with great power comes great responsibility

California is the fourth largest economy in the world. We have within our reach the wealth and resources to make our lives better. But our government has fallen short.

The California State Assembly creates laws that impact our day-to-day lives: what our neighborhoods look like, the quality of schools, the healthcare available to families, and our continued pursuit for a more just society.

And herein lies the power of your California State Assembly Members. They oversee our cities to make sure they do right thing, like build more affordable housing everywhere, invest in robust and safe public transit, and protect our renters, students, and seniors.

Our campaign isn’t just about Assembly District 54. We are also fighting for better politics, one that is accountable, transparent, and uncompromised. We’re showing that a grassroots campaign built on clean money can beat our corporate, fossil-fuel, and millionaire funded opponent.

honest & uncompromised public servant

    • A DIFFERENT KIND OF DEMOCRAT

    When everyone in LA is a Democrat, how can you tell the difference? The clearest way: follow the money. Too often state and local politicians take money from the very groups that are opposed to what our communities need and deserve. And we're seeing the results with one LA corruption scandal after another.

    • BIG MONEY IS SHAPING AD54

    We are a district that is both an eviction hotspot and hotbed for market-rate apartment development. Major corporate interests, polluting industries, and big-monied real estate developers are reshaping our district while leaving our renters, young families, and small businesses behind.

    • HOW WE CAMPAIGN IS HOW WE'LL LEGISLATE

    Unlike my opponent, I reject donations from the fossil fuel industry, hospital and insurance lobbyists, and anti-union corporations. We need public servants who are not loyal to special interest groups and whose singular goal is to serve our neighbors from day one.

    • GOVERNMENT MUST DELIVER

    In recent years, the public’s confidence in government's ability to address our problems has fallen. And for good reason: our housing and homeless crises see no end, and basic expectations like clean and safe streets are woefully unmet.

    • ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY

    When it comes to fixing the homeless and mental health crises, we've taxed ourselves numerous times, giving LAPD massive budgets, but the situation hasn't improved. We need accountability on how public dollars are specifically being used in our district.

    • MORE RESPONSIVE SERVICES

    We need the State to work better with local governments to implement and enforce minimal government standards for service. We need to improve the response times for law enforcement, mental health, and ambulatory services, especially for our monolingual immigrants and small businesses.

    • POLICIES FOR SYSTEMS CHANGE

    I support bold policies that prioritize the working class and democratic principles like implementing single payer healthcare, protecting reproductive rights, opposing mass incarceration, supporting reparations for Black Californians, banning plastics and forever chemicals, passing campaign finance reform, and enacting a wealth tax.

    • ONCOMING TECH & AI REVOLUTION

    We must prepare for the AI revolution currently underway, which will continue to impact and upend all aspects of our lives, from work to school. In the mad rush for profits, our privacy and civil rights are being left behind. We need public policy that will make sure AI not only benefits everyday Californians but also is held accountable.

    We must also modernize our democracy by incorporating technology into public hearings amd comments; improve language interpretation; and digital public service and comments portals. The way our government engages the public is outdated and unfairly benefits those with access to time, power, and high-powered lawyers. 

    • WE’RE NOT JUST POLICYMAKERS, WE’RE ORGANIZERS

    We will work to increase the number of grassroots, clean money public servants in California. This means supporting current candidates and creating pipelines for future ones. This is the long-term solution for an authentic working class agenda.

an urgency on fixing homelessness

California’s inability to fix the homeless crises is playing out in our district’s sidewalks, parks, and public spaces. We seriously need to reevaluate whether what our politicians are doing now is actually working.

    • ACCOUNTABILITY ON SPENDING

    We have spent $24 billion to tackle homelessness over the past five years but the problem has only gotten worse. Something is clearly not working. We need more accountability on both state and local spending on homelessness and mental health issues. We must rebuild public trust if we want to fix this problem. That means being brutally honest about what has not worked and making a change.

    • STATE LEADERSHIP FOR LOCAL COORDINATION

    One of the biggest challenges to reducing homelessness in this district is bureaucracy and the government’s fragmented approach and priorities. Agencies and elected officials across LA County are not doing enough to work together. The State must lead to create a more cohesive system to provide better customer service for our homeless and adjacent community groups.

