Latest / The Bill Handel Show / Los Angeles City Council Member Monica Rodriguez

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Los Angeles City Council Member Monica Rodriguez · The Bill Handel Show

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Speaker 1: Thanks for hanging out with us. Happy Monday to you.
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Speaker 1: It is Neil Servader in the morning. Crew Handle is
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Speaker 1: out today at Disneyland and he's with Amy King. And
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Speaker 1: I'm just curious as to what happens when you get
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Speaker 1: two opposite powerful forces of the goodness and the joy
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Speaker 1: that is Disneyland and the dark cloud that is Bill Handle.
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Speaker 1: So I'm curious. I don't think they're gonna Cary. I
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Speaker 1: think Disneyland will come out the winner, but that remains
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Speaker 1: to be said. I'm gonna check the hashtag handle in
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Speaker 1: the Wild and see if anybody's posted there yet. Handle
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Speaker 1: in the Wild. If you see him, yeah, if you
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Speaker 1: see him, take pictures, please tag me on to Graham
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Speaker 1: at Folk Reporter. That would be fantastic. And again, if
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Speaker 1: you see him, go up to him and say are
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Speaker 1: you Bill Handle. When he says yes, say what's it
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Speaker 1: like working with Neil? He loves when the attention is
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Speaker 1: taken from him, loves it it just he just loves
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Speaker 1: it very Then please go up to Amy and go
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Speaker 1: are you heathers, Oh my, that's me. That's me.
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Speaker 2: They'll do that.
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Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. I love when Heather fills it it
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Speaker 1: causing problems. Okay. My next guest here is a friend
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Speaker 1: of mine and someone who uh I love because I
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Speaker 1: find her to be the smart and balanced and that
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Speaker 1: is rare in politics. So any opportunity I get a
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Speaker 1: chance to chat with her and have her on the air,
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Speaker 1: I jump at it. So Monica Rodriguez, councilwoman from the
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Speaker 1: seventh district here in La, lives by the way I think,
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Speaker 1: and that is be rational. It's not and so I
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Speaker 1: like that rational thinking. So I'm going to start a
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Speaker 1: little broad here. Let's assume everything's important, Okay, because I
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Speaker 1: was taught by a mentor of mind, there's a difference
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Speaker 1: between important and urgent. Correct, So everything's important. So we're
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Speaker 1: not poo pooing anything. What's urgent right now in La?
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Speaker 1: In your eyes? What is the what is the most urgent?
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Speaker 1: You know?
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Speaker 2: Public safety is always going to be at the forefront
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Speaker 2: of everything that we do as a priority for the city,
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Speaker 2: and I think the supporting the resources to create even
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Speaker 2: just the feeling of safety is really important. Cleaning up
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Speaker 2: the city, making sure people feel that sense of comfort
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Speaker 2: that also obviously reaches into homelessness and making sure that
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Speaker 2: people feel like they can walk in their neighborhood safely,
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Speaker 2: not be exposed to the encampments and just the fear
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Speaker 2: and the threat of that. So I think, you know,
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Speaker 2: it's always public safety, but it's touching a lot of
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Speaker 2: these other very urgent issues about cleaning up the city,
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Speaker 2: not just simply. It's never just about LAPD. It is
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Speaker 2: multifaceted when we talk about public safety.
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Speaker 1: I agree, and that's a good point that, yes, your
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Speaker 1: law enforcement is key to the execution of that, but
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Speaker 1: they're not the only thing. And it takes us too,
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Speaker 1: and it takes you know, all across the board. Recently,
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Speaker 1: as you saw in the news, LA was ranked pretty
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Speaker 1: low when it came to quality of life. Right, you
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Speaker 1: hit the main one. Feeling comfortable and feeling safe is
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Speaker 1: the key. What are some as somebody who has access
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Speaker 1: to get things done. What are the things you do
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Speaker 1: in your district to make people feel like they're heard
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Speaker 1: and they're important.
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Speaker 2: Primarily it's about anticipating what people want. I know, what
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Speaker 2: I want to feel in my city and in my neighborhood,
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Speaker 2: and I want to make sure that it looks clean.
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Speaker 2: When it's clean, it feels safer, you feel better about it.
