To fix overcrowding in L.A., build more housing, mayoral candidates say
Updated at 6:04 p.m.
Alyssa Bregman, right, and Nicole López hold a baby as they wait for their day in court in Los Angeles. L.A. voters are going to vote Tuesday on a range of issues, from housing to public transportation.
In the crowded courtroom below, this year’s mayoral candidates were asked, point blank, why they believe they’d make better mayor than their opponents. They told the judge what they really believe, not what they said in the past.
Alyssa Bregman says she believes the city should be more transparent and accountable for how it uses the public’s money. She thinks the city’s growth has been unfair. And she also argues she can provide leadership of a different kind to the city: one that has vision, respect and accountability, and fights back against those who she says are abusing their power to keep the city from growing.
But in the courtroom below, it was more like a showdown. In a trial over city finances that will reach the ballot, it was just Alyssa and her attorney, Brian Lonergan, versus Nicole López, her rival. And the judge, James Orenstein, wasn’t even hearing the case, but looking at the voters.
Alyssa Bregman and other candidates, whose names were taken as part of an election-law challenge by the League of California Cities, are running for mayor on a platform that includes a new housing plan, better public transportation and more accountability for how the city is spending federal and state dollars it receives.
And while Orenstein asked the candidates a few questions about the programs they favor, it’s as the trial unfolds that the candidates’ views and their personalities — and how they’re portrayed in campaign ads — shine.
Alyssa Bregman doesn’t shy away from the boldest views. She said