    • MORE SUPPORT FOR SENIORS, IMMIGRANTS & SMALL BUSINESSES

    From our small businesses to our seniors, our community deserves government resources that are accessible, in-language, and culturally appropriate. We deserve competent public health and mental health resources that understand our communities and know how to de-escalate problems and work effectively to address crime and property theft. In particular, we need better police response time for our monolingual immigrant businesses and seniors, many of whom deal with 2-3 hour response times.

    • MOVE FROM SIDEWALKS TO HOUSING

    We are facing a dual crisis. Our expensive housing market is pushing more people into homelessness while the opioid crisis is making it harder for many to get out. To stop this, we need to provide immediate transitional housing, which must be built quickly, across all communities, and designed in ways that meet housing, mental health, and community needs. The State must do more to support local governments in providing shelter beds. We must support local community groups and nonprofits who have relationships and far deeper understanding of their local population.

    • THE DRUG CRISES ARE A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISES

    Overdoses, addictions, public drug use - these are all symptoms of a woefully underprepared mental health care system overwhelmed by the opioid crises. We must provide widely available treatment and recovery programs in various languages. The State must also work closely with the federal government to fight against the illegal production and sale of opioids, punishing those trafficking drugs, not those suffering from addiction. 

    • ON THE GROUND, AROUND THE CLOCK

    We need on-the-ground around-the-clock mental health and housing resources, like community ambassadors. They can provide immediate services and de-escalate situations in public spaces, like on our streets and sidewalks and in our subway stations and public transit. We need and can have public spaces that are dignified, safe, and compassionate.

    • COMMUNITY-RICH PUBLIC SPACES

    We can also create safety by improving public spaces to become more welcoming. By introducing infrastructure that serves parents, children, and seniors, public spaces can become bustling and community strengthening. Beautiful sidewalks, welcoming parks and bustling subway stations are all ways we can create safety through community without resorting to the heavy hand of law enforcement.

make it easier to build affordable housing EVERYWHERE

Our district is shouldering the burden of housing development for the rest of the region. It is the State’s responsibility to hold cities accountable for equitably reaching our housing goals.

    • HOLD CITIES ACCOUNTABLE

    The State of California is responsible for making sure our cities build affordable housing. We can pass laws that make sure cities reach their affordable housing goals and help prevent racial and economic segregation of our neighborhoods.  

    • EXPEDITE 100% AFFORDABLE HOUSING

    The responsibility of building housing must be shared by all. It's how we create multiracial and multi-income communities. Through state laws, we must expedite 100% affordable dense housing in ALL neighborhoods, not just renter and immigrant heavy communities. Through state laws, we can compel cities, where opposition to affordable housing is the fiercest, to do the right thing.

    • BUILD ALL KINDS OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING

    Through state laws, we can also expedite certain kinds of housing. Right now, too much of our housing is for singles. We need more senior and multigenerational homes to serve our young families and seniors. We must also be innovative, like pushing cities to allow for more mixed dense commercial and residential zoning, creating car-free neighborhoods, senior dementia villages, and boarding houses for young students and temporary workers. 

    • IF WE OWN OUR LAND, WE BENEFIT FROM DEVELOPMENT

    Our communities must have more control over the fate of our land. We must fix our state’s first time homebuyer's program so our renters and working class families can become homeowners if they wish. This is especially critical for immigrant and monolingual first-time homebuyers. We can provide support in securing financing and navigating banks and agencies. 

    • DE-COMMODIFY HOUSING

    We also need to expand community rooted options in the housing market. We must de-commodify housing through policies like social housing and community land trusts, where local groups build housing and keep it permanently affordable. The high bar of homeownership mustn't be the prerequisite for financial security. For years, we have been told that government should not be in the business of housing. However, we have examples across the globe (like Vienna and Singapore) where public housing is not only abundant but preferred. 

    • SUPPORT AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPERS

    We don't talk about this enough: building housing is too expensive and takes too long. This is especially true for affordable housing developers. We must cut down red tape and create more predictability by creating an expedited and streamlined process for securing funding between state and local governments.

    • REMOVE POLITICAL ROADBLOCKS TO BUILDING 

    Too often, the process of building affordable housing is riddled with barriers where even the slightest political pressure can derail the project. Indeed, if our goal is to build more housing we cannot let subjective opposition get in the way of our objective goal to build more affordable housing. Through state laws, we can make sure all cities do the right thing and contribute to fixing the state’s housing crises. 

protect Renters from EVICTION

Our district is an eviction hotspot. In this housing crises, we must do all we can to protect renters from displacement.

