Our Vision for Los Angeles
INCREASE PATHWAYS FOR WORKERS TO EARN WORKFORCE BENEFITS: End part-time scheduling to avoid paying benefits. Part-time workers should be assigned at lest 20 hours per week so they earn healthcare, sick leave, and retirement security.
WAGES THAT WORKERS CAN LIVE ON: Require a $15 living wage to reflect practices we want private employers to mirror. When L.A. outsource work, tree specialists, security personnel and others earn as low as $12.16/hr.
REBUILD THE MIDDLE CLASS BY CREATING GOOD CITY JOBS: Sewage overflow, crumbling streets, and uncollected trash are not signs of a world-class city. Good city services and good jobs are the foundation of good neighborhoods. The City should restore services through a program of local hire, creating career opportunities for our residents.
MATCH PARK FUNDING LEVELS TO OTHER BIG CITIES: Some 1.8 million residents lack access to green space. Double 5-year spending to improve the environment and quality of life; triple it in 10 years to focus park development in needy areas.
PROTECT KIDS WALKING TO SCHOOL: No more deaths! The fatality at Le Conte Middle School after the City denied crossing guard services must be a lesson to the City Council: Hire crossing guards for every middle and elementary school.
RE-OPEN CHILDCARE AND AFTERSCHOOL RECREATION PROGRAMS: 26 of 28 childcare centers and LA Kids, offering safe alternatives to delinquency, have been defunded. Immediately re-open and give working parents peace of mind.
CLOSE PROPERTY TAX LOOPHOLES: Urge the County to crack down on commercial property owners who use accounting tricks to evade property tax reassessments to recoup millions in city revenue.
RENEGOTIATE OR TERMINATE BAD WALL STREET DEALS: Follow San Francisco’s lead. Initiate transparency controls and get out of toxic swap deals such as Bank of New York Mellon that cost taxpayers with a $130 million price tag.
STOP SADDLING TAXPAYERS WITH FORECLOSURE COSTS: We’ve been picking up the banks’ tab: Over $1 billion. Enforce L.A.’s law to collect fines and require all lenders to shoulder the hefty maintenance costs of foreclosed properties.