What should the city do when confronted with homeless individuals who refuse to go into a shelter or temporary housing?
If people who are experiencing housing insecurity are refusing a shelter or temporary housing then I would want to know what is the main barrier discouraging them. This could be fear, lack of safety from previous experiences or lack of trust.
I would want this individual to get assessed in a safe place to determine the root cause and to see if there are any underlying or unmet mental health challenges. My recommendation would be a hospital to a rehabilitation facility before entering a shelter or transitional living.
How would you address crime in the city?
This is a broad question because there are a lot of contributions to crime. One of them is if people are able to meet their basic needs, crime would decrease. So my priority would be to evaluate what our city is doing or not doing to allow for people to have equitable access to health care, education, stable jobs, and housing security to prevent crime before it happens. I would come from a lens of prevention to address crime so that we can have long term success with increasing public safety for all.
The state is requiring Long Beach to make room for 26,502 new housing units by 2029. How should the 3rd District be a part of that plan?
As a district we should look at all options since this is such an important issue. We should look at buying land from vacant businesses and lots and using that land for further housing and parking. We should also encourage developers to build affordable yet comfortable housing in all available spaces. One idea I’ve heard is to encourage developers to build more neighborhoods with efficient housing designs.
What would you do about the high cost of housing in Long Beach?
This issue is directly connected to the available housing in Long Beach. It’s basic economics. More housing means more supply and more supply means prices go down. We should be looking at other options as well such as rent controls in certain areas and limiting the number of rental homes owned by a single entity.
Do you believe the city is doing enough to alleviate climate change and the effect it’s having on the city? If not, what additional actions should be taken?
While Long Beach is doing better than the average American city on this issue, we are not doing enough to fight climate change. There are a number of exciting ideas from around the world that we should be looking at to help fight climate change.
There are small things we can do like offering business tax breaks for installing solar panels or offering more plant-based options. We can also make bigger investments such as building 3D Printed Housing or create Green Bonds that allow the local authority to fund green initiatives like rewilding projects, solar panel installations and electric-car infrastructure.
Parking is a huge quality of life issue in the 3rd District. What, if anything, would you do about parking?
One of many parking concerns in District 3 is Second Street in Belmont Shore. Most of the parking congestion there comes from those working, eating or shopping on Second Street. In the past we have discussed those working in the 3rd District to have access to a parking lot and then shuttled to their place of work. I would like to reassess this option.
We want to create more infrastructure regarding public transportation from electric buses, bike lanes and more accessibility so residents in Long Beach don’t have to drive throughout the city. If the City of Long Beach could give a tax break to business owners and locals could get a discounted percentage at restaurants or shops for showing proof of public transportation, we could incentivize residents to find other means of transportation to decrease congestion.