    • PREVENT HOMELESSNESS FROM THE START

    The most practical and effective way to stop homelessness is to keep people in their homes. We must work to keep our neighbors in place as we fix our housing crises. We do this by providing material support like utility and rental subsidies, rebates for AC/internet, and free public transit to our most vulnerable renters.

    • SAVE RENTERS MONEY

    Through expanded rent control, we can make sure our renters can stay in place. We must also provide legal assurances for security deposit returns and implement interest payments to renters when those deposits are delayed. Through state laws, we can also assure higher quality living standards for renters, making sure the cost of maintenance and repair does not fall on renters. 

    • RENTERS BILL OF RIGHTS

    Renters of all types need protections in a housing market where they are legally and politically disadvantaged. We can create a Renters Bill of Rights, firmly establishing a statewide quality of life and dignified conditions of habitability. This way, from the start it is clear to all renters and landlords what their expectations are. 

    • STOP TENANT HARASSMENT

    We must hold bad, corporate landlords accountable of tenant harassment and wrongful evictions. We must also provide multilingual legal aid to tenants who find themselves in court. We can better organize renters through a statewide multilingual tenant’s rights education campaign and establishing renter councils.

    • MAKE SURE AFFORDABLE UNITS ARE ACTUALLY ACCESSIBLE

    We must do all we can to preserve the already limited supply of affordable rental housing. We can do this by creating a statewide registry of rental units, to ensure transparency and enforcement of state housing affordability laws. We should also tax landowners that sit on vacant land zoned for housing and who do short term rentals, like Airbnbs. Special interest groups should not be able to profit by manipulating the housing market.

    • GIVE CITIES THE POWER TO EXPAND RENT CONTROL & PREVENT DISPLACEMENT

    We must repeal Costa Hawkins, a policy that limits rent control by allowing landlords to set new rental prices at market rates when tenants vacate, often leading to significant rent increases and displacement. We must also repeal the Ellis Act, which permits landlords to evict tenants to exit the rental market, frequently reducing the affordable housing stock and exacerbating homelessness. We can also increase affordable rental units by expanding inclusionary housing, which requires new development to dedicate a percentage of units to affordable housing.

BUSES & TRAINS, our climate change champions

Our district boasts some of the highest ridership rates of public transit in LA County. Our buses and trains combat so many problems. It helps fight traffic & congestion, cleans our air, and spurs better investments in our sidewalks and public spaces.

    • GREEN STREETS & INFRASTRUCTURE

    We can have world class climate resilient public infrastructure that also reduces our reliance on single-occupancy vehicles. We need to fix and expand our sidewalks, including adding more streetlights, bus lanes, and bike lanes. We must plant more trees to absorb carbon and sidewalk bioswales to naturally filter and store stormwater. Installing urban wetlands in our parks also help to clean our water and prevent flooding.

    • COOLER STREETS

    We can create cooler streets by incentivizing cities to create shade standards, like they do in other cities, by requiring a percentage of public spaces be shaded at certain hours. We can also require cities to implement cool pavements, which reduce urban heat islands. 

    • PEOPLE-CENTRIC STREETS

    We must build more vibrant and dynamic neighborhoods by promoting sidewalk facing businesses, better way-finding signage, placemaking art, and public spaces for street vendors. By introducing new modes of transit, like bike or bus lanes, and facilitating the development of dense residential and commercial buildings near transit hubs, we also help reduce our reliance on cars and wide streets.

    • PRIORITIZE OUR NEIGHBORHOODS

    We know what it takes to create healthier, walkable neighborhoods. And so, local jurisdictions must also make sure they prioritize these resources in traditionally disinvested neighborhoods, not just to those who are wealthy or politically connected.

    • SAFE & REGULAR RELIABLE BUSES & TRAINS

    We must make sure our public transit meets the scale of our region. That means more frequent bus and rail services and clean and vibrant transit stops. We must continue to expand our metro bus and rail lines. We must also modernize our metro system through ideas like a universal tap card across all transit system; reliable underground Wi-Fi and cell service; and business vendors in subway stations. We must make sure the transit workforce (bus operators, janitors, Ambassadors) is comprised of well paid, trained, union jobs, and is recognized as the essential workers they are.

