In just a few weeks, the Los Angeles City Council will be under new leadership. Council President Pro Tem Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who represents parts of South LA in the 8th District, was unanimously elected by his colleagues in May. He’ll replace Paul Krekorian, who is leaving the Council in December due to term limits. 

Harris-Dawson joined host Tanya McRae on this week’s episode of “In Focus SoCal” to discuss his priorities for the council and to share experiences that led him to get involved in community activism and politics. Harris-Dawson attended Morehouse College and after graduation, started working at the Community Coalition, founded by Mayor Karen Bass in 1990. He took over as president and CEO of the organization before being elected to the City Council. 

“The best thing about being in Community Coalition was the feeling that you saw people have when they actually were able to take things into their own hands,” Harris-Dawson said. 

Homelessness will continue to be a top priority for Harris-Dawson. He commented on this summer’s SCOTUS ruling that granted cities more power to arrest, cite and fine people who sleep outside in public places.

“They basically ruled that you can’t be a human being in public, if being a human being includes falling asleep and other activities. But since they’ve done that, what it said is okay, now there’s really no reason not to build beds and shelters fast,” Harris-Dawson said. “Because we’ve taken a firm position here in LA. If we do tell you that you can’t be on the streets, which, in many cases, we can and should do that. We have to be able to say, ‘But you can go here.’”

Harris-Dawson is advocating for police officers to be removed from traffic enforcements in Los Angeles. After George Floyd’s murder in 2020, reform advocates in LA called for an end to the city’s reliance on police, including taking sworn officers out of traffic enforcements. They cited racial disparities in stops, searches and arrests. In June, the City Council authorized a study to figure out how to do this, while adding more speed bumps, roundabouts and other street modifications to reduce speeding on city streets and to promote safer driving. 

“In LA, our traffic safety isn’t nearly as good as it can be because oftentimes, the people responsible for traffic safety are also responsible for so many other things,” Harris-Dawson said. 

Harris-Dawson also spoke about the importance of making sure that LA’s small businesses are at the center of the 2028 Olympics, which will take place in LA. 

“I’m a 1984 Olympics baby. I remember it vividly, but one of the things I remember was I never saw a drink that wasn’t Coca-Cola, and I never saw any food that wasn’t McDonald’s. Sponsorship, sponsorship, and that’s good and there’s a place for that, but there’s also got to be a place for King Taco and a place for Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles,” Harris-Dawson said.

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