Name: Steven Melendez

Neighborhood: South Central, Los Angeles

Job: Security Guard 

Age: 25

What are the top issues facing Los Angeles, and why? 

(Steven Melendez/Victoria McSweeney, Neon Tommy)

There are a lot of issues. I think the most important problems are money and all the homeless people that need help.  Also, healthcare, that’s the main thing they’re all working on.

What could Mayor Garcetti do to address your top priorities?

I think the Mayor could do a lot of things to help out.  He’s been trying to help out people but it’s not enough. 

He could make healthcare more available to everyone and give food stamps and shelter to the homeless people. There are more people that need help than what he thinks and I think he should really focus on giving more money to help those people. 

Did you vote in the May election? Who did you support?

I didn’t vote in the last election.  I’m not really sure why not.

Why do you think homelessness is such a big issue facing Los Angeles?

People don’t have to work their way up to get jobs anymore.  I think homelessness is such a big issue because people are just handed jobs nowadays. 

The government is not helping by giving money to people that really don’t need it.  I think they should have food stamps and things like that only for the people that really need it, and they aren’t really paying attention to that.  They are giving away things to people that don’t need it.

Reach Contributor Victoria McSweeney here.