Rae Huang is one of two major candidates challenging Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass from the left. She says the incumbent has tried to undermine a voter-approved tax for funding shelter and services for homeless people and has failed to use the bully pulpit to get controversial housing projects built.
But it isn’t just policy differences and ideology (Huang is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America) motivating the ordained Presbyterian minister. In an interview with Golden State, Huang describes the difficulty she faces affording Los Angeles as a single mother of two living in a 700-square-foot apartment. A desire to take care of her hometown, she says, is fueling her mayoral campaign.
Huang also plans to cut the Los Angeles Police Department – including laying off officers – as a way to fund other crime-prevention services, build a “permanent” supply of affordable housing and implement street-safety upgrades approved by voters.
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