Los Angeles City Council District 8 spans much of South Los Angeles, from the elegant homes of Baldwin Hills to the impoverished neighborhoods of Southeast Los Angeles and the ongoing revitalization of the Crenshaw Boulevard business district.
City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson has represented the district since 2015 and has been an effective steward of this changing community, addressing homelessness, economic development, and public safety.
Harris-Dawson is running for a third and final term (under term limits) in the March election. He gets our support, once again, to finish his job in this district.
That work includes addressing homelessness, one of the most pressing issues in her district and the city, with temporary and permanent housing. He actively welcomed the development of the 1,040 homeless (or at risk of becoming homeless) housing units subsidized through the city's Proposition HHH bond measure program that are open or under construction in his district . This is the second-highest number of HHH units in any district in the city, according to the Los Angeles Department of Housing. Underutilized urban land in his district was available to be repurposed as homeless housing.
He has also moved people from large tent camps in his district, including one in 87th Street and Western Avenue and another at the intersection of Century Boulevard and Highway 110, in hotels and motels through Mayor Karen Bass's Inside Safe program. In the few cases where homeless people returned to those locations, the council member's office alerted returning service providers to conduct outreach before Inside Safe rooms were offered.
Harris-Dawson has also gotten people off the streets without designating any sidewalks in her district as off-limits to homeless people under the city's controversial 41.18 camping ban. That city ordinance doesn't solve homelessness, it just drags people from one sidewalk to another, and Harris-Dawson knows it.
In his years on the council, he has been a progressive voice, particularly on public safety issues.
He is an advocate for criminal justice reform, specifically ending traffic stops by armed LAPD officers, which he believes is one of the most damaging factors in community-police relations. . “I don't know any driver of color who hasn't been part of what they consider an unjustified police stop… You can't act as a police officer in communities that don't trust you,” he said.
He also joined other council members to push for the creation of an unarmed crisis response for people experiencing mental health emergencies. And in her district, she directed and supported emergency vans equipped with health care providers to leave a fire station in her district to respond to physical and mental health care calls as part of a pilot program.
He began Project Figueroa, an effort with police and the city attorney to end the sex trafficking of girls and women on Figueroa Street (a magnet for this activity for decades) by using surveillance cameras to help arrest pimps and clients instead of criminalizing sex. workers. She has worked with the city to prioritize resolving complaints against motels that engage in the sex trade. Three motel owners have lost their permits to operate. He would like to see those places eventually converted into housing.
He has also helped facilitate business development in his district to provide more business and job opportunities for his constituents. His crowning achievement has been Destination Crenshaw, a 1.3-mile outdoor installation of prominent parks and Black art along Crenshaw Boulevard, South Los Angeles' main commercial corridor. The project, which celebrates Black culture and the Black roots of the Crenshaw area, is expected to open this year.
The district is still plagued by undeveloped tracts of land and buildings in disrepair, at least in part as a result of a much-needed overhaul of water and energy infrastructure, something Harris-Dawson has been pushing for. But that's a problem that one of his two opponents, Cliff Smith, a community activist and business manager for the Roofers Local 36 union, says is a reason he should replace Harris-Dawson. Smith, who served two terms on the South Central Neighborhood Council, has been a strong advocate for community issues and could one day be a viable City Council candidate. Harris-Dawson's other opponent, Jahan Epps, is a real estate broker and developer.
None of the challengers have Harris-Dawson's experience or accomplishments. District 8 will benefit from having him at the helm for one last term.