    • ELECT LA METRO

    We must be allowed to elect our LA Metro Board Members, so that those who use our system are the ones making decisions for the system. In Northern California, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Board of Directors is an elected body. By bringing the riders closer to LA Metro public servants, we can get more responsive services. 

    • FUNDING & FREEWAYS

    It is imperative we significantly increase and set a budget floor for the California Active Transportation program, which funds walking, biking, and public transit infrastructure. These funds are critical for local jurisdictions that for generations have been building car-centric cities. We can also repurpose our state freeways and roads, building affordable housing, green spaces, and bus only lanes. 

    • PITTING ONE AGAINST THE OTHER

    For too long, leaders have pitted us against each other: people vs. car; bike lane vs. parking; or traffic vs. bus lanes. This is a false choice. We need public servants who can present a full vision of how ALL of us can transform the second largest metropolis in the country to a world class multimodal city. 

    And while robust, widely used public transit is the only way to get to a more multimodal and less-congested district, we must deal with the short-term challenge of parking. This is especially important for community members whose livelihood are their cars, many of whom do not have a dedicated parking spot.

    • INNOVATIONS IN PARKING

    Through state laws we can be innovative to address the issue of parking. We can support the development and distribution of cargo bikes, allowing easier movement of goods and groceries on bicycles. We can provide incentives to employees in the public and private sector to take public transit and limit the need for parking lot constructions on public land.

    The need and scarcity around reliable street parking for working class residents is a real concern we must address. We must also acknowledge that the status quo is not working for anyone. We must give communities access to safe and reliable parking as we simultaneously improve walking, biking, and public transit. If we want a less car-centric city, we must provide the public with a better alternative.

SERVE & PROTECT OUR SENIORS

Our district has many seniors. As a community of immigrants and young families, our district is home to many multi-generational families. And ahead of us is a greying generation of our elders who helped build our communities, many whom do not speak English or trust government resources.

    • MORE SENIOR HOUSING

    We have some of the most over-crowded neighborhoods in the nation. Having more multigenerational families is key to healthy, dense, and diverse communities. They help renters save on healthcare, transportation, and housing cost. And so, we must prioritize more affordable senior and multigenerational housing.

    • SENIOR FRAUD AND ABUSE

    We must tackle fraud and abuse of our seniors, especially those who are vulnerable or do not speak English. Too often, enforcement is lacking and many of these issues go under the radar or are addressed through unofficial non-legal channels.

    • SENIOR SAFETY NET

    Seniors are falling into homelessness at far higher rates than any other age group, as many of their savings are drying up. We must strengthen their social safety net. Expanding coverage eligibility for Medi-Cal, utility and rental subsidies for low-income multigenerational families, and free transit are some of the examples of how we can do this.

    • MOBILITY FOR ALL SENIORS

    Through public policies, we can help seniors play a meaningful role in our communities. The first step is giving our seniors freedom to move where they need to without cost to their body or wallet. This includes providing free senior transit shuttling services, free public transit, and bus shelter and benches.

    • BUILD COMMUNITY WITH OUR SENIORS

    We can also develop senior-led public programs at our libraries, schools, and parks. We can both enrich our community spaces and de-stigmatize ageism at the same time. Be it as a mentor, teacher, historian, or just a friendly community ambassador, our seniors can continue serving as leaders in our communities.

    • FIX THE STATE’S IN-HOME CARE PROGRAM

    For many of us, in-home care-giving is becoming a part of our lives, especially as our parents and grandparents age. This is especially acute amongst immigrant multigenerational households.

    However, our state's in-home care program, which pays family members to care for family, focuses on institutionalization. We must make this program more flexible by reducing language and cultural barriers for applicants so our seniors can age in place. After all, in-home care is many times the most dignified, cost-effective, and easiest way to take care of family.

    • SUPPORT OUR CAREGIVERS

    Caregiving is a full-time job. Through state laws we can make sure our caregivers are well paid, be it nurses or family members, and well trained and supported by our public health system. 

how we campaign is how we’ll legislate

clean money campaign

I’m the only candidate in the race to reject corporate PAC, oil & gas, and Big Pharma money. We win clean, we legislate clean.

grassroots

Our campaign is run by volunteers of students, caregivers, small business owners, & transit riders - all people with skin in the game, not expensive consultants.

multiracial coalition

We’re committed to running a campaign that’s accessible to multiple languages and cultures.