THE ISSUES
Photo courtesy of Everytown for Gun Safety
gun violence prevention
COVID-19 and gun violence are two major public health crises our country is still facing. The pandemic has had a profound impact on gun violence in our country. In 2020, the gun violence epidemic also surged. Both homicides and unintentional shootings increased to record levels. Record increases in gun sales, children homebound like never before, social isolation, and economic struggles due to COVID-19 put many people at increased risk for gun violence.
2020 was one of the deadliest years on record for the United States. Gun homicides and non-suicide-related shootings took approximately 19,300 lives, a 25 percent increase from 2019. (Source: everytownresearch.org)
The pandemic has highlighted the danger of having weak gun laws that enable firearms to fall into the wrong hands. It has also shed light on how vulnerable communities experience disproportionate harm. The deadly impact of these crises, though devastating, helps point the way to solutions that can keep people safe and healthy.
Mia understands the need for urgent action on gun violence as a survivor herself. She will fight for funding for mental health services, gun violence prevention programs, and legislation that gets dangerous weapons off our streets.
Of course, community gun violence intervention programs alone cannot mitigate the structural inequity that fuels gun violence. Lessons learned from this pandemic include the imperative to invest in the broader resources communities require to be safe and healthy.
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EDUCATION EQUITY
California has consistently ranked in the bottom half of states in per-pupil spending. As a proud LAUSD public school parent, Mia knows the unique struggles students, teachers and families face due to lack of resources and funding.
The pandemic has further exacerbated the education gap for our underfunded schools, with students struggling with distance learning and Latinx, Black and low-income students disproportionately affected by lack of access to technology and the public health crisis during COVID-19.
Mia has worked to get more money for arts and music programs at her Title I school. In 2019, she supported LAUSD teachers through the teacher's strike as a parent liaison. She knows that our schools are underfunded, and our students and teachers deserve more.
Every child deserves a high-quality public education. Mia will fight to increase funding for our schools, increase pay for our teachers and transform our schools into community schools with equitable access to education and services for families. Every student in our district deserves to be invested in and given a high-quality public education no matter where they live.
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california green new deal
2020 ranked as one of the hottest years on record, with the world's seven-warmest years have all occurred since 2014, with 10 of the warmest years occurring since 2005. In 2021, California is currently experiencing some of the worst effects of a human-induced climate crisis with dual crises of severe drought and a fire season that has already scorched three times more land than in the same period of last year's record season. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the state recorded its worst fire season in 2020, with around 4.1 million estimated acres burned.
The United Nations estimates that, in the near future, we will experience extreme weather events that we have not even imagined.
All of this was preventable. Due to the influence of fossil fuel money in our politics and the negligence of our leaders, we find ourselves in this terrifying mess. Too many of our leaders are beholden to the oil industry and won't stand up to act on the climate crisis. The incumbent has an "F" rating from the Sierra Club and has taken over $30,000 from the fossil fuel industry.
Mia is the only candidate in this race pledging not to take money from the fossil fuel industry. Like all of AD-52, she is living through this climate crisis and is responsible only to our communities.
As a district, we are no strangers to neglect and environmental racism. AD-52 sits between 8 freeways and is one of the centers of urban oil drilling in the county. We breathe in some of the most polluted air in the country, our ground is poisoned with toxins, and the Los Angeles River is deeply contaminated. Imagine if, instead, we created more bike lanes, made our streets more walkable, built more parks/green spaces, healed the LA river, ended oil drilling, and cleaned up our air, water, and land. That isn't a far-away dream. It's the world that we can build together.
We have to take action to meet the moment. Mia will be a climate justice champion in the Assembly. She will be a proud supporter of the California Green New Deal, an end to oil drilling, and a just transition to a green economy. She will fight for a 2,500 ft buffer zone between oil drilling and our homes and other policies that protect our planet and make our communities healthier.
We are going to fight this climate crisis with climate justice.
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Reimagining Public Safety + Criminal Justice Reform
In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, California cities spent $12.4 billion on policing, counties spent $6.2 billion, and the state itself spent $2.5 billion. At the same time, vital social services like childcare, education, and healthcare have been systemically defunded. We know that police are not keeping us safe as homicides reached an all-time high in 2020, even as we spend billions on policing.
Our Black and brown community members are systematically targeted, harassed, and killed in our streets. Police are assaulting protestors and activists. Local departments are violently displacing our unhoused neighbors instead of offering the services that they need. The system as it stands is not working for us and is especially not working for communities of color. A public safety system that traces its heritage back to slave-catchers in the 1800s has no place in a just society.
We have to reimagine public safety that centers on what our communities need. Mia is the only candidate in the race that has taken the No Cop Money pledge because corrupt special interests should have no place in our policy-making process. In contrast, the incumbent has taken thousands from police departments across the state.
Mia understands the first step to reimagining public safety is defunding the police so we can invest in community services like affordable housing, education, and public transit. Imagine if instead of paying $3 billion to the LAPD, that money being spent on mental health services, violence interruption programs, community centers, and more programs investing in our youth to stop harm before it even happens.
Public safety begins when we fund the services that our communities need.
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Healthcare for All
One in five Americans cannot afford necessary medical care in the event of an emergency. That is especially true in our district, where 18% of our community members live in poverty and more than 45% make less than $50,000 a year. As recently as 2017, nearly 20% of Northeast and East LA was uninsured.
That means that far too many of our neighbors are not getting regular medical care or having to choose between paying rent and going to the doctor. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed how little the health insurance industry works for us. It doesn’t have to be this way, the fact that so few of us have access to good health is a political choice.
Mia knows that we are spending too much money for too little care. Growing up, Mia saw her parents provide free medical care to community members in need. Her parents’ dedication to access to healthcare is an inspiration in the fight for universal healthcare. That is why Mia has taken the Patients Over Profit Pledge: we are not taking a dollar of health insurance money. We are the only campaign in this election doing so.
Mia will fight for universal single-payer healthcare, like AB 1400, in California. Together, we can give everyone healthcare without payments, without premiums, and without corporate abuse. Healthcare is a human right, and we have a responsibility to make that a lived reality.
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TRANSIT EQUITY
In Los Angeles and across California, we have been deprived of the benefits of a strong public transportation system. In AD-52, nearly 90% of residents drive to work. That isn't because everyone loves sitting in traffic, but because we do not have access to high-quality, free, and easy-to-access public transportation.
Imagine getting on a light-rail train and traveling from East LA to Santa Monica in an hour. Imagine if instead of having to spend on average two hours a day in traffic and spend hundreds of dollars on gas, you could take a free, green energy bus to work. We can build public transportation in Los Angeles that is free and reaches every part of the city. We can open up our streets to alternate modes of transportation like biking and walking.
Mia will fight to increase funding for building robust public transportation that is free to use for all Californians. We will connect our cities and our state with high-quality public and alternative transit. No matter where you live, you should be able to easily access and use public transportation that can take you wherever you need to go.
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SERVING OUR SENIORS
The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the lack of access to resources for our elders and seniors. Over the course of the last year, we have seen the full extent of how little investment there is to ensure the emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing of our elderly neighbors. Mia is no stranger to caring for the elders in our community. She understands that California needs to care for our elders in the way that we do in our own families.
Mia will be a champion for the elders of AD-52 and California in the State Assembly. She will fight for more funding for services for our seniors like comprehensive physical and mental health services. She will support complete funding for free meals, home assistance, medical care, and programs our seniors need.
Mia will stand with our elders, nursing home residents, and long-term care facility residents against elder abuse.