ECONOMY FOR ALL

OVERVIEW

When the local economy is strong, all of us can succeed. Local businesses tend to hire locally and spend locally, which allows money to circulate in our communities, instead of benefiting large, distant corporations. Moreover, communities with strong local economies are better able to adapt to large-scale economic downturns or supply chain malfunctions because they rely primarily on local capacities. When we envision a healthy neighborhood it includes good jobs and businesses run by people we know, friends, family, and neighbors.

In LA, we are far from realizing our potential of a robust local economy due to many structural barriers. Here in CD11, 88% of our workers live outside the district. This is both a housing affordability problem and a wage problem. In much of CD 11’s rental market, even moderate incomes, well over $100,000, struggle to afford housing without being cost-burdened. Immigrant workers in CD11 are especially struggling right now as the federal government continues its brutal ICE raids.

People need to make enough money to provide for their families and be able to afford to live where they work – or we will face the same crisis that many other high-cost cities and neighborhoods have faced, like labor shortages for critical jobs, massive commutes that contribute to pollution and congestion, and the loss of vital communities that have made the Westside feel like home.

We need leadership in CD11 that will fight to build a Westside economy where everyone can thrive.

IMPLEMENT A STRONGER SAFETY NET

Too many people work full-time and still can’t make ends meet because wages haven’t kept up with the cost of living. Guaranteed income, direct, unconditional cash support, has been shown in pilots, including in Los Angeles, to improve financial stability and security. Scaling up these programs citywide and in CD11 can give families a reliable income floor to reduce economic stress. And even guaranteed income alone isn’t always enough. During crises, like the 2025 wildfires and ICE raids, community organizations stepped in to provide emergency cash aid to workers in immediate need. The City must do more than rely on nonprofits: it can and should provide rapid, life-saving direct cash assistance during moments of crisis to help residents survive and recover.

Expand guaranteed income
I will lead and support efforts to scale up the City’s guaranteed income programs in CD11 and citywide, expanding access so that more Angelenos can benefit from this proven tool for economic stability.
Create funding for emergency direct cash aid.
Twice during 2025, first the fires and then again when ICE violently invaded our communities, we saw community-based organizations step up to provide direct cash assistance and other mutual aid to impacted workers. We shouldn’t have to rely only on the nonprofit sector to fill this gap. The City can and must step up quicker during these moments of crisis to offer life-saving cash assistance and aid. I will explore creating an emergency cash aid fund to fill this gap.

SUPPORT LOCAL SMALL BUSINESSES

Our city is home to nearly 470,000 businesses, and about 98.9% of them are classified as “small businesses.” Now, more than ever, our small business owners are struggling. Since the beginning of the pandemic, around 15,000 small business closures have been reported across Los Angeles County, and 2023-2024 data shows that fewer small businesses are opening now than at almost any time in the past 20 years in Los Angeles. Rising rents are causing community-serving small businesses to be displaced at an alarming rate, and when small businesses are displaced, we all suffer. Entrepreneurs and their families lose their livelihood, customers lose access to culturally significant goods and services, and communities lose important resources and communal spaces. Given that these patterns are repercussions of larger economic patterns, including high commercial rents, reduced consumer spending, limited access to capital and resources, and regulatory barriers that prevent opening and scaling small businesses, there is an opportunity to address the issue with robust policy solutions.

To support our local small businesses, we need policies to make it easier to open and operate a small business in LA. And we need good community planning to encourage and incentivize a built environment that supports mixed-use, mixed-income, walkable communities to support our small businesses.

