Danielle Sandoval, 45 years old, is one of four candidates who is running for Councilor for the District 15 of the City of The Angels. The district covers areas such as Watts, Harbor Gateway, Harbor City, Wilmington and San Pedro.
If she wins the position, Sandoval would be the first Latina to represent the district which has been led by the past 10 years by Councilman Joe Buscaino, who is running for mayor of the city of Los Angeles.
The lack of resources for small businesses, the environment, the lack of housing, the neglect of communities and the lack of attention to the budget have motivated Sandoval to get involved in local politics.
Sandoval, who has Mexican and Native American roots, said he worked in the hotel industry for 20 years and a few years ago 10 years he managed to open his first business; a restaurant in the city of San Pedro. However, it did not survive due to lack of information and resources.
An example he gave is when he called the city of Los Angeles to cut the branches of a tree over 100 years of existence that were blocking the entrance to his restaurant and received the least expected response.
“The one who answered me said that the city had no money and if I wanted I could do it myself but I needed to obtain a permit,” Sandoval said. “That’s when I started getting involved to learn more about the budget.”
Since then she has advocated for her community through the Harbor City and San Pedro Central neighborhood councils where she has organized workshops to educate the public on the city budget and civic engagement to raise awareness of how political decisions at City Hall affect neighborhoods. Currently serving on the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Advisory Board.
Best Communities Towards South Los Angeles
Sandoval said areas like Watts and Wilmington are in desperate need of help to improve pollution problems. Wilmington is 90% Latino and Watts is over 64%.
Indicated that the infrastructure in Watts is old which prevents clean water. She proposes that they begin to replace the pipe to achieve this.
Along the Harbor Gateway, she indicated that there is a lot of traffic congestion, pollution, large-scale development and no green spaces for them to play children.
“I think there is only one park,” said Sandoval. “I want to expand youth programming and expand our green spaces, change the infrastructure below ground and above because when you have older houses there is older infrastructure that also contributes to toxicity.”
He said that for several years he has been advocating for businesses adjacent to residences that pollute are assigned to another place such as trucking and container companies.
The candidate said that in the District 15, further south, has always faced the same concerns, traffic, air pollution and heavy trucks passing through residential areas destroying roads.
“If you have a truck yard right next to a house, it’s not just your trucks coming in and out, it’s constant pollution, air pollution, and noise from machinery the 24 hours of the day”, said Sandoval.
On the subject of housing, Sandoval said that it is not only about talking about those who do not accept housing, but also about the importance of having mental health professionals to assess each situation.
“Listen We kid outreach workers say homeless people refuse housing, why? because it is necessary to be in the correct state of mind to accept help and if we had health professionals in the field constantly, not only when there are cleanings and providing them with the medical attention they need, I think they would accept help”, indicated the candidate.
But mental health experts are not only needed with the homeless community but also in low-income communities of color, Sandoval said.
She said that living in areas where traumatic experiences such as shootings, robberies, or even children walking to their schools and seeing the streets full of tents and homeless are constantly experienced are reason enough to seek help.
“The surrounding areas of our school absolutely affect the learning environment of our children. There should absolutely not be a homeless encampment near a school, there should absolutely be no feces on the sidewalks where these kids walk, illegal dumping near any school is horrible. All of that is the responsibility of the city,” Sandoval said.
The candidate is proud to say that her campaign is a grassroots effort with the residents and supporters of the neighborhoods she has represented. She doesn’t have the support of big donors nor does she have a lot of funding, but there are important groups that support her.
Among them are the teachers’ union (UTLA), the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 56 and Auxiliar 8, the Chicano Latino Caucus and California Women’s list.
The primary elections will be held on June 7, 2022.
The other three are San Pedro businessman Anthony Santich, LAUSD teacher Bryant Odega, and Tim McOsker, businessman and former chief of staff to former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn.
To learn more about Sandoval’s campaign visit: https://www.sandoval4la.com/