On this episode of The Signal, we go from the Amazon rainforest to South Los Angeles. First, climate justice organizer Aura Vásquez joins us live from COP30 in Belém, Brazil, where world leaders and fossil fuel lobbyists clash over climate truth and disinformation. Then we launch our Politics, Tacos & Beer series with CD9 council candidate José Ugarte on immigration, housing, and keeping South LA affordable.
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TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
00:00:00:03 - 00:00:05:16
ANNOUNCER
Before. Also, you're allowed to call me in and be a part of the discussion and say.
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ANNOUNCER
What's on your mind.
00:00:07:00 - 00:00:17:21
ANNOUNCER
Remember, think outside the cage every Sunday at 9 a.m. on Kpfk, 90.7 FM Los Angeles, or worldwide@kpfk.org.
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MUSIC
Hey, just wait and see. Someday we'll create.
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DINO
90.7% Kpfk Los Angeles.
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MUSIC
The whole run by a handful of greedy bankers and CEOs who nobody elected. What can't possibly last?
00:00:46:02 - 00:00:49:15
MUSIC
I'm going to tell you we're going to change.
00:00:49:17 - 00:00:51:04
MUSIC
But you really only have to remember I.
00:00:51:06 - 00:00:57:22
MUSIC
Took two words.
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MUSIC
My.
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MUSIC
Time and my.
00:01:06:06 - 00:01:45:22
DINO
I'm not just saying. Good afternoon, Los Angeles, and welcome to another episode of The Signal here on Kpfk, 90.7 FM. I'm your host, Dino. And as always, we bring you news, information and analysis centered on the issues shaping our communities here at home and today on the other side of the world. In today's episode, we look at an issue happening right now in Berlin, but a scene where cop 30 opened with a serious warning from the United Nations about the struggle of climate disinformation and the undermining issues that are impacting climate action today.
00:01:45:24 - 00:02:10:22
DINO
Then we'll go to more of a local level. Our special series, Politics Tackles in Beer. We welcome. Los Angeles City Council District nine candidate who said we are there for an introductory conversation so that the people of Los Angeles can get to know who he is. This is going to be a part of our ongoing series here on The Signal, as we'll bring you the people who are looking to change society for the better.
00:02:10:24 - 00:02:19:07
DINO
That that'll be Rosengart on the second episode. So let's go ahead and get started again.
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MUSIC
In the morning for.
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MUSIC
La la la la guerra me and thought I was just going to get you. Yeah, that's my thing. You never get it, I said. Look. I'm sorry. I she ain't no la la la la song. I lost them all. Is yo. I'm also no signal president.
00:02:46:08 - 00:02:59:03
MUSIC
Look at the salami. Let's move the fat and get. Then don't get you then. It's on 2010, y'all. President.
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MUSIC
So let's get getting rid of that in the best way that you can. And number.
00:03:15:11 - 00:03:17:23
MUSIC
Yes I love you ain't.
00:03:18:00 - 00:03:51:02
DINO
Welcome back. So today we're actually looking we're trying to connect now to Brazil. In fact the lower Amazon region of Brazil, about 5200 miles away from home where Cop 30 is happening now, Cop 30 is the conference of the parties. It's an annual high level meeting organized by the United Nations. And the climate cop is organized, through a framework that brings together the convention of climate change.
00:03:51:04 - 00:04:09:09
DINO
We have a a local elected. Excuse me, local activists, long time advocate, advisor who is at Trump 30. And we're actually right now on the spot trying to connect with her, as she said earlier today, when we talk, I'm in the Amazon.
00:04:09:09 - 00:04:12:23
AURA
I, I had a man the. How are you?.
00:04:12:23 - 00:04:39:02
DINO
You. I would so my guest, again, my guest is Aura Vasquez, who is a long time advocate. And as I was saying, cop 30 opened this week in Belén Brazil, as delegates for more than 190 countries gathered to negotiate global climate action. A United Nations issued upon the opening an early warning that climate disinformation is one of the biggest challenges they're facing.
00:04:39:04 - 00:04:57:20
DINO
And joining me now is Aura Vasquez is he a long, a long, long, long time leader in environmental and climate justice and organizer from here in Los Angeles? Climate is her thing. I want to thank you for joining us live from Brazil. Talk to me. How what is the energy like there?
00:04:57:22 - 00:05:35:02
AURA
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so glad that I'm able to share with all of you. And all of the Angelinos are going to hear this show, the energy and the excitement that has been, you know, we've been feeling here in Berlin and in in Cop 30, you know, there are thousands of people that came here both to negotiate and to, show the plans that this country has developed to tackle, emissions and specifically to, you know, to put a stop to the, the heating planet that we are contributing to heat.
00:05:35:04 - 00:06:02:07
AURA
And also the, you know, the there's so many advocates and organizers and other people that are coming here to be part of the cop. Like just today we we had a march with thousands of people that took on the streets to put at the center of the conversation with, indigenous communities. And, you know, in low income and communities of color that are often most affected by climate change, by pollution.
00:06:02:11 - 00:06:21:09
DINO
And so I want to walk us through, for those of us who only get to read the headlines or hear about it through folks like you, what do you mean? When when you say these 190 countries and representatives are coming to negotiate, what does that exactly entail?
00:06:21:11 - 00:06:52:17
AURA
Yeah. So, first is is it's worth noting that the cop means, you know, the, the conference of the parties and parties are countries that have agreed to the Paris Agreement. A few years ago, all of these countries, including the United States, this year, the United States didn't send anyone. We don't have a delegation. I think a cop 30 here in Belén in Brazil, because our current president took us out of the Paris Agreement.
00:06:52:23 - 00:07:21:00
AURA
We currently are not, together with the global community trying to tackle climate change or trying to find solutions or create green jobs or anything of that sort. So it's worth, helping people understand that that's that's what we're here for this year, particularly the countries where coming with their NDC is with their national, you know, plans on how they're we're going to tackle this issue locally.
00:07:21:03 - 00:07:41:12
AURA
This is why the local work is so important. And I want to emphasize that for anyone that is listening, that is so important that you get involved no matter where you are because your local, your local work, it has a really global impact and we see it more so when we come here to, you know, to the cop or to BLM.
00:07:41:14 - 00:08:03:12
AURA
The other part that is worth for folks that are listening to understand is that there is a blue zone where you have a have what you need to have a special badge, and you either come with a nonprofit organization or you come as a party to negotiate. So again, in this case, the United States is not a party, but places like, for example, Mexico is a party, Colombia is a party.
00:08:03:12 - 00:08:33:06
AURA
You know, and many other countries, the the EU is a party. So they have observers and they also have negotiators and negotiators are meeting every day sharing. This is what we're doing it on country. This is what we need to do together. This part this year was like yesterday was really special because, the minister of Environment of Colombia, agreed to make Colombia Amazon completely mining free.