Prevent the displacement of legacy businesses.
I will enforce SB 1103, which creates important commercial tenant protections for community-serving small businesses, and build on these state protections by advancing local policies that prevent legacy businesses from displacement and provide small businesses with relocation assistance if they are forced to vacate due to high rent increases.
Provide incentives for community-owned commercial spaces.
We must ensure new development benefits local entrepreneurs and keeps commercial space affordable for community‑owned small businesses. Following the Boyle Heights Community Plan, I will use City Council authority to incentivize developers to include below‑market or legacy small business space in new projects by allowing the floor area for these businesses to be exempted from overall floor area calculations. I will also leverage zoning bonuses so non‑residential developments can access additional floor area or height by providing dedicated space for community-serving businesses.
Ensure capital access for small businesses.
Access to affordable financing is a major barrier for small businesses trying to grow or survive economic shocks. By supporting the creation of LA’s Public Bank, we can create pathways to provide low-interest loans, lines of credit, and technical support directly to local businesses. I plan to join seven LA Councilmembers who support feasibility studies for redirecting public funds back into the communities through efforts like the LA Public Bank.
Make it easy to open a small business.
As Councilmember, I would champion a one-stop digital permitting portal with guaranteed timelines, coordinated interdepartmental review, and public tracking dashboards to ensure accountability. I would adopt best practices from cities like San Diego and Denver by consolidating inspections, creating small business navigators, and establishing expedited pathways for low-risk businesses. I would also push to eliminate any duplicative fees and launch a pilot program in select corridors to test fast-track approvals
Enact a commercial vacancy tax for commercial properties.
There are too many empty storefronts around our City. Some owners hold onto properties, asking high rents instead of renting them out to small businesses. Other commercial properties have fallen into disrepair. Neglected properties harm safety, depress economic activity, and discourage new investment. By implementing a vacancy tax, we can hold owners accountable to ensure vacant spaces and storefronts are maintained, leased, or redeveloped to benefit the community. We would also explore approaches by adjacent neighborhoods, such as Santa Monica’s tiered vacant property framework, where commercial properties that remain vacant beyond a defined period must register with the City and are placed into escalating tiers, with quarterly fees increasing over time based on length of vacancy and property condition

STRONGER WORKER PROTECTIONS

Los Angeles is the “Wage Theft Capital of the Nation.” Four out of five (80%) low-wage workers in Los Angeles experience wage theft, with $26-$28 million stolen from workers every week. Workers with the greatest chance of being a victim of wage theft include garment workers, maintenance workers, restaurant workers, domestic workers, construction or day laborers, car wash workers, and other low-wage workers. Immigrant workers, women, and people of color are also more likely to be victims of wage theft. Wage theft is rampant not because the appropriate laws to protect workers do not exist, but because enforcement is weak. Both at the state and local level agencies responsible for upholding labor laws are underfunded and underutilized. In California, for example, workers are owed nearly $280 million in unrecovered claims from unpaid wages in 2017, and this numbers only indicates wage theft violation that were reported; there are likely a great number of workers who suffer wage theft but either choose not to report a violation or are not sufficiently informed of their rights to be aware that a violation has occurred.

We have already taken important steps through City Council motions to combat wage theft by introducing legislation to expand the authority of the City’s Office of Wage Standards to investigate state wage and hour violations, including overtime, meal and rest breaks, late pay, and tip theft, and by directing stronger coordination between city departments so workers can more easily access help. Building on this progress, there is still more work to be done.

Increase channels to report violations.
I will work with the Office of Wage Standards to create additional secure, anonymous, and multilingual reporting channels so workers can safely report violations, and work with the City Attorney to strengthen anti-retaliation protections with clear penalties for employers. I will fund partnerships with trusted community organizations to provide outreach, education, and training so workers know their rights and how to access city resources.
Ensure Fair Work Week compliance at grocery/retail.
As a Councilmember, I will direct the Office of Wage Standards to conduct targeted audits of grocery and retail stores to ensure predictable scheduling and proper notice of shifts. I will require public reporting on violations and corrective actions to increase transparency.
Enforce and protect the Olympic Wage.
I will ensure all contractors and subcontractors on Olympic projects are held to the mandated Olympic Wage by directing audits and payroll reviews through the Office of Wage Standards. I will link compliance to contract eligibility, barring violators from future city contracts.

