L.A. City Council And Controller Candidates Speak At Environmental Forum
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(Edward Loera, Neon Tommy)
All candidates spoke at length about how they would improve transportation and the environment in Los Angeles. While the candidates agreed that the city had to enact policies to reduce climate change, they differed on the types of policies the city should advocate.
Challenging questions, heated arguments between candidates and political promises to voters were plentiful at this forum. Here are some of the most distinguishing issues where candidates for each individual race fought, sometime fervently, in defending their environmental policies.
City Controller:
L.A. City Controller candidates Ron Galperin and Dennis Zine laid out how they would support environmental causes as city controller.
Both candidates were asked what performance audits they would make as controller on environmental programs. Ron Galperin, who won the most votes in the preliminary election, emphasized the importance of looking "at the money" and said that he would conduct audits on every city department in order to assure these departments were working efficiently.
Zine agreed with Galperin on this point. “The controller makes sure audits go well,” said Zine.
In addition to this, Zine stressed the need for the city to act more forcefully on environmental issues.
“We need to move forward in a more aggressive manner,” said Zine.
When asked what recommendations they would make to the city as city controller, the candidates took slightly different viewpoints. Although both stressed the need for looking at the budget closely, Zine made the point that “we need to move forward on solar, we need to use more fuel cells.”
Galperin maintains the need to look at the money, saying “we have a tremendous amount of money that is not utilized” for environmental programs.
When asked why they were better than their opponent, Zine looked to his extensive history in L.A. government, saying “I know the system.” Galperin expressed displeasure with the status quo of city government, stating that city officials like Zine rarely take on responsibility.
City Council District 1:
Gil Cedillo and Jose Gardena, the two candidates for L.A. District 1, had a heated exchange on the exact types of policies and principles they would stand for as a member of city council.
The candidates agreed when asked how they would address the health risk that low-income residents face as a result of their poorly regulated housing, such as mold. Cedillo stated that he would “work with tenants and enforcement” in order to assure that housing meets the health code for the city. Garden stated similar intentions, saying that he would have the Department of Health frequent tenants that face health hazards three times a year.
Yet when the candidates were asked about expanding Interstate 710, opinions got quite heated. Gardena, an outspoken opponent of the expansion, began by saying that, “It is atrocious to think we are using 20th Century technology” in order to facilitate transportation in the city. Gardena then commenced to attack Cedillo, a proponent of the 710 extension, saying that he alone should answer to why he supports such a bad plan.
Cedillo proceeded to deflect from Gardena’s criticisms of his support for the freeway and instead turned to his support for undocumented immigration. He then proceeded to criticize Gardena for his support of immigrants, saying that Gardena has no record of helping undocumented individuals.
City Council District 6:
L.A.’s District 6 is currently holding a special election for the district’s seat, which was vacated by former councilman Tony Cardenas when he was elected to Congress. Three candidates, Nury Martinez, Richard Valdez, and Cindy Montanez are vying for the seat.
This portion of the forum began with a question on how the councilman would provide adequate public transit for the district. Montanez began by saying that she will look towards connecting the East Valley to the South Valley in order to connect the entire district together. Valdez said similar things to Montanez, and looked at a subway station as a way to connect the people in the sixth district.
Martinez, however, advocated for making the streets of the sixth district as a pedestrian friendly area, saying that the “streets should be made available to the people.”
On the issue of the local water supply, the candidates showed a great deal of dissatisfaction with the way that city was importing a majority of its water. Valdez focused mainly on how L.A. needed to become less dependent on water, saying “its essential to our survival.” Martinez looked towards local business as a way of improving water conditions in the city. “We need to give businesses the opportunity to improve storm water capture,” said Martinez.
Montanez spoke at length on the need to cleanup the existing groundwater in Los Angeles before we could move to the issue of fixing the importation of water into the city, saying “this has to be a priority for us.”
Candidates for District 6 were also asked about what they would do about the I-5 expansion encroaching near schools. Valdez returned an interesting response, suggesting that we should “keep kids more indoors” to avoid exposure to poor air quality.
Martinez and Montanez spoke more broadly on the issue of air quality in the city. Montanez began by saying that “the big issue is air quality”, and looks to make the city a pedestrian friendly area that is not harmed by the city’s air quality. Martinez, however, look at L.A. traffic congestion in general when speaking about air quality.
“Expanding our freeways don’t solve our transportation problem” said Martinez.
Elections for all of the candidates will take place on May 21st.
Reach Staff Reporter Edward Loera here and follow him on Twitter here.