00:08:33:12 - 00:08:33:23
DINO
Wow.
00:08:33:24 - 00:08:56:11
AURA
And maybe for those of you that don't know, mining is a big thing in the Amazon is include and also like ranching and like extracting all of these natural resources. So yeah. So you have the blue zone and it's for all the negotiations and a lot more has happened. And I have been roaming around, the blue zone, meeting a lot of people, understanding what they're doing.
00:08:56:13 - 00:09:20:17
AURA
There is a culture pavilion. There is an oceanography pavilion that is a arts and science pavilion. That is all the countries have also their own pavilions where they showcase what they have been doing and their innovation, which is, you know, really exciting. Well, there's another side. There's another side of cop that is the Green Zone and, the green Zone is the cop for the people where everyone is welcome.
00:09:20:17 - 00:09:36:12
AURA
You don't need a badge. You don't need to even be involved if you don't want to. You can be part of the talks, conversations, give ideas. And and this is obviously very driven by the government of Brazil and especially specifically here, the city of Belém.
00:09:36:14 - 00:10:13:20
DINO
So my guest is our Vasquez, leader in environmental and climate justice and an organizer here in Los Angeles who is coming to us live from the UN climate conference, or Cop 30, that's taking place in Belém, the capital of the Brazilian state of para, November 10th through the 21st. And now it's my understanding that the conference was opened up with a stark warning by the UN and others, indicating that the level of disinformation that is going out about the impact of climate change is reached, unprecedented levels.
00:10:14:01 - 00:10:20:19
DINO
How were you able to get a chance to to listen to that opening or, what's your response overall?
00:10:20:21 - 00:10:43:22
AURA
Is being there over all the conversation and all of the tables that I have been part of, the fact that people don't believe that we're in an urgent moment where we need to act with the urgency that it deserves, that, you know, where for the past couple of years, we have seen the more commodification our market based strategies to tackle climate change.
00:10:43:24 - 00:10:58:06
AURA
So people don't want to get off of fossil fuels. And I'm sure you have seen that there are more oil and gas and fossil fuel lobbyists at Belem and a Cop than representatives of countries and advocates.
00:10:58:08 - 00:11:23:08
DINO
Hold it. Hold that thought, because you actually beat me to it. I, I did have that note, that was shared with me by my producer. And let me just repeat what you said because I had to look it up. I was like, that can't be true. But indeed, there are more industry lobbyists and other advocates representing large corporate scale industries, and there are participants, including nations at this conference.
00:11:23:08 - 00:11:30:04
DINO
If that does not say hello, warning, I don't know what does. And so you've noticed that.
00:11:30:06 - 00:12:01:20
AURA
Absolutely. And to tie it back to your question about misinformation, there it is. You know, they have a lot of resources. They have put tons of money to also, you know, way weave their ways into the cop. You know, they they organize very beautiful, you know, homes or pavilions outside of cop there give money to organizations to put, conversations and, and is this really hard to move away from the influence of the fossil fuel money?
00:12:01:20 - 00:12:33:10
AURA
A cop, you know, not just because they're driving the negotiating factors, but they're also driving countries. They they're telling, governments that the divestment is expensive. That is hard, that you don't want to do that, that you're going to have people out of work that is not going to be a driver of innovation or jobs. And it's really hard for a lot of nations, especially in the global South, to kind of stand against that type of misinformation and that those type of resources.
00:12:33:11 - 00:12:57:01
AURA
Right. You know, because like in a place like BLM, for example, where ranching is, is is part of like the way of living is, you know, it's a quiet fry, it's quiet or, you know, stay in Brazil and there depend on ranching. So asking people to stop doing something for the little people is kind of the question that environmentalists, we have always, you know, come to confront.
00:12:57:03 - 00:13:07:01
AURA
How are we going to tackle, how are we going to protect our environment? How are we going to tackle climate change, and at the same time give people benefits so that they don't struggle financially?
00:13:07:03 - 00:13:33:15
DINO
So, so and I'm glad you bring up that point, because one of the questions I did want to ask you is, how is the global South, which are countries, as you pointed out, become very dependent on agricultural, industries, who need access to the lands. How are they responding to the challenge of disinformation? And you mentioned that in the case of Colombia, they've declared their region of the Amazon, an investment free or rather, there will.
00:13:33:15 - 00:13:35:12
AURA
Be no mining free mining.
00:13:35:16 - 00:13:46:10
DINO
Mining free rather. So what what have you heard from other countries in the region who have that kind of, impact on their part of these industries? How are they responding?
00:13:46:12 - 00:14:17:24
AURA
The the global South is really bearing the effects of climate change, right now. They're the ones that see, sea water rise level. We so, huge delegations of Indonesia and Malaysia like all that Southeast Asia is really affected because the water is rising and some of these communities are being displaced, you know, and I mean, even us in Los Angeles, with the recent wildfires that we never saw before in January in, you know, in California, you know, we never saw that happening.
00:14:18:01 - 00:14:43:15
AURA
But to go back to the global South, one of the practices that I have been seeing in the in the past years, cop and just in general, this idea of carbon credits, you know. Yeah, carbon credits or biodiversity credits. Basically, hey, I get to pollute. But in exchange, I hope you, you know, I give you funding from that pollution.
00:14:43:17 - 00:15:28:18
AURA
I raise funds so that you can grow the, I don't know, trees, or you can reforest your area or you can clean up your river. And that has created a huge, dependency issue. I'm on this, the global South, because now you have communities that depend on pollution. Do have a livelihood or, or a way to, you know, to, to leave, you know, so so this is no different than places like, for example, the California, the California Environmental Justice Alliance, that was that environmental justice play a organization in, in California where they have been telling us forever we cannot commodify pollution and people's health.
00:15:28:20 - 00:15:54:11
AURA
We cannot make it so that people need to be sick so that we can act on climate or we can act on, on environmental issues. So every day there is something new, you know, that, that, people like, for example, growing kelp in the ocean so that they can clean the ocean and sequester carbon like, now, this cop, this has been big conversations about sequestering carbon, right?
00:15:54:15 - 00:16:14:10
AURA
So now, like a lot of companies and a lot of market based solutions are put in place so that they can do these things. But we could we could avoid all of this if we would just do a real divestment from fossil fuels, which is exactly what this week, they're negotiating here to go.
00:16:14:12 - 00:16:37:00
DINO
And the fossil fuel industry has a massive interest in Cop 30. Have you seen anything particularly stand out from that industry? I know you referenced or you mentioned that, some of these industries are putting up these spectacular displays and investing locally to try and generate more disinformation, but just how big is the fossil fuel industry's interest in Cop 30.
00:16:37:02 - 00:17:03:01
AURA
Is still give you an idea. The delegations that have come to from the United States, because obviously we don't have a delegation. So we have like some, you know, conversations, let's call it, a lot of them are being sponsored by these folks, by the the gas companies, by, you know, by, banks that invest on, you know, fossil fuel production of source pipelines.