SUPPORT UNIONS AND UNIONIZATION EFFORTS

LA is a union town. Unions are another strong means to ensure compliance with labor standards, and justice for workers, given that they increase the accountability pressure placed on employers and ensure workers have a means to report violations without fear of retaliation. The additional layer of security that unions offer often translates into improved occupational health and safety standards, lower workplace injury and fatality rates, and improved access to life-altering benefits such as health care, retirement plans, and scheduling stability.

Prioritize contracting with unionized entities.
I will prioritize contracting with unionized employers and those that meet strong labor standards, particularly for publicly funded rebuilding and infrastructure projects, including our rebuild effort in the Pacific Palisades. I will require project labor agreements, prevailing wages, and apprenticeship utilization to ensure city projects create high-quality, local, union jobs that benefit workers and communities.
Expand labor protections for our gig economy.
I will oppose corporate and industry-backed efforts to weaken worker protections and expand labor protections for gig workers, including ride-share drivers, on-demand task workers, and creative contractors.
Support the Fair Games labor demands for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympic Games.
I support the union-led workforce priorities advanced within the Fair Games coalition for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, including Community Workforce Agreements, local and targeted hire commitments, and protections that ensure the Games deliver quality jobs with fair wages, benefits, and safe working conditions.
Protect workers from automation.
As new technologies and digital platforms expand, I will protect workers from displacement by introducing policies that protect city and city-contractor jobs from unnecessary automation, ensure AI implementation is not done without worker input, and promote responsible innovation that benefits workers and communities.

SUPPORT FOR OUR OPEN AIR WORKERS

Street vendors, domestic workers, day laborers, and landscapers nourish our communities, care for our families, shape our built environment, and beautify our homes and neighborhoods, yet are forced to operate outside of formal labor protections due to factors like immigration status and lack of licensing pathways. The UCLA Labor Center and the Los Angeles Worker Center Network have done extensive research corroborating that LA City’s informal workers are not marginal; they are foundational to our city’s economy. While Los Angeles has started to take steps to legalize street vending and other forms of micro-enterprise, legalization has not equaled access. Lack of capital, high permitting costs, limited language access, and increasingly, immigration enforcement have meant that acknowledged entrepreneurship exists only on paper, and not yet in practice.

Expand technical assistance for open-air entrepreneurs.
I will simplify and streamline the permitting and renewal process for open-air workers through fee-waivers and multilingual access. I will invest in legal resources and technical support for compliance assistance, so that open-air workers are educated about their rights. Most importantly, I will end punitive disciplinary measures that criminalize attempts at making livelihoods.
Expand legalized vending zones for open-air workers:
Building on California’s Safe Sidewalk Vending Act (SB 946), I will eliminate any “no-vending” zones that do not meet the high-burden of posing health, safety, or welfare concerns. Moreover, I will designate special public spaces (e.g., plazas, transit hubs, cultural corridors) as “free vending zones” where vendors can operate without expensive or complex permits beyond what state law requires.

EXPAND AFFORDABLE CHILDCARE

The severe shortage of affordable childcare, particularly for infants and toddlers, prevents many parents, especially women, from entering or remaining in the workforce. Research shows that LA County supports only 3% of our infant and toddler care needs. Family child care providers, a workforce that is 98% women and predominantly Black and Brown, often earn only $7–$11 an hour after covering payroll, benefits, and operating costs. Before the Great Recession, California had about 100,000 family child care providers; by the time unionization began, that number had dropped to 40,000, illustrating how economic shocks and chronic underfunding can decimate the sector. Although unionization and recent contracts have helped rebuild the workforce, we are still in a childcare desert across much of LA County. Our policies harm both entrepreneurs who want to make childcare their profession and parents who cannot have professions without childcare. We must address these broken policies that allow all members to access protected employment and economic mobility.