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Speaker 2: It looks active. And I deployed Operation bright Spot, which
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Speaker 2: is a clean up program that actually kind of supplements
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Speaker 2: what the Bureau of Sanitation does, because I don't people don't.
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Speaker 2: No one wants to wait, No one wants to look
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Speaker 2: at trash in the street for days until sanitation is
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Speaker 2: scheduled to show up. I wanted to have crews that
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Speaker 2: showed up powerwash the sidewalks, you know, just made you
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Speaker 2: feel better about your neighborhood. And so I have three
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Speaker 2: crews that go around my district that I use additional
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Speaker 2: supplemental dollars to create many parts of the you know,
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Speaker 2: different parts of the city. Businesses will assess themselves with
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Speaker 2: their own taxes to help create those supplemental programs to
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Speaker 2: powerwash the sidewalks. I did that for my community as
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Speaker 2: a baseline because frankly, we just don't have the same
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Speaker 2: type of businesses that are able to pay for those
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Speaker 2: types of assessments, and frankly, just the community deserves it.
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Speaker 2: So we focus on the primary corridors across the district,
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Speaker 2: on that. I work very closely with LAPD to resolve
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Speaker 2: very threatening or impacted encampments, but I also work with
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Speaker 2: homeless service providers. I created an RV to home program
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Speaker 2: to help eradicate our V homelessness in our districts, and
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Speaker 2: a lot of those encampments because they pose immense health
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Speaker 2: and safety risks in neighborhoods. They're dilapidated, they're ice ores,
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Speaker 2: but they're also just severe public safety risks because they've
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Speaker 2: got they're dilapidated and broken down, and so you see
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Speaker 2: sewage going into the street. People see all those things.
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Speaker 2: And so we've through my program, have housed over three
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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty people, destroy over nearly one hundred and
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Speaker 2: sixty r visa. At this point, it grows every day.
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Speaker 2: So we're just actively trying to solve these problems because
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Speaker 2: I'm not trying to push it into another area. I'm
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Speaker 2: just trying to eradicate that's the worst.
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Speaker 1: Monica Rodriguez Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez is here seventh district. First,
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Speaker 1: let everybody know where the seventh district is so they
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Speaker 1: get an idea of what you're overseeing.
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Speaker 2: Now, so all of the foothills the northeast city limits,
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Speaker 2: so Pakuoima, Silmar, Mission Hills, some Landa, Hunga Shadow Hills,
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Speaker 2: Latuna Canyon.
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Speaker 1: So you have a very rare shuffled deck. In as
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Speaker 1: far as economics, so you have different you know, you
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Speaker 1: have poor error areas, richer areas, and some that are
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Speaker 1: close to freeways, some that are further from freere. That's
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Speaker 1: a pretty varied area.
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Speaker 2: I have a really cool mix.
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Speaker 1: I love my district.
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Speaker 2: I have the largest equine keeping area, lots of inches.
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Speaker 2: I've got a lot of industrial park and industrial manufacturing,
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Speaker 2: and sadly a lot of it because of just historic
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Speaker 2: planning practices. Many of the residential areas a butt that's
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Speaker 2: manufacturing your ocean not very nice to live next to you. So,
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Speaker 2: you know, working on mitigating a lot of that for
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Speaker 2: the working families in those areas and cleaning up the area.
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Speaker 2: But it's a really beautiful mix in my district.
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Speaker 1: That's a story that goes throughout Los Angeles in a
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Speaker 1: lot of ways too, where you have butt something else
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Speaker 1: or it's kind of hard to get away because it
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Speaker 1: is weird planning. There's a lot of things that look
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Speaker 1: like they shook it in a pillowcase and then threw
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Speaker 1: it out on a well.
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Speaker 2: You had a lot of redlining where those were limited
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Speaker 2: to families of color that were only allowed to buy
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Speaker 2: in those areas, and so it was you know, you
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Speaker 2: have a lot of that dirty industrial that's located in
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Speaker 2: those residential areas.
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Speaker 1: Also give out your social media because you were talking
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Speaker 1: about cleaning things up. And I love the fact that
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Speaker 1: you document that. You say, hey, look, here's a before and.
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Speaker 2: After well because you know, people say, oh, they don't
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Speaker 2: do anything, they never do anything. Well, for the last
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Speaker 2: eight years, we've been documenting everything because I like to
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Speaker 2: have receipts for everything that I do. For me, it's
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Speaker 2: all about measurable results. So Emrod CD seven is my
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Speaker 2: Instagram handle and also on Facebook.