00:17:03:01 - 00:17:29:13
AURA
And source says it's really hard to stay, on topic when you have so much influence of the fossil fuel industry, also bringing elected officials from other countries. Right. And they're the ones that get to they also know and understand the system really well, because for you to get a badge to go to the blue zone is quite hard, you know?
00:17:29:18 - 00:17:57:10
AURA
Right. And they're the ones that they're the ones that are, you know, allow the first round of badges for like different people that they want to bring. So there's no brainer that there's more fossil fuel folks or fossil fuel friends, you know, a cop than anyone else. The other day on Tuesday, two days after that, started a group of indigenous communities marched into Cop.
00:17:57:10 - 00:17:59:00
AURA
I'm sure you guys all sold out the.
00:17:59:03 - 00:18:01:18
DINO
Event at the beginning. I understand. Right?
00:18:01:20 - 00:18:27:10
AURA
Absolutely. And I know for a lot of people as well, we can't believe this is happening at a global conference, but it's essential that we put the voices of indigenous communities in the conversation and the fact that they couldn't come in, just like many of the fossil fuel executives did on their friends. Is is that real? Is there is the real irony a cop?
00:18:27:13 - 00:18:50:18
DINO
Sure, sure. And now that you mention that. So one of my questions, and if you have a few more minutes, I, I really appreciate you. I know that you're literally 5000 plus miles away, in the middle of the, of the Amazon. What representation, what role? Where are the indigenous communities beyond, having a presence on the street and protesting?
00:18:50:20 - 00:18:55:15
DINO
But do they have a seat at any of the tables at Cop?
00:18:55:17 - 00:19:30:24
AURA
Yeah, they do. They are very present and prominent acts of, that we, all the environmental advocacy, the environmental justice bug. We have been very serious about putting them at the center, giving them the space that they need. So a lot of the conversations happened with them being present and, you know, is, is, it couldn't be more, exciting and and interesting all, all at once for, for cop to be be hosted here in the middle of the Amazon.
00:19:31:00 - 00:19:58:08
AURA
Is this not announced? This is a very small city. Is is quite impoverished, is very working class. It has a lot of huge contrast. You can see high rise, very big. It looks imagine Miami, South Beach, something like some corners are very much like that. And some other corners, you see people is you know, very impoverished, you know, with trash on the streets and, and a lot of rumble.
00:19:58:08 - 00:20:27:14
AURA
And the beauty of the Brazilian people is that they are such a resilient community. You know, I'm a resilient country, and the people here are such a wonderful, you know, and joyful people that no matter what, they keep showing up to blues on to learn. They keep asking the questions. Indigenous communities are every day coming into the blue zone to speak about how important it is to to put them at the center, whether they speak Spanish, English, Portuguese, whatever language they speak.
00:20:27:14 - 00:20:45:24
AURA
Because remember, we're talking about Aborigines, indigenous peoples from the Amazon who are our protectors, right? And as such, I think this cop, one of the emphasis is also to try to find more funding to protect them so that they can remain their protectors of the Amazon.
00:20:46:01 - 00:21:09:17
DINO
And so as we wind down our, I want to bring you back to home and let me introduce you again. On the line with us is out of ask us a long time, leader in the environmental and climate justice movement, an organizer here in Los Angeles, coming to us live from the lower Amazon region in Berlin, Brazil, where she is attending the, cop 30 climate conference.
00:21:09:19 - 00:21:38:22
DINO
Happening now. So bringing it back home, I bet you've done, amazing work over the years. Certainly since I've known you, you've been an environmental, crusader, a justice leader here in the L.A. Area. So what should l.a. How how do we how do we bring the conditions that are being discussed there? Here to L.A.? Why is it important for Angelinos to know that what's happening at these conferences, that this conversation.
00:21:38:22 - 00:21:41:16
DINO
Why is it important for them?
00:21:41:18 - 00:22:09:21
AURA
Because our local work, it has such a global impact. And I think in L.A, there's a couple of things that are happening that are super important. We have been fighting to stop neighborhood oil drilling and we'll continue to do that. So please take a look at is stand L.A. a stand alone campaign? They're doing amazing work. The other work that we have been doing is to end fossil fuel, production in and in Southern California and in California in general.
00:22:09:24 - 00:22:34:22
AURA
We need better transit. We need to come back to sustainable housing. We need Mayor Barstow really step up to become the environmental champion that we have been expecting her to be. We have a public utility. That is the utility of all of us. I don't know if folks know this, that in California, in Los Angeles, we have the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which is the largest public utility.
00:22:35:00 - 00:23:04:03
AURA
We need to demand their mine that as their transition to clean energy that transition also goes to low income communities. We just saw wildfires in Altadena. And you know what I the the coastal cities in you know, in Los Angeles, we need that we need all of that to also be tied to stream heat and mitigation of, you know, wildfires that now are happening urban and urban.
00:23:04:03 - 00:23:17:19
AURA
We need more parks. You know, we need more micro, you know, transportation and all of those things together really become a huge in impact globally. You know, when we put our all together.
00:23:17:21 - 00:23:39:15
DINO
So and our one last question as we let you go here and you get back to this work out in the middle of the Amazon in Brazil. Is there any particular direction you would push our listeners to any, where can they go to learn more about supporting climate change and climate change advocacy work here in Los Angeles?
00:23:39:15 - 00:23:43:08
DINO
Besides your website, which I want to encourage you to share with us as well.
00:23:43:10 - 00:24:19:03
AURA
Thank you. Thank you. So first, I want to just remind people that every little action that you take has a global impact. Every little, every little action that you take has a global impact no matter what. If you're recycling, if you are advocating for a better park in your community, or if you're advocating for, more public transit, or to clean up the beach or stop fossil fuels, all of it together is having a huge impact, because when we come to this type of conference at Cop 30, for example, that's when we come and say, these are all of the things that we are doing that will add up to our bigger plan.
00:24:19:05 - 00:24:48:05
AURA
So I want you to talk to your neighbor, talk to your family first and ask them what are collectively, what are we doing to fight climate change and how we can get involved? There are tons of people my, you know, my social media is out at Vasquez official. You can also, my search me there or out@vasquez.com. But there are so many campaigns and get involved in something that you're passionate about and continue because to change everything, we're going to need everyone.
00:24:48:07 - 00:25:03:19
DINO
My guest has been our Vasquez, a long time leader in environmental and climate justice and organizer here in Los Angeles who's at Berlin, Brazil, attending the Cop 30 conference on global, climate change out of. Thank you for being with us on the signal.
00:25:03:21 - 00:25:07:11
AURA
Thank you so much for having me. And I hope to see you guys all soon in Los Angeles.
00:25:07:15 - 00:25:09:13
DINO
We'll have you back there.
