kevin de León

It’s my body of work. It’s about being a leader during very difficult times. When I was the leader of the California State Senate, I made California the largest economy in the world to legally commit itself to 100% clean renewable energy; LA100 plan is SB100, 10 years accelerated.

I made California the largest and the first state in the nation to be a sanctuary state. The city of L.A. is home to the largest number of immigrants in the United States of America. When I was a legislator, the areas I represented informed my decision-making as a policymaker in Sacramento. The fact that Boyle Heights is one of the largest concentrations of Latino immigrants anywhere in the country — that’s why I moved Senate Bill 54, it’s about leadership.

On the issue of homelessness, I have the largest concentration of unhoused individuals anywhere in the city, anywhere in the country except for three cities: New York, L.A. in the aggregate, and Chicago. So that means I have more unhoused individuals in city 14 than the homeless populations, in its totality, in the cities of Houston and Phoenix — the fourth and fifth largest cities in America. And even with that, I’ve housed more individuals than anyone in the entire city of L.A. What I’ve done successfully to date in CD 14 is what I want to do for all of the city of L.A.

During moments of great crisis I’ve always led and I’ve always been honest with the voters of L.A. I’ve always wanted to be in a position of leadership during a moment of great crisis, and that moment is now.

Kerry Cavanaugh

What would be your first action to address the city’s homelessness crisis?

Kevin de León

Oh, we’re going to accelerate, that’s what I’m doing right now. We’re going to accelerate our 25 x 25 plan by bringing in the general managers. We’re actually doing this right now as we speak. But we’re going to accelerate that.

I can’t get into details about it because it’s a pending court case with LA Alliance right now. But we may have some good news coming up very, very soon. But we will be accelerating our housing stock and our inventory stock in the city of L.A. much, much sooner than people expect to get folks off the street. It will be interim in immediate, and then the interim will be committing very quickly to the permanent. And I don’t believe, Carla, I don’t believe interim is the panacea, so I want to underscore that.

Kerry Cavanaugh

What’s the right size of the Los Angeles Police Department force and why?

Kevin de León

I think the right size is the current size, the number we’re budgeted up to. I don’t believe we have to increase the budget. I grew up in a neighborhood that had its fair share of violent crimes, so I know what it feels like to feel unsafe. The most important job of the mayor is to make sure that every Angeleno is safe. But before we get into hiring thousands of more police officers, we have to get our own house in order, which means that we have to better utilize our resources today in a much more effective and efficient manner. That’s what I said earlier, we have our own LAPD officers dealing with the issues of mental health, dealing with issues of homelessness, dealing with the issues of drug overdoses — they shouldn’t have to be on those front lines. They need to be solving and preventing crime. And if we can have better response times by taking those responsibilities, not just rhetorically, I know a lot of folks have talked about that, but operational, taking those responses off their shoulders, they can start dealing with the issues of crime in a much more effective manner.

Kerry Cavanaugh

Okay. What’s an example of something you’ve done that wasn’t popular but was the right thing to do?

Kevin de León

I made reference to it several times. Two things. One is the sanctuary state [legislation]. I got sued by the Department of Justice, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. We went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020. They ruled in my favor. I had the 58 counties and sheriffs strongly oppose me. I had our very own sheriff of L.A. County, then-Sheriff Jim McDonnell, lead the charge to oppose me. It was not popular, even with some of my own colleagues, but I felt like you don’t trade your values when you come from an immigrant family. It’s who you are.

Two is EL Pueblo. When we started engaging outreach with our unhoused neighbors to put a roof over their head and get them into Grand Hotel, off Figueroa Street. There were so-called activists out there that were trying to persuade our unhoused neighbors to actually stay, physically, on the sidewalk and continue to live there until we came up with a permanent solution. I thought that was wrong. I thought that was immoral. I thought that ran counter to what our goals are to get folks off the street, to provide the interim housing and then move them into permanent housing. So, you know, I said something about it. There was a huge backlash — they put my phone on Twitter, my phone number got blown up into pieces as you can imagine, but it was the right thing to do because if you’re on the left or right, it doesn’t matter, folks want action.

You want folks off the street with a roof over their head. You can’t let the perfect get in the way of the good.

Kerry Cavanaugh

Excellent. Now these are one-word answers. Should Los Angeles tax million dollar real estate transactions to raise money for affordable housing? Yes or no?

Kevin de León

I’m open to it.

Kerry Cavanaugh

So that’s a yes?

Kevin de León

No, I said I’m open to it. I’m sorry, I can’t answer the question the way you want. That’s the HHH junior, I got concerns on how they executed and rolled out. So, I’m open to it.

Kerry Cavanaugh

Roughly, what’s the median income for a household in Los Angeles?

Kevin de León

The median income to purchase a house?

Kerry Cavanaugh

No, household median income. How much does a family make in a household?

Kevin de León

The median income in Los Angeles for a household is roughly, I think off the top my head, about $65,000 or $70,000.

Kerry Cavanaugh

Close, it’s $62,000. Metro is considering enacting congestion pricing on local roads and freeways to reduce gridlock and fund more transit or even free transit. Would you support a congestion pricing pilot project in Los Angeles? Yes or no?

Kevin de León

I’m open to it, Kerry, and the reason why is: I want to make sure that the poor are not disproportionately impacted because they don’t have the financial wherewithal, due to congestion pricing, to be paying out of their pocket. So, I’m open to the idea as long as the poor are not adversely impacted.

Kerry Cavanaugh

Mayor Garcetti set a goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2025. But he hasn’t followed through and traffic deaths have increased. Would you commit to make Vision Zero a reality during your tenure as mayor? Yes or no?

Kevin de León

Yes, yes.

Kerry Cavanaugh

Digital billboards. Would you support having more? The same number as now or fewer?

Kevin de León

Same.

Kerry Cavanaugh

Ok, that’s it. Thanks for taking the time today. We appreciate it.

Kevin de León

Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity and thank you for your consideration as well.