Advocate for True Cost of Care at the state-level.
I will work with groups like SEIU 99 to push for updating how the state pays for childcare. Right now, providers are reimbursed using outdated rate systems that don’t reflect today’s real costs. I fully support putting in place a new funding formula that better matches current market rates, so childcare providers are fairly paid and families have better access to affordable care.
Fill local funding gaps.
I will explore generating revenue for LA City, through private-public partnerships or ballot measures, similar to what Alameda County and Washington D.C implemented, to supplement state reimbursement and fund innovative solutions like the above-mentioned TK Offset- Grants. Towards this goal, I will convene major employers and encourage them to co-invest in childcare funds. When child care workers receive a dignified wage, child care centers are able to attract more staff and provide quality care for more children and families.
Improve implementation of the universal Transitional Kindergarten (TK) model.
While Universal TK has expanded access for some families, it’s also hollowed out community preschools and family childcare. Parents understandably choose the free option, which means local providers lose enrollment and infant care becomes scarce. To protect a mixed childcare system, I will pursue creating TK Offset Grants, city-funded incentives for families who opt for community-based or family childcare instead of TK.
Restore a dedicated care-provider office in City Hall.
LA City has no dedicated childcare staff; previous comparative roles sat in the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development but were eliminated and never replaced. I will create a Mayor-Council joint Office of Childcare & Early Learning to coordinate long-term workforce strategy and solutions.
Expand childcare access on the westside.
I would introduce a City Council motion to study the feasibility, costs, and ROI of reopening the 10 RAP- operated childcare and preschool sites closed in 2021, and to evaluate whether reopening those facilities or establishing a new city-funded childcare center on the Westside would improve affordability and access for our constituents.
Fast-track permitting for family childcare centers.
I’ll expand access to in-home family childcare by fast-tracking permitting, setting guaranteed inspection timelines when needed, and waiving application fees for first-time providers. Right now, months-long inspections, expensive permits, and arbitrary capacity rules for licensing prevent providers from opening at all

PROTECT OUR CREATIVE ECONOMY

The entertainment industry is another regional economic driver with deep roots in CD11. Our district is home to several important independent production companies, creative entrepreneurs, and so much of the region’s creative talent calls CD 11 home. The industry is facing massive transition and uncertainty, and production is leaving Los Angeles at alarming rates. We’re at risk of losing the ecosystem that makes LA the creative capital of the world. While state tax incentives, expanded recently under California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program (AB 1138) are critical, LA must do its part locally too, to keep film, TV, music, and digital media jobs in Los Angeles.

Make production in LA competitive:
I support expanding and building upon the Stay in LA coalition’s reforms to streamline permitting, reduce unnecessary delays and fees, and cut redundant requirements that drive production elsewhere.
Audit FilmLA:
I encourage a Controller audit of FilmLA to evaluate whether its contract structure, fee schedules, and response times align with the City’s economic competitiveness goals, and I want to explore whether film permitting should be handled directly by the City to improve accountability and efficiency.
Support local hiring and workforce pipelines for creatives and crew.
While I want to support the entertainment industry, we cannot bring back the industry without supporting our workers. Some productions relocate specifically to avoid union standards, wage protections, or safety requirements. That is not a model Los Angeles should replicate. We do not want to win work by weakening labor protections, we want to reinforce our crews and local hire pipelines and union requirements for all local productions.
Public safety reform for film productions:
I support eliminating redundant Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Fire Department monitoring requirements where public safety is not at risk. For routine traffic control or low-risk situations, I support creating a certified civilian traffic control program for film shoots where no public safety risk is present, and will instruct the CAO/CLA to conduct a feasibility study of establishing a pilot program authorizing certified civilian traffic control personnel for low-risk productions.
Protective creatives from AI:
Like with other technological advances, the government has been too slow to implement appropriate regulations. There are AI applications that make sense for the entertainment industry, and there are applications that don’t. I will support state and federal efforts to create regulations that safeguard entertainment workers and consumers.