00:25:09:15 - 00:25:16:20
MUSIC
You know, they get it. I said, I'm looking for that because I believe I ain't no la la la song.
00:25:17:01 - 00:25:39:13
ANNOUNCER
I mean that that's the mood gas. He got. No damas, no lobby, intense mas. Don't station copy Africa. Unfortunately, the city got better figure out. Unfortunately, the city got better. Figure out the media. Yes, they like to see them get some landscape.
00:25:39:13 - 00:25:51:06
MUSIC
Getting credit back. Even back when that was an umbrella.
00:25:51:08 - 00:25:54:06
MUSIC
And and.
00:25:54:08 - 00:25:55:13
MUSIC
Yes.
00:25:55:15 - 00:26:03:08
MUSIC
I love being assessed, I sympathized. They would just been some of those that do some.
00:26:03:09 - 00:26:29:17
DINO
So right away and welcome welcome back. We continue today with the launch of our ongoing series of interviews. We call. And I really love this, by the way, politics, Tacos and Beer, a series that brings political candidates, civic leaders and other stakeholders into our space here at the station so that listeners can hear directly from them in an honest and accessible way.
00:26:29:19 - 00:26:55:07
DINO
Oftentimes, when you get a chance to listen to elected officials, you're listening to them real time as issues are going on as, as, as the politics are playing out. And when we, are looking or listening to those that are running for office, sometimes, you only get to hear the sound bites that a production, a news or other entity, will put together to share with you.
00:26:55:07 - 00:27:30:04
DINO
So we created this space politics to squash and beer, to create a, an in-depth opportunity to have a conversation, have a discussion, get to hear a little bit more so that for those of you out there that are looking to participate in the electoral process, participate in this great, experiment, we call it democracy. So, you know, not only why, are you voting for this person with regard to their platform, which we'll cover a little bit here, but also because you've gotten to know, him or her, a little bit better.
00:27:30:06 - 00:27:55:08
DINO
So this is where a real conversation is going to unfold for us with politics. And let me tell you why we call it politics, cuisine, beer. So, you know, with politics as the main course of this discussion is shapes our daily bread. And not to sound a little too, angelic there, but, you know, tacos tells a story of labor culture, of survival from the street on up and, you know, beer.
00:27:55:08 - 00:28:16:23
DINO
And it doesn't have to be beer. It can be water, can be wine. Is that one connector that brings us together? That provides a space for people to engage, to laugh, to cope and stay human for a minute. So together we capture with that, of course, politics and beer. How policy, culture, connect and feed the soul.
00:28:17:00 - 00:28:40:19
DINO
Joining us today is José Ugarte he is running for Los Angeles City Council District nine, Los Angeles City Council District nine covers and follow with follow me here on this one. All right, folks, it covers a central south stretch of the city running from the western edge of downtown Los Angeles through major destinations like Exposition Park.
00:28:40:20 - 00:29:15:13
DINO
You will see down to the heart of South LA neighborhoods, that include Central Alameda, Green Meadows and others is one of the city's most diverse districts. It is predominantly Latino, but has a mix of major economic landmarks, low underserved residential communities, among others. The district sits at the intersection of development, equity, housing, and community investment issues, making it critical for the area and for the debate on the future over the future rather, of South Los Angeles.
00:29:15:15 - 00:29:17:13
DINO
Jose, welcome to The Signal.
00:29:17:17 - 00:29:19:10
JOSÉ
Thank you. Dino, thank you for writing me.
00:29:19:12 - 00:29:41:01
DINO
And I I'm glad you're here. So for for the listeners who may not know you, and we do have, listeners who are very engaged and very passionate, starting off with the basic I mean, every time I connect with a local elected official, whether they're running or already in office, I've always had that one question that sometimes I want to ask.
00:29:41:01 - 00:29:46:11
DINO
I don't know how to ask. What the hell prompted you to run for elected office?
00:29:46:13 - 00:30:07:17
JOSÉ
First. Everything. Everything. My entire life, I, I've been, civic leader. I've. I've fought for what's right. I'll tell you. Right where I started, I was I gave a speech this morning to a couple of high school kids, and I said, anytime you hear someone speak, you're going to ask him for three things where they came from, what they've done, and what they want to do.
00:30:07:19 - 00:30:25:22
JOSÉ
And if you don't get that from a speaker, then it's not enough. You got to ask them. So I, I came from a kid from Mexico. I was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, a little farm town just outside of Veracruz. My parents brought me from a little farm town to LA to south central LA. I was four years old.
00:30:25:24 - 00:30:53:16
JOSÉ
Started preschool. English is my first language, when I was eight years old, just 30 years ago, I got my first taste of of in inequities and civil disobedience. And what's the problem with our country? Problem £0.97 Wilson proper. 97 A mom and my dad brought me and my sister to downtown L.A. with signs. I had no idea what they meant pride and had no idea what a prop was.
00:30:53:16 - 00:31:16:00
JOSÉ
I had no idea. 187 was it? I had no idea who Pete Wilson was. I was just there supporting my parents or so at that support of my parents, because the reality they're they're supporting me. I was marched on the streets of downtown L.A. holding up a sign saying PHP Wilson. And everybody was angry. And I was like, wow, she's like, you keep her marching and walking.
00:31:16:02 - 00:31:37:00
JOSÉ
And I realized, we'll probably sound. We're busy trying to kick me out. I was an immigrant. I was undocumented from public schools, even though my parents paid taxes, state taxes, city taxes, federal taxes, and they're hard working people. But the system was trying to kick me out of something that I deserved. But I don't really know what that meant.
00:31:37:02 - 00:31:56:22
JOSÉ
I turned 17 years old. I applied to college. I got to a lot of good universities, got a couple football scholarships to play football, and I got a letter said I had to pay out of state tuition. Right. I said, what does that mean? And and I remember it was African-American lady at Cal State Northridge just said, oh, young man, I don't think you have a Social Security number.
00:31:56:22 - 00:32:16:05
JOSÉ
I don't think you're born here. And I said, yeah, I wasn't born here. But what does that mean? Went to my parents. And I said, what does this mean? I'll have the Social Security number. My parents like, yeah, you're undocumented. My entire life, I didn't know what that meant. I had a little card that said illegal Alien. Back in the days, we weren't called dreamers or doctors.
00:32:16:05 - 00:32:33:19
JOSÉ
They were called illegal aliens. And I didn't think much of it. But when you're 17 years old and you're trying to go to college, trying to you get good grades. You do everything you can to to follow the rules. But it's just like it wasn't enough. I was at that point, I didn't feel American. I didn't feel like the city was mine.
00:32:33:20 - 00:32:45:01
JOSÉ
I feel like I felt I was Mexican, even though English my first language. I haven't been to Mexico for years. But I felt that this country was letting me down.
