LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council gained more progressive, younger members this past election. One of the new members, Hugo Soto-Martínez. Martínez, a former union organizer, will represent the 13th district. He joined “Inside the Issues” host Alex Cohen to discuss the election results and how the council can move into the future.

Both Soto-Martínez and his fellow Council member-elect Eunisses Hernandez were backed by the LA Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. They both promised not to follow in the footsteps of their predecessors.

“People like Eunisses and I, I’m glad we’re in there… because we’re going to have a very different perspective and I think we were voted in to bring in that different perspective,” Soto-Martínez said.

It wasn’t a clean sweep for progressives in Los Angeles, Traci Park and Tim McOsker, two moderate Democrats, who support strengthening law enforcement were elected council members as well.

“The city might have voted differently, but at the end of the day, people want to feel safe. They want to feel like they belong in the city, that they can thrive and raise their kids, and those issues cut across political ideology,” Soto-Martínez said.

“So I think we’re going to have to find the humanity and the things we can agree on and build from there. I think once we can start from that place, then we can worry about the small, 10%, we might disagree on.”

Soto-Martínez, as a former union organizer in the hotel space, often negotiated with big corporations in Los Angeles. This is where he learned how to work with people who disagree, to find an equitable solution.

A point of difference between Soto-Martínez and some of his fellow council members, is the role and budget for the city’s police department. He advocates for reallocating funds for mental health clinicians and EMTs to respond to non-violent calls. 

He believes this will free up police officers to respond faster to violent crimes, which will lead to a safer Los Angeles.

“We have to recognize that the current system has a lot of shortcomings, and that’s because we give the police the work of everything,” Soto-Martínez said.

The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners recently improved a $119 million budget increase, which would bring the total budget for the LAPD to $2 billion.  

Trina Unzicker, Commanding Officer for the LAPD’s Audit division says a majority of the budget increase will cover obligatory changes in salaries and expenses. 

The new budget has to be cleared by both the mayor and the city council. Soto-Martínez emphasized the new budget should be spread around, instead of solely going to cover the salaries for police officers.

“If people want more safety, then I would say let’s use those 119 million dollars, and let’s put it in a different system, where we can get more for our money,” Soto-Martínez said. 

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