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Speaker 1: Is your gang name or.
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Speaker 2: Emrod Tememrod is basically the.
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Speaker 1: Handle but erry special handshake.
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Speaker 2: Okay, No, just was one IM trying to stereotype moving
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Speaker 2: from the Northeast Valley. Come on, I know, I went
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Speaker 2: to I'm a junior high book.
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Speaker 1: Tut me some slack self hating Mexican over here. So
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Speaker 1: talking about these things that you're doing, I often laugh
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Speaker 1: that when people say, you know how hard it would
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Speaker 1: be to do those things, get rid of the RVs,
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Speaker 1: clean up the streets. I always go, well, District seven's
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Speaker 1: doing it, so how come LA can't do it?
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Speaker 2: It is well, I'm actually I want to thank Mayor Bass.
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Speaker 2: We're partnering on expanding my RV to home pilot citywide
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Speaker 2: because we've shown the demonstrated results and cost effective at
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Speaker 2: doing it. It's not costing, you know, millions and millions
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Speaker 2: of dollars. We charted out the path intentionally to figure
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Speaker 2: out the disposition process because remember, people have to remember
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Speaker 2: there are legal requirements that we have based on your
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Speaker 2: own personal property rights and what's entitled to you, and
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Speaker 2: so we had to figure out the most efficient pathway forward.
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Speaker 2: And because there's no value in these RVs, we have
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Speaker 2: to basically pay to have them destroyed because there's no
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Speaker 2: they're not worth scrap metal. So it's not like someone
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Speaker 2: wants to tow it and take it. It's just literally
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Speaker 2: a trash here.
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Speaker 1: No, if you're not keeping up on those things, so
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Speaker 1: you become filthy, and you know, they're they're made to
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Speaker 1: be light, so that you're you know, gas mileage and
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Speaker 1: everything else that they're not taking care of, they become
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Speaker 1: garbage fairly quickly. Talking with Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, and she's
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Speaker 1: the she oversees the seventh district, but I find her
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Speaker 1: to be quite reasonable and that to be very very
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Speaker 1: rare in local politics and beyond. So the mayor's race,
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Speaker 1: you know, I'm always hitting you up. The worst part
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Speaker 1: of the mayor's race is you're not in it. I
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Speaker 1: would love to see you be mayor. Maybe put that,
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Speaker 1: I don't know right down, pencil it in, put it
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Speaker 1: on a post it note, I'll write it in. Have
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Speaker 1: I ever mentioned that to you?
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Speaker 2: Yeah?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I had a couple of.
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Speaker 2: Nights and I you know what, I really do appreciate it,
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Speaker 2: and for everybody that was really encouraging me, and I
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Speaker 2: mean even from my own district, to be honest, I
10:38
Speaker 2: was getting a lot of encouragement.
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Speaker 1: But I'm the first.
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Speaker 2: When I ran for reelection in twenty twenty two, I
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Speaker 2: was the first person to seek reelection in my district
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Speaker 2: in over a decade. And so I really I'm the
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Speaker 2: first elected official to serve in the full tenure to
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Speaker 2: actually demonstrate the difference that we can make at a
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Speaker 2: local level in city council. And so That's that's why
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Speaker 2: I didn't want to betray the trust and the commitment
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Speaker 2: that I made to my district.
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Speaker 1: And I said, it's a rock to hop onto the next.
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Speaker 2: And I wouldn't write because that's what everybody else did,
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Speaker 2: and I didn't want to do that to my district.
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Speaker 1: I didn't want to do that to my city.
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Speaker 2: And I know I can lead change and be the
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Speaker 2: example of change in my district that could be replicated
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Speaker 2: across the city.
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Speaker 1: So we're looking at mayor's race here, and it's it's
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Speaker 1: such a bummer to me because I've been vocal about
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Speaker 1: you know, originally Mayor bass I thought she was doing
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Speaker 1: some good work with the homeless issue. I saw some
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Speaker 1: cleaning efforts, and then everything kind of went to pot
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Speaker 1: and I feel like, I don't know what it is.