00:32:45:03 - 00:33:10:03
DINO
Now know what? Before you go on, for those of you who may, I'm sure a lot of our audience remembers this. Proposition 27 was a 1994 California ballot measure. This sought to deny public services such as health care, education to undocumented immigrants. And although it passed, and I remember at that time, actually, we were covering that, through this very station.
00:33:10:05 - 00:33:34:16
DINO
And although I passed, a federal court, later found it unconstitutional and that was never implemented. And you could argue many of us do that. That had a lot to do with why the, Republican Party in California became what it has become almost obsolete. But so let me get this straight. So what you're describing is, you know, you come to this country, you start to develop, an existence.
00:33:34:16 - 00:33:45:14
DINO
You become part of this nation, you grow, you go to high school colleges, you settle on a university, and then out of the nowhere, somebody hits you with, well, actually, maybe you're not.
00:33:45:16 - 00:33:46:07
JOSÉ
Yeah.
00:33:46:09 - 00:33:50:24
DINO
And that, I mean, what what does that do to a young person starting their college career.
00:33:51:03 - 00:34:11:16
JOSÉ
Is at first it it makes us angry. Sure. It makes us angry. I was angry, I was angry individual. And I said, what? What's going on? First I was like, wow, my parents. And I was, how come you didn't tell me? How come you can get me my my Social security number, my residency, my my citizenship? I didn't understand it didn't make sense to me because my parents were hardworking people.
00:34:11:16 - 00:34:32:16
JOSÉ
They had good jobs. They gave us everything that we needed. Food on a table, roof over our heads. Got us a a good education. But it wasn't enough. And as a 17 year old that you blame. So you gotta blame somebody. And I remember I told my mom, I said, mom, I have all these scholarships and I don't qualify any for any of them because I don't I'm not a citizen.
00:34:32:18 - 00:34:54:06
JOSÉ
And mom said, it's fine. We've never asked for anything. We're not here to beg for anything. We came to this country to give back. More than then we were gone and, I paid out of state tuition to go to college, to Cal State Northridge. I paid it out of pocket. And within a year, I filled out my paperwork because my dad became a resident.
00:34:54:08 - 00:35:15:00
JOSÉ
And if you're under 18, you, can apply to be a resident. And I got my my application back. They had to submit my my birth certificate. My dad's. Richard, forget my dad's residency, naturalization form. And, a year later, I got a password that said I was a U.S. citizen. And my sister, who's older than me, took her about ten years.
00:35:15:05 - 00:35:16:10
JOSÉ
But I got lucky.
00:35:16:12 - 00:35:38:20
DINO
Now, walk me through that very moment was. I mean, you get it? It's in your hands. You open it up. And how old are you? At the time, I was 18, 18 years old. You came to this country. You started working hard, became educated, started college. You were hit with a side ball that says maybe not, but a short time later you get that document.
00:35:38:22 - 00:35:41:08
DINO
Walk me through that moment. If you remember what it was like.
00:35:41:08 - 00:36:01:04
JOSÉ
It made me feel that I was American again. For that moment in time. First I started taking Chicano Studies classes. I joined major, as, you know, all these things that told me about my culture and where I came from because I was angry, because to me, I thought, this is the same country that I just walked over, that my, that this country let my parents in and said, hey, we need more work.
00:36:01:04 - 00:36:15:15
JOSÉ
Come on over. And all of a sudden, no, no, no, stop. You're not welcome here anymore. And your kids are not welcome here anymore. That was a huge injustice for me. So I started taking and learning all these things. But when I got that passport, I felt I had to do something with it, that I had to change.
00:36:15:15 - 00:36:30:13
JOSÉ
What's going on in this country because not many kids go through that. I got lucky that I was 17 years old and I was under 18, that I got my citizenship, but a lot of kids didn't. A lot of kids didn't, that I grew up with. Some of my best friends that I grew up with are still undocumented to this day.
00:36:30:15 - 00:36:52:12
JOSÉ
And I said I was lucky. I was lucky enough to to receive that, lucky enough to do my own research and talk to my parents about it. But a lot of immigrant families, not that they don't care. They just don't have time. They work every day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. so my dad work it, and they don't only have time to to do this paperwork and care, because all they want to do is make sure that they raise their family right.
00:36:52:14 - 00:37:16:17
JOSÉ
So when I was 18 years old and got the passport, I said, I'm going to do something with it. I'm going to change, the injustices that this country has. And I started, taking political science classes and started knowing who my congressmember were or, my local state assembly state senator. I started researching, and I got an internship at the time with, a guy, a speaker of State Assembly, a guy named Robert Hertzberg.
00:37:16:19 - 00:37:37:00
JOSÉ
And he was my first kind of feeling in politics. And, and I started realizing, like, hey, this is if you really want to get involved in change, you got to advocate for to these politicians that are making these decisions because, like you said, Pete Wilson was kind of the last Republican governor in the state of California. And we never really Arnold Schwarzenegger.
00:37:37:00 - 00:37:55:18
JOSÉ
He was an immigrant himself. But we changed politics. Congress started being Democratic in the state of California, State Assembly, state Senate, all turned to to Democratic seats. But we're seeing, you know, 32 years later, we're back to step one. I feel like it's probably seven again. I feel like it's people. Pete Wilson again and and,
00:37:55:20 - 00:38:33:14
DINO
So, so so you joined politics at that point? On the back end, you're, playing a supportive role, which I think oftentimes we lose sight of the fact that, you know, I've navigated in these worlds, extensively myself, and I've always playfully and jokingly said that, you know, while elected officials signed bills and championed causes, at the end of the day, it's not if not for the folks behind the scenes who are drafting the memos, who are putting together, some of the legislative ideas, we, will not have these, elected officials become what they do.
00:38:33:14 - 00:38:47:01
DINO
So you're getting, you get involved. And it was at that moment you were a part of this infrastructure, this political machine. But did you already have that ambition? That one day I will be one of them?
00:38:47:03 - 00:39:07:14
JOSÉ
Not at all. Not at all. I, I didn't want to. I dealt with a lot of elected officials, and I thought most of them were fake. Most of them were insecure about what's going on. They they want to do what's cute and and what's what's acceptable to the community. And I didn't like that. I don't want to be that person.
00:39:07:14 - 00:39:23:02
JOSÉ
And I always said, if I, if I ever lie to somebody, someone slap me something back to reality, because that's the type of person I want to be. I really want to fight for the things that I, I believe in and and I don't, I don't not that I don't care what the public says. Thanks for this.
00:39:23:02 - 00:39:42:04
JOSÉ
My personal back and background that I have that shaped me too. I am that I always felt like, hey, you, you really can't. You really gotta fight for the right thing, right? And the right thing was, was at that time was immigration reform was legalizing everybody. And I don't believe in this, this, like, wait your turn kind of thing.
00:39:42:04 - 00:39:50:06
JOSÉ
Like, we were here in this country. The guy brought his four year old. Why would have to wait my turn? That I've given so much sure to be here.
