A just recovery in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, the city I currently call home, was among the U.S. metropolitan areas worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, both in terms of lives lost and economic impacts. Through my work with progressive City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, I have helped to develop policies to ensure the city’s economic recovery supports the workers and small businesses most marginalized by the pandemic.
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Recognizing that the only path from decriminalization to full legalization of street vending in Los Angeles lay with changes to state law, we passed a resolution in City Council calling on state legislators to enact changes to the California Retail Food Code. Alongside other advocacy efforts, our resolution led to introduction of State Bill 972.
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Workers in employee-owned enterprises enjoy, on average, higher wages, better working conditions, and better benefits than workers in traditional firms. Through a motion I authored, our office is working to mainstream the promotion of employee-ownership in the City of Los Angeles’s economic development policies and programs.
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After conducting our own survey of small commercial tenants, our office found that most small businesses faced mounting rent debt as a result of the pandemic. We successfully lobbied the City of Los Angeles to allocate $1.25 million to fund legal aid organizations to help small business owners renegotiate their commercial leases.
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For decades, LA’s decentralized approach to procurement has limited transparency and accountability around how the city spends its money. Through motions I authored, our office created the city’s first-ever Office of Procurement, which will track the city’s spending and ensure it aligns with social, equity and environmental goals.