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Speaker 1: LA is so important, and then all of a sudden,
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Speaker 1: it seems like everybody in that position starts looking outward
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Speaker 1: to something else or not focusing on us, or they
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Speaker 1: are out of town all the time, or whatever. So
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Speaker 1: I'm looking. I will not vote for Nythia Rumman. I can't.
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Speaker 1: I think either. The to have a democratic socialist to
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Speaker 1: me is like taking the shovel of the person digging
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Speaker 1: the hole and getting this back ho with a with
12:14
Speaker 1: a massive crane that sit there and dig it deeper
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Speaker 1: and make things more worse. I don't know her as
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Speaker 1: a person. I'm sure she's fine, but I'm just saying
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Speaker 1: I can't do that. So I have to re look
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Speaker 1: at Mayor Bass. Have you put your vote behind anybody yet?
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Speaker 2: I'll be voting for Karen Bass?
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Speaker 1: Okay, So what's going to make a different You've been
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Speaker 1: very vocal against not her as a person, but against
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Speaker 1: either the execution of some of her policies or the
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Speaker 1: policies themselves. Well, you know it needs to change.
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Speaker 2: I always credited Mayor Bass having the courage to take
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Speaker 2: on this homeless crisis in the manner that she did,
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Speaker 2: and taking it with that sense of urgency. It is
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Speaker 2: a behemoth of a system that needs reform, and you
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Speaker 2: don't have a lot of really strong collaborators that support
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Speaker 2: that work. Nithia Rahmans served as the chair has continued
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Speaker 2: to serve as the chair of the Homelessness and Housing Committee,
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Speaker 2: which is the accountability piece on the City Council. That's
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Speaker 2: the function and the role, and she has been an
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Speaker 2: obstruction to really aiding any of the reforms. So when
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Speaker 2: I look at what mayor Bass has done, she has
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Speaker 2: frankly been I think misled by ms Rahman in many cases,
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Speaker 2: and I think she's now kind of seen that or
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Speaker 2: living that. But I think what I appreciate about what
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Speaker 2: Karen Bass has actually done is in spite of my
13:41
Speaker 2: outspoken criticisms about the way things are done.
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Speaker 1: I like how you kind of downplay it. Just the
13:50
Speaker 1: way you say it is like outspokenness. I'm like, WHOA
13:54
Speaker 1: have some red bottoms? Well, I just you know, I
13:57
Speaker 1: just say, you really have called her out.
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Speaker 2: I've called, I've called, but I call, I call everything out.
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Speaker 2: It's you know, I have to call balls and strikes.
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Speaker 2: And I have been very honest and critical. But I
14:10
Speaker 2: appreciate that she still wants to continue to work with
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Speaker 2: me and figure it out, and there has been a
14:15
Speaker 2: lot of effort to helping to do that. We are
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Speaker 2: working to recalibrate a lot together, and that I respect
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Speaker 2: and appreciate. I've seen, you know, it's easy to avoid
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Speaker 2: your critics and hide from them and not ever deal
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Speaker 2: with them. She's actually reached out and engaged with me
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Speaker 2: in a constructive manner, and I appreciate that.
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Speaker 1: Is she going to take advice she has, she has taken.
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Speaker 1: That's what that's been my change for me. That rule
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Speaker 1: is what's going to get my vote, that plan to
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Speaker 1: move forward and say, Okay, haven't nailed everything correct. I
14:47
Speaker 1: just feel like they're in the past with the fires
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Speaker 1: and stuff. There was a lot of scapegoating and the like,
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Speaker 1: and I don't like that. I've called that.
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Speaker 2: Out as well, and so yes, I think the the
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Speaker 2: character of an individual is that, yes, you try, at
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Speaker 2: least you try. I give you know, I credit people
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Speaker 2: for giving a damn to try. Most people hide from it,
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Speaker 2: but she tried. It's time to recalibrate what didn't work.
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Speaker 2: And it's not always about how you start, but how
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Speaker 2: you finish. And I think it's important for her to
15:20
Speaker 2: have another shot.
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Speaker 1: It gives me great hope knowing that she's listening to
15:26
Speaker 1: people like you, because you're not. You know, you'll call
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Speaker 1: yourself out when something's not dot and that's all I want.
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Speaker 1: I just want people to be honest and write, You've
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Speaker 1: made it clear about Nythia Rahman. You and I share that.