00:39:50:12 - 00:40:12:05
DINO
Sure. And we'll tackle the immigration issue shortly. I, I see that callers are calling in, anxious to ask questions. And, Michael, I'll ask your question shortly. So at what point then do you go from, working in this case, I believe you say with the congressman, in LA, when did you transition to local politics?
00:40:12:07 - 00:40:29:10
JOSÉ
It was I was 22 years old, out of college, and my first real job out of college, working for L.A. Federation of Labor. I was a community organizer, and my job was to register union members to register to vote by mail back then, you had to actually sign a paper that said, I can get a ballot in the mail.
00:40:29:10 - 00:41:00:07
JOSÉ
And what? That did it, it made us easier for us to vote. I did that for about a year, and then, there's a young senator that was running for president and Barack Obama was looking for, for organizers to to come and help on his campaign. And, they picked the best organizers, out of the fed and ended up going to Chicago organizing, at the same time, there's also, labor, issue in Wisconsin, where the governor, Scott Walker, turned Wisconsin to a right to work state.
00:41:00:09 - 00:41:24:19
JOSÉ
And I also got offered opportunities. Hey, you want to come to Waukee? We need a Latino organizer to organize a Latino community to to stop, this governor, recall him, move to Wisconsin middle winter. This so called kid Winter. And I was freezing my butt off. We went up to Madison every weekend to the capital, which during winter, it's like a frozen tundra.
00:41:24:21 - 00:41:48:05
JOSÉ
I don't recommend it to anybody. Marching for for the cool things. They were marching for labor rights, which is, better pay, dignity in the workforce, benefits, health care, everything. But also immigration. Because. Because labor always gone hand in hand with with immigration and immigration rights and immigrant rights. Did that for about a year. Then I came back to L.A. a lot more can be organized.
00:41:48:05 - 00:42:05:04
JOSÉ
I work for Acorn. Acorn, was a nonprofit organization that fought for housing rights and now they turned into ace. Right. I did that for about a year in South L.A., down the street from where I grew up. After that. And then working a bunch of labor campaigns. Prop 32. Yes. I'm 30. No, I'm 32.
00:42:05:04 - 00:42:28:14
JOSÉ
Yes, I'm 30. I was the Orange County political director, during that time. And I got assigned, just different races. That is like, hey, do this or do that one. My first big break was being the field director for Anthony Rendon, who was a nonprofit leader at the time who was running for state assembly. Smart guy, a PhD in political science.
00:42:28:16 - 00:42:44:22
JOSÉ
And he never ran for politics the first time. And I ended up running his full campaign down in South Gate. I was living in South Central, but I was working in South Key. I thought I was in Beverly Hills, so I loved it. I love working in South Hills night and day. Kind of winning endurance and ends up winning.
00:42:44:24 - 00:43:07:11
JOSÉ
And he offered me a job his first time. Had a pension for some ahead of schedule, a night, a 9 to 5 schedule for his time. I had, benefits, and it changed my life. I was like, oh, man, this this government stuff is not that bad. And I started doing a lot of legwork with him. He we banned, like, I think IRA Vasquez said about, the California condor.
00:43:07:11 - 00:43:23:22
JOSÉ
We banned that ammunition in the state of California. It did two things. First, it it made it harder for people to buy bullets because I think it tripled the price of bullets. Could let ammunitions a lot cheaper than than or copper or whatever they use now these days. But we did that and we saved the California condor at the same time.
00:43:23:22 - 00:43:43:11
JOSÉ
And Anthony Rendon did that when he was in the state of Celebrar. And then, Anthony was trying to be speaker at the state assembly that time. There's a, the chair of the Black caucus guy named Current Price. He's a senator at the time. Sure. Anthony and him became friends, and he was trying to lobby votes for him to become speaker.
00:43:43:13 - 00:44:00:09
JOSÉ
And current price at the time was running for city council in South L.A., where I was living and current told like, hey, I just need help on my campaign. How can you help? And Anthony goes to me, hey, Jose, can you can you go help on this guy on his campaign? I said, no, and he's like, why? Is it because I live in South L.A.?
00:44:00:09 - 00:44:17:20
JOSÉ
I don't want to. The work is out late. I'm in. I'm in Beverly Hills, I'm in South Gate. I love it. And before I know Anthony's like, I'm not asking anymore. You need to go help this guy. I'm like, oh, so I went to suddenly I managed current prices race in 2013, he running for city Council District nine and I fell in love with the guy.
00:44:17:22 - 00:44:42:15
JOSÉ
The man was a good guy. He he had a coalition of black and brown, community that supported him. And he was really good on the issues. Managed his race, and were successful. And he calls me after he wins. He said, hey, you speak Spanish in English. You grew up here. A lot of people, you know, would you be interested in being my comms director?
00:44:42:17 - 00:44:50:06
JOSÉ
And I went back to Anthony as, hey, what do you think he's like, do it's a it's a great job. It's a community grew up in it's, life. It's once a life.
00:44:50:06 - 00:44:50:22
DINO
Reconnect.
00:44:50:22 - 00:45:06:14
JOSÉ
Right. And they took it. I ended up working for in 2013, my first, time working in the city council. So with 13 years later, I was on and off from the staff, and now I'm running for his seat from from being some guy that just came to volunteer on his campaign to now being supported.
00:45:06:19 - 00:45:24:24
DINO
So you're able to reconnect with, with a community, you know, for transparency. I live next door to South Gate in Downey, and, and I two actually, grew up in, in South L.A. right off of central in 67. I went to high school in East L.A., did college in the Valley, and spent some time on the West Side.
00:45:24:24 - 00:45:50:22
DINO
And I've always jokingly said, I am from L.A. I spent a good part of all my, life growing up in different parts of L.A. but you reconnect, you by now are totally digging the politics. The local politics, and notwithstanding, prices, challenges, recent challenges, which are not the topic of this particular episode. Walk me through the moment.
00:45:50:22 - 00:46:03:23
DINO
You said, you know, I imagine, you know, I know that you're married. Our research team team dug it up. And I'm sure you're looking at your beautiful wife and said, honey, I'm going to take the plunge. What was that like?
00:46:04:00 - 00:46:21:13
JOSÉ
I was always I was I was always asked people always, hey, should run for office. I have a background in nonprofit and labor in elected. But I never wanted to. It wasn't my thing. That was. That's still my thing. Since I was young, I. I work with a lot of elected officials. And first, they have a very tough job.
00:46:21:13 - 00:46:38:02
JOSÉ
The they they work night and day. They have their family suffers from them not being there. And you can never make everybody happy. You're going to take a bad volume. 50% of the people are always going to be someone who's always going to be mad at you. And I didn't want that. Because I looked at the stuff the current did and people still yell that I'm screaming.
