Los Angeles City Councilman and mayoral candidate Joe Buscaino joined KTLA live on Tuesday to discuss his run for mayor and tackling the city’s homelessness crisis.
Homelessness has become one of the biggest issues facing candidates in the mayor’s race, and also something that has dominated Buscaino’s tenure on the City Council.
Buscaino said one of the biggest issues fueling the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles is officials not moving quickly on emergency shelter.
“We here in Los Angeles have been focused on $800,000 apartment doors, which takes two to four years to build while people are dying, destroying themselves on the streets,” he said.
Buscaino said his plan, if elected, would be to create thousands of emergency shelter beds and offer a zero-camping law in the city.
“We’ve been a city that’s been a welcoming mat for the homeless to pitch a tent, shoot up drugs and have no consequences,” he said.
One of Buscaino’s proposals involves docking the pay of elected city leaders if they don’t make sufficient progress on homelessness.
“We need to move urgently,” Buscaino said.
Buscaino’s “Safer and Cleaner L.A.” measure includes the controversial anti-camping provision, which homeless advocates have called counterproductive and cruel towards homeless people.
Asked about the criticism, Buscaino said: “it’s cool to leave someone dying on our streets and our sidewalks? Where’s the compassion?”
“I’m going to use my position to march on Sacramento and call for the reform of mental health, the reform of Prop 47,” he said. “Because we’re doing a disservice for folks who are not in the right mind frame to say yes to help. So I push back against that false narrative that I’m criminalizing. I’m actually helping people.”
Last week, the Los Angeles Police Protective League endorsed rival Rick Caruso for mayor over Buscaino, a former LAPD officer.
“My brothers and sisters in LAPD, they support me,” Buscaino said when asked about the police union’s endorsement of Caruso.
Buscaino and Caruso both back the recall of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
“I’m not big on recalls. But when you have a district attorney who’s not doing his job — we elect the district attorney to prosecute crimes, and he’s not doing that,” Buscaino said. “I’m going to be the mayor that’s going to actually stand up for victims and not coddle the criminals. We need to prioritize the safety of everyone and stand up for victims of crime.”
This segment aired on the KTLA 5 Morning News on March 1, 2022. KTLA will be reaching out to the other candidates throughout the election.