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Speaker 1: I think that that handing Los Angeles over to a
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Speaker 1: democratic socialist would be the worst thing.
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Speaker 2: You know, it's you know what, I just want to
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Speaker 2: say that it's less about the label. It's more about like,
15:56
Speaker 2: show me your work. She's been in office six years
15:59
Speaker 2: and in those six years, like right now, last just
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Speaker 2: about a week or so ago, she introduced an amendment
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Speaker 2: that would prohibit families or that would go after families
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Speaker 2: for having barbecues. And I don't know many families that
16:12
Speaker 2: have bonfires in their backyard, but come for me idea.
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Speaker 2: It was about like, okay, you can't have barbecues in
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Speaker 2: your backyard on red flag days.
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Speaker 1: And I was like, wait a minute, I know.
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Speaker 2: What is that. But you're don't support forty one to
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Speaker 2: eighteen where the homeless encampments have actually exposed so many
16:32
Speaker 2: residential neighborhoods to those in fact severe fire danger. And
16:38
Speaker 2: so it makes no sense. How do you sit here
16:42
Speaker 2: and say, well, those are protected, but we're going to
16:44
Speaker 2: go after residents. And that was a policy that she's introduced,
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Speaker 2: and it makes no sense.
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Speaker 1: Why is that? Why is it if I put garbage
16:50
Speaker 1: in front of my house, that's a hazard, that's blight,
16:55
Speaker 1: that's a problem. But if somebody steals a cart from
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Speaker 1: a grocery store, puts their garbage in it, and then
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Speaker 1: sleeps on the sidewalk lighting fires. That's okay, right, I
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Speaker 1: don't get that.
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Speaker 2: Well, she's voted against forty one to eighteen, which is
17:09
Speaker 2: our enforcement mechanism on that, and so it just again,
17:14
Speaker 2: make it make sense. Don't tell me you care about
17:17
Speaker 2: public safety and then allow the very thing that is
17:20
Speaker 2: exposing so many of us to some rational tools that
17:23
Speaker 2: can help protect neighborhoods from in these sensitive areas.
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Speaker 1: So you know, I am an independent and I play
17:32
Speaker 1: politics like a chessboard. There's sometimes where you're going to
17:35
Speaker 1: need a democratic mind. There's sometimes you're going to need
17:38
Speaker 1: a Republican mind. Preferably it'd be nice to shuffle a
17:42
Speaker 1: deck and have everybody work together. But we're in a
17:45
Speaker 1: position that, yeah, there are some you know, I would
17:50
Speaker 1: have liked to see Caruso, and I'm just curious about that.
17:53
Speaker 1: I don't know what he would have done, but it
17:55
Speaker 1: would have been something different. With this going on and
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Speaker 1: you being so vocal in the past about Mayor Bass
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Speaker 1: and then asking you today and you're saying that you're
18:07
Speaker 1: going to vote for her. Things, little things like sidewalks potholes.
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Speaker 1: They mean a lot to me because I think the
18:15
Speaker 1: small things we get the big things. Yes, you're doing
18:18
Speaker 1: something in your district with sidewalks. I just saw it
18:21
Speaker 1: on social media the other day and I laughed because
18:23
Speaker 1: I complain every day. What is the problem. Why can't
18:26
Speaker 1: we do the simple things? What is it about sidewalks
18:29
Speaker 1: potholes that politicians don't touch them? Are they just not sexy?
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Speaker 2: So here's the challenge with the street repair, which I
18:38
Speaker 2: know when every time anyone hits a pothole, you're cursing
18:41
Speaker 2: the city.
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Speaker 1: And I get it.
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Speaker 2: I've had my own experiences. But when the voters adopted
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Speaker 2: Measure HLA, which was supposed to mandate implementation of all
18:55
Speaker 2: of these bike lanes and all of these traffic calmbing efforts,
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Speaker 2: there were mandatory implementation of eighty A compliant sidewalks and
19:05
Speaker 2: whatnot that allso have to be delivered in order to
19:09
Speaker 2: resurface a full street. And so the voters adopted that. They've,
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Speaker 2: by the way, advanced by Nythia Ramen and supported by
19:17
Speaker 2: Nythia Ramen and a few other colleagues including you know
19:20
Speaker 2: some of my other some of the other that you
19:23
Speaker 2: know of those some of the others of some of
19:25
Speaker 2: the others of that ILK, we'll just say so they
19:29
Speaker 2: all advocated for it, it passed, and so this is
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Speaker 2: what you got, folks. It was an unfunded mandate when
19:35
Speaker 2: they when the voters approved that. So now you're limiting
19:38
Speaker 2: the city's ability to say, Okay, we can't resurface your
19:41
Speaker 2: street until all the sidewalks are eighty A compliant and
19:44
Speaker 2: and that you install bike lanes as well. So that's
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Speaker 2: what that's one of the limitations. They have created a
19:52
Speaker 2: greater demand for how we repair these repair these streets.