00:46:38:02 - 00:47:04:09
JOSÉ
And I was like, that's a tough job. So I was never interested. And then Donald Trump wins, Donald Trump wins, and I think about it again. I said, look, I've never been the type of person to just sit on the sidelines, all right? And and just watch, watch things burn, watch things fall apart. And Donald Trump was talking about me is saying, hey, immigrants came here to be criminals.
00:47:04:11 - 00:47:24:15
JOSÉ
They take more than they give back. They're just here, mooching off of our social services. Everything. He said he was talking to me. He was talking about me and my community. And I could have just taken it and said, fine, whatever, I don't. Six and still will make problems. But I said, no. I told my wife, I said, hey, I'm really thinking about doing this.
00:47:24:15 - 00:47:40:15
JOSÉ
What do you what do you think? And she the next day she wrote a little a little paper little contract that says, we just had a baby. We have a two year old and said, I'm not going to miss any first days of schools. I'm not going to miss any graduations. I'm not going to miss any important doctor visits.
00:47:40:17 - 00:47:52:08
JOSÉ
And she said, hey, if you sign this, you should run. I was because commitment to your family and I signed it. And then when I you get the backing of your family means a lot.
00:47:52:08 - 00:47:54:00
DINO
Sure. What's your wife's name, by the way?
00:47:54:00 - 00:47:54:14
JOSÉ
Vanessa.
00:47:54:14 - 00:47:58:00
DINO
Vanessa. Hey, Vanessa. Well played.
00:47:58:02 - 00:48:16:13
JOSÉ
Vanessa. And once you had that, then I kind of started putting everything together. Started calling my old friends, and saying, hey, I'm thinking about doing this. What do you think? And right away, like, whatever need I'll endorse, she'll raise you money. I'll get people out there for you. And. And what? It's been eight months. I've raised about half $1 million.
00:48:16:15 - 00:48:38:02
JOSÉ
I got endorsements from about 13 to 14 state assembly members, five senators dollars worth that. Who I work with. And, organizing farmworkers in Bakersfield and registering them, from labor groups. L.A. Federation of Labor just made a recommendation to endorse me. Things that I've worked in so long, I didn't think that you don't know until you do it.
00:48:38:04 - 00:48:55:22
JOSÉ
Sure. And you really don't. Until you start making these calls and people say, hey, you've been good to me. You did this. I'm there for whatever you need. So it's it's been amazing. It's been an amazing journey, that we've gone through. And there's a there's going to be tough times. There really is. We'll probably talk about a little bit, because this ain't easy.
00:48:56:03 - 00:49:15:02
DINO
But in fact, in fact, let's jump into that as we, as we begin to wind down. Right. So one of the biggest topics, and, you know, our listeners are already calling in, wanting to to ask the same question. And that is, you know, the Ice raids, the the immigration crackdown, we now know that Trump was part of the motivator.
00:49:15:04 - 00:49:44:22
DINO
In fact, that's probably one of the major motivators that brought me back for time to radio. And, yeah, you know, as an immigrant child impacted 20, 30 years ago, here you are today, launching a campaign to mitigate what we all knew was coming. But, man, that didn't hit us hard. Right? And, so, you know, Michael in East L.A. right away sends a message, says, what does he think about ice and what they're doing to families?
00:49:44:22 - 00:49:49:05
DINO
Walk us through your experiences now as somebody running for office.
00:49:49:05 - 00:50:09:10
JOSÉ
So you guys, you're is probably too young, but we don't call him ice where I came from, we come. And when I said to a couple of kids on immigration, I what so so does call them Ice. So back in my days it was like mega. And for 70 years of my life, I had to run away and hide and I did stuff like that that we're doing now.
00:50:09:12 - 00:50:27:05
JOSÉ
And the main reason I'm running is for immigration reform. That's a number one reason. I know. People say, oh, you're running for city council. You have nothing to do with with federal law. But I have everything to do with federal law. Sure. Because obviously I want to build more housing. I want to build a metro line in my district.
00:50:27:05 - 00:50:44:12
JOSÉ
I want to build more parks. I want to plant more trees. But if we can't protect the people that are going to be using this stuff, why are we doing it? Sure makes no sense. So the number one thing is immigration reform. And I want to talk about immigration reform. Talk about legalizing. Everybody that's here. Right. Everybody that's paid some sort of has a number.
00:50:44:12 - 00:50:59:17
JOSÉ
We all have 18 numbers because we paid taxes, legalize everybody. Like this doesn't make sense to me that. So people are going to only legalize some of them. And there's I don't believe in that. I think if you're in this country, you came here for good reasons. I don't know one immigrant who came here to commit a crime.
00:50:59:18 - 00:51:35:14
JOSÉ
I mean, we just didn't who came here to work, and he should be legalized. So Ice raids are another one topic that I want to address. A what is it? Special order 40. It's about 30 years old that bans police officers from, asking for immigration documents or your password, or if you're here illegally. I want to expand on that because right now, you see LAPD officers, which we do have control of, when I, when I become a council member, I want them to not be associated with any kind of federal agent.
00:51:35:16 - 00:51:52:19
JOSÉ
And I say Donald Trump's going to come and go. And when he goes, a lot of people are going to have distrust in LAPD officer. He's going to be like, that's the guy that they point in, and Trump's going to be laughing at us sitting in his in his hopefully in jail, but sitting in his in his home and saying, ha!
00:51:52:24 - 00:52:10:14
JOSÉ
At least I got the community up in arms against police and things like that. So I want to update Special Order 40 to give it some sort of boundaries from federal officers like you. How we see if you have a federal raid, an officer shouldn't be anywhere close to their. And I deal with that all the time.
00:52:10:14 - 00:52:26:19
JOSÉ
In South L.A., I get calls like, how come LAPD is next to a federal officer? They're helping them deport. So I have to call a chief or the captain to see what's going on. The captain? Oh, we're just, just leading traffic a certain way, and I say, get away from those guys, or they're associating with you guys.
00:52:26:21 - 00:52:43:17
JOSÉ
Because in the future, an officer does pull you over. If you're if you're not, you know, documents, you're going to be run away. You don't know what's going on. And I don't want that to happen because you can give him bigger trouble. But I want LPD officers to have some sort of guidelines to say they shouldn't be close to any federal officers within 1000 or 2000ft.
00:52:43:17 - 00:52:53:08
JOSÉ
Sure. And the people should know that. So we can keep them accountable and say, hey, you shouldn't be here. You're not. You're supposed to be a certain amount of feet from them. That's the stuff that we do have control over.
00:52:53:10 - 00:53:15:22
DINO
And who say, as we begin to wind down, my guest is who said, who's running for Los Angeles City Council District nine and our special series politics, Stackers and Beer, where we get to know the candidates and stakeholders who are looking to make change for all Angelinos. Who say, you know, we got another caller who said, Gina from Hollywood says, how do we help, Jose achieve that goal?
