Meet Your Mayor: How Well Do You Align With LA Mayoral Candidate Mel Wilson

Mel Wilson is a businessman and former member of the Metro board. As a legislative housing and small-business advocate for nearly three decades, he supported policies that expanded opportunities for working families to own their own homes. He has also served on the Los Angeles Fire Commission and Business Tax Advisory Commission.

Website: www.mel4mayor.com

Positions

LAist sent a multiple-choice survey to every mayoral candidate on the ballot for the June 7 primary, starting in April. LAist sent out more than 30 questions to every mayoral candidate who was actively campaigning for the June 7 primary. Categorizing their responses was a challenge, and there was a lot of agreement and overlap among the candidates. We ultimately focused on 12 questions that we think help to distinguish their positions on key issues. You can review Wilson’s positions below. And you can read his full, unedited responses to the questionnaire here.

Housing and Homelessness

View topic guide

L.A.’s “anti-camping law” (Municipal Code 41.18) bans people who are unhoused from camping on public property close to locations such as schools, parks, libraries, and underpasses. Should it be kept as is, repealed, or changed?

Keep it as is

Keep it, but expand support for those experiencing homelessness

Change the law, or change how it's implemented

Repeal it

Should be kept in place.
I believe the primary cause of most homelessness in Los Angeles is…

A history of racial inequity in housing and wealth

Economic hardship

It’s not that simple. It's a complex problem that includes issues like housing costs, addiction and mental illness, racial and social inequity, and a crumbling social safety net

Undiagnosed, untreated mental illness, drug addiction, people who cannot survive the high cost of living in L.A., youth who were emancipated out of the foster care program.
Do you agree with Angelenos who say that the large number of people living outside makes the streets less safe?

Yes, the homelessness crisis makes everyone less safe

Yes, but most significantly for the people living on the streets

It's debatable

No

Untreated mental health individuals who are a safety risk to themselves and to the public. Open drug sales and use is contributing to criminal behavior. Drug users are committing crimes on the public and committing crimes on each other. Mentally ill people are a danger to themselves and to the public. Biohazard conditions (used hypodermic needles, methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl use is a public safety hazard). People living on the streets without proper sanitary receptacles to defecate and urinate on the streets are a health hazard. People living on the streets creates an environment for diseases to grow and spread.
Who should build housing for the unhoused community: the city or private developers?

The city. The public/private partnership has resulted in our tax dollars being transferred to the private sector

Private developers

Both. We need an all-hands-on-deck approach with support from public and private partners

We need to focus on temporary stabilization, not permanent housing

The private sector should build the housing, take the risk for development cost of material and labor. The public sector can agree to a delivery cost and the public sector either buys or leases housing units from the private sector. This will shift the construction risks from the public to the private sector. The private sector can assess the cost, risk and time for delivery and require a reasonable return on their investments for building the housing units.
I believe the biggest barrier to building more affordable housing is…

Red tape, funding challenges or bureaucratic hurdles

NIMBYism ("Not In My Back Yard")

Restrictive zoning, and having no requirement that new developments include affordable units

The growing number of private equity firms involved in the process has made securing financing for developers more difficult

The high building and permit fees the city of L.A. charges builders.

Policing

View topic guide

Should the Los Angeles Police Department remain at its current size of 9,500 sworn officers, should it be downsized, or should it increase?

Increase to full authorized force (around 9,700)

Increase to 10,000 or more

Downsize

Keep the same

I will budget for hiring up to 11,000 public safety officers. That public safety core includes hiring 350 mental health experts, hiring community public safety ambassadors (youths and seniors).
The current LAPD budget of $1.76 billion represents almost 16% of the overall city budget. Should LAPD funding stay the same, increase or decrease?

Increase

Decrease

Stay the same

[The budget should] increase to accommodate 350 mental health experts and community public safety ambassadors.
Is it possible to reduce crime in the city without increasing the LAPD budget?

Yes

No

No. Violent crimes are on the rise. People in every part of the city are asking for more public safety.
Media investigations have found that LAPD officers have disproportionately stopped Black drivers, and were much more likely to search Black and Latino drivers. Do you believe racial profiling is a problem?

Yes

No

Hold cops accountable, hire community ambassadors to work with the department. Have communities directly part of community policing deployment.
District Attorney George Gascón came to office on a progressive agenda that includes fewer prosecutions for low-level crimes. What statement best reflects your opinion of his agenda?

Broadly aligns with my beliefs

I disagree with some of his agenda

I think he should be recalled from office

Climate Change

View topic guide

California is in a chronic drought. Which of the following strategies most closely reflects what you think should be done at the city level to improve individual water conservation?

Increase DWP rates

Enforce rationing

Encourage voluntary conservation, but be willing to enforce rationing

Individual water use is not the right intervention point

Promote conservation, but also secure our local water supply by modernizing our infrastructure, recycling water, capturing rain and stormwater, and using native or drought-tolerant plants

Encourage voluntary rationing and institute rationing.
Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Los Angeles. Where do you see the biggest opportunity to lower those emissions?

Convert all city transportation to electric or hydrogen

Expand public transit

Help Angelenos live closer to their work to reduce transportation within the city

Make our streets safer for pedestrians, expand our electric vehicle network, and electrify our bus fleet

The biggest opportunity to lower emissions is to target and require cars, trucks, buses, trains, ships and planes to use zero emission fuels in LA. I will convert Metro’s 2,000 buses, hundreds of LADOT buses and thousands of LA City fleets to zero emission fuels. We will phase out the use of fossil fuels in vessels that enter the Ports of LA. We will electrify cargo cranes, phase out the use of carbon generating trucks that enter the Ports of LA.

Mel Wilson

Positions

Housing and Homelessness

L.A.’s “anti-camping law” (Municipal Code 41.18) bans people who are unhoused from camping on public property close to locations such as schools, parks, libraries, and underpasses. Should it be kept as is, repealed, or changed?

I believe the primary cause of most homelessness in Los Angeles is…

Do you agree with Angelenos who say that the large number of people living outside makes the streets less safe?

Who should build housing for the unhoused community: the city or private developers?

I believe the biggest barrier to building more affordable housing is…

Policing

Should the Los Angeles Police Department remain at its current size of 9,500 sworn officers, should it be downsized, or should it increase?

The current LAPD budget of $1.76 billion represents almost 16% of the overall city budget. Should LAPD funding stay the same, increase or decrease?

Is it possible to reduce crime in the city without increasing the LAPD budget?

Media investigations have found that LAPD officers have disproportionately stopped Black drivers, and were much more likely to search Black and Latino drivers. Do you believe racial profiling is a problem?

District Attorney George Gascón came to office on a progressive agenda that includes fewer prosecutions for low-level crimes. What statement best reflects your opinion of his agenda?

Climate Change

California is in a chronic drought. Which of the following strategies most closely reflects what you think should be done at the city level to improve individual water conservation?

Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Los Angeles. Where do you see the biggest opportunity to lower those emissions?

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