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Speaker 2: So on the sidewalks though, I want to talk that
20:00
Speaker 2: because I'm really proud of having created this new sidewalk
20:03
Speaker 2: apprenticeship program in partnership with the LA Conservation Corps. We're
20:07
Speaker 2: taking young people.
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Speaker 1: Young people haven't.
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Speaker 2: Been exposed to the trades. I think there's been you know,
20:12
Speaker 2: there's a generational gap, and we certainly need right and
20:17
Speaker 2: we need to have those skills. It's a life skill.
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Speaker 2: I used to work on, you know, doing those types
20:23
Speaker 2: of showers around the house with my dad, So I
20:26
Speaker 2: think it's really important. So I created this sidewalk apprenticeship
20:28
Speaker 2: program where young people are getting paid classroom training with
20:32
Speaker 2: the carpenter journeyman and their actual laboratory their classroom is
20:37
Speaker 2: repairing the sidewalks in my district. They're actually they're funded
20:41
Speaker 2: to repair the.
20:42
Speaker 1: Sidewalks in my district.
20:43
Speaker 2: And so we've done over three dozen locations. We're still
20:47
Speaker 2: doing more, but we're hiring people from that. We're hiring
20:50
Speaker 2: young people from my district. They're repairing the sidewalks in
20:52
Speaker 2: my district. But that was a priority of mine when
20:55
Speaker 2: I first got into office. I've done over four miles
20:58
Speaker 2: of sidewalk repair. It was a priority of my mind
21:00
Speaker 2: because it's a huge liability in the city, trip and calls.
21:04
Speaker 2: So another initiative that I've created is in partnership with
21:07
Speaker 2: the labor unions. They're using their labor, their apprenticeship labor,
21:11
Speaker 2: which they're required to do as part of their qualifications.
21:15
Speaker 2: I'm just funding the materials and their labor is actually
21:18
Speaker 2: going to repair the sidewalks. And so I'm launching that
21:20
Speaker 2: program in my district as well. But I'm proud that,
21:23
Speaker 2: you know, again, it's another example of Mayor Bass has
21:26
Speaker 2: seen the value of my youth sidewalk apprenticeship program.
21:29
Speaker 1: She's going to put that in place.
21:31
Speaker 2: Already allocated an additional like four four point nine almost
21:36
Speaker 2: five million dollars to do that around Olympic venues.
21:40
Speaker 1: I'll send her my address. Someone is someone that left
21:46
Speaker 1: a talkback saying that there is an encampment in your
21:50
Speaker 1: area at Bolton Hall. So I asked Monica during break,
21:54
Speaker 1: I said, do you know this? And she got on
21:56
Speaker 1: the phone and talked to somewhere. Our staff is there
22:00
Speaker 1: in there and it was just reported within the last
22:02
Speaker 1: week or so, and so what're's next?
22:05
Speaker 2: So the park rangers are on it because Bolton Hall
22:08
Speaker 2: is a recreation and parks facility and so they're already
22:12
Speaker 2: they're on it.
22:13
Speaker 1: So thanks to the person that called in. I don't
22:15
Speaker 1: see a name here, all righty. Always a pleasure, Thank you,
22:19
Speaker 1: Please keep reason alive. Please, for the love of God,
22:22
Speaker 1: I am every day. That's all we need. Yes, Monica Rodriguez,
22:26
Speaker 1: council woman from the seventh district. Always a pleasure. Thanks
22:29
Speaker 1: for taking the time to come on, especially a whole hour.
22:32
Speaker 1: We'll be back with more. So go know where Neil
22:35
Speaker 1: Sevadra Bill handles out today. This is KFI heard everywhere
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22:41
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