00:53:15:22 - 00:53:49:03
DINO
But I would be, run out of the station if I didn't ask you this one particular question. You recently had an entanglement. I would call it an entanglement around an ethics commission. Fine. For, what? They, alleged or what they, claim were, consulting fees that you did not, report. I myself, in having navigated politics in the past, for anybody who does work within the city constructs of advocacy and lobbying, you are required to register and submit.
00:53:49:05 - 00:54:04:23
DINO
I remember back when I had to register. That's a very cumbersome process, but I don't know the details. We weren't originally planning. And to your credit, you brought this up and said, let's talk about this. Tell us, you know it very quickly. What what is it and what's involved in that?
00:54:05:00 - 00:54:25:03
JOSÉ
So I am a city employee. I work for the councilman right now. I'm, deputy chief of staff. I have to report on my income, that I make every year. Outside income. Inside income and reporting. It's called a form. 704 years ago, when I was not working for the city, I came to work back for the city as, deputy chief of staff, 2022, I believe.
00:54:25:05 - 00:54:40:04
JOSÉ
And you're supposed to fill out a form, then two that says all the income that you made when you're not a city employee, you have to fill out a form and write down how much you made in each one. And I didn't know I'm the only one running for office. It's a it's elected. So I had to fill out those forms.
00:54:40:04 - 00:54:58:06
JOSÉ
And those forms are public to anybody who wants to look them up. So when ethics found out about it, they said, hey, Jose, you just fill out your four 700. How much did you make there? Sheriff showed them the paperwork, and it was about half $1 million in political campaigns of of. I'm not consulting but feel programs.
00:54:58:08 - 00:55:03:21
JOSÉ
So I ran field programs. I paid people to knock on doors and talk to voters about different issues.
00:55:03:21 - 00:55:08:16
DINO
So this is money you put in your pocket. This is money for the projects themselves?
00:55:08:16 - 00:55:27:16
JOSÉ
Yes. Programs. And plus the I had a consultant feels like of course, so thousand dollars that I, that I that money that I made. But it looks like it's half $1 million. I didn't report what I did didn't look at that's what it is. Is that someone or that I didn't report? And the city ethics says they have to find a percentage of what I didn't report of the half $1 million.
00:55:27:16 - 00:55:45:01
JOSÉ
So the percentage was $20,000. And I could afford it because my first time ever having having some sort of ethics violation, and I could ask for a hearing and go in front of the commission and say, look, this is what happened. I can report is it was during Covid. I don't know what happened. I could have done all that.
00:55:45:01 - 00:56:03:16
JOSÉ
But I said, look, I'm gonna take responsibility. I should have reported I believe in it, that it's to the highest, amount there is available. You have to. I believe that people should know how much you made it and what it is. So I paid the fine. I agreed to pay the fine. City ethics asked me for the extra $2,000 or 19,000, which is fine.
00:56:03:16 - 00:56:20:22
JOSÉ
I said fine, I'll pay the fine. Because it's paperwork. It's it's paperwork that that I should have done correctly. I had no idea that I was gonna run for office in the future. I had no idea that, that this is going to come up, that one of the commissioners did say, well, you're running for office.
00:56:20:22 - 00:56:38:20
JOSÉ
That's why you should pay the certain amount of money and I said, first of all, it's my first time in the right to run for office. It shouldn't hinder me. Right. So I was upset about it, but I said, look, you're right. I paid the fine, took responsibility. The L.A. times interviewed me. I said I said it was a paperwork issue, which it was.
00:56:38:22 - 00:56:49:23
JOSÉ
I take full responsibility. Won't happen again. And I'm working ethics to make sure that any reporting is is true. And people deserve to see, what kind of income comes in to any elected officials.
00:56:49:23 - 00:57:10:15
DINO
Sure. So, say, as we wind down in the final minute, Gina from Hollywood said, how do we help this guy? You know, get to where he wants to go and give it to us, give us that final wrap, that final pitch for the audience, for your potential, supporters. And one minute that would take that final message.
00:57:10:17 - 00:57:33:11
JOSÉ
Thank you. The first elections in June next year, in June. A lot of good candidates running. I like them all. I work with all of them. There's about ten of them right now. Very diverse, black and brown. But really, I'm the only one that's done the work in South Philly. I've worked for a local council member that has really transformed our community to a black and brown unified community.
00:57:33:13 - 00:57:57:19
JOSÉ
He's been there about 13 years in the city council. He he has endorsed me, which is my biggest honor, to be endorsed by the last African-American city council member in the ninth district, to say this Latino immigrant from Wahiawa deserves a seat at the table, on the city council. That's a big honor. So I got big shoes to fill to make sure the black and brown community are unified and represented.
00:57:57:19 - 00:58:20:24
JOSÉ
Well, in South L.A. second thing is that we want to keep our district affordable. Sure. I that's that's my number one thing. We've got to keep the district affordable. We've got to make sure if developers come in, to start to play that they have affordable housing implemented, they have community benefits development. And we've done a good job in the last 13 years to make sure we run out all these, these developers that don't pay their fair share.
00:58:21:01 - 00:58:31:23
JOSÉ
And if you look on Zillow, this is my talking points. If you look on Zillow, the cheapest apartment is in my district. The cheapest home is in my district. And we've done a good job for the last 13 years to make it affordable and keep it that way, and I want to keep it going.
00:58:32:01 - 00:58:35:04
DINO
And, website where the audience can visit more about your campaign.
00:58:35:07 - 00:58:41:21
JOSÉ
Jose ugarte.com Jose G a rti com.
00:58:41:23 - 00:59:01:09
DINO
And I want to thank you for coming in and for coming in on this very rainy day. Jose, we got it is running for Los Angeles City Council District nine election next year. This has been our special series on get to know the candidates politics, tacos and beer. I want to thank, my other guests out of Vazquez for joining us from Berlin, Brazil.
00:59:01:11 - 00:59:26:08
DINO
You know, in the middle of the, the rainforests, the Amazon rainforest and, everybody else for tuning in. And I'd want to close out with this. Today's conversation reminds us that global and local issues are deeply connected. What happens at Cop Dirty affects the lives of families in Los Angeles. What happens at City Hall influences the safety and stability of immigrant and working families here at home.
00:59:26:10 - 00:59:49:17
DINO
This moment calls for clarity, participation and commitment to building the communities we want. And on that note, special thanks to my producer Danielle Award winner, who without her, the show doesn't happen, and our board engineer Sly rivers for his outstanding work, especially being able to connect us to Brazil today. Stay tuned for my friends at the car show who helped me, fix my bike every time I need it.
00:59:49:17 - 00:59:53:18
DINO
So we look forward to next week. Stay with us.
00:59:53:20 - 01:00:03:00
MUSIC
So let's get get incredible. Even if we do not legally. Then we make the Chicano.
