What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
Los Angeles is at a turning point. We are living in a defining moment. What happens next is up to us. Over the past few years, problems and challenges have shaken this city -- and tremendous opportunities for change have presented themselves. How do we rise to this moment and emerge a better place to live? What will it take to create a more just and a more equitable community? Working together, how are we going to create a stronger, forward-thinking Los Angeles? Mike Bonin, writer, teacher, progressive activist and former City Councilmember, looks at the issues and problems facing Los Angeles, examines ideas, and talks with the people who will lead us to a brighter future.
Produced in partnership with LA Forward.
What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin
Aura Vasquez for City Council: Candidate Spotlight
Since 2020, L.A.'s 10th council district has had a revolving cast of councilmembers, both elected and appointed. Now, voters finally get to choose a permanent, voting representative on the council.There is a big and impressive field of candidates – and on this episode I talk with Aura Vasquez.
Aura Vasquez is an Afro-Latina Colombian immigrant, community leader, fearless environmental justice advocate, and renewable energy advisor. She served as a mayoral appointee to the Board of Water and Power Commissioners from 2017 to 2020. She has served as the Climate Justice Director for the Center for Popular Democracy. Prior to that, she advocated for state and federal immigrant rights with the PICO Network, fought for the the largest rooftop solar program in the country, and pushed for clean energy as an organizer with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. She was elected to the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council (WCKNC) in 2012, where she became the only Latina and only non-Korean American on the board.
You can find out more about her at her campaign website: https://www.auraforthepeople.com/