What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is LA’s top cop. He runs the largest county sheriff’s office in the United States and manages one of the world’s largest jail systems. With an annual budget of $3.6 billion dollars, the Sheriff oversees thousands of deputies who patrol California’s largest county, with a population of more than 10 million people.
And he is downright dangerous. He is threat to democracy and to public safety. Journalist Cerise Castle joins me this week to discuss "10 Reasons Alex Villanueva is Dangerous."
Cerise Castle
https://cerisecastle.me/@cerisecastle
@lasdgangs

Editorial: Alex Villanueva, L.A.’s loosest cannon and pettiest cop https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-09-16/villanueva-kuehl-search-warrant

A Tradition of Violence: The History of Deputy Gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: https://knock-la.com/tradition-of-violence-lasd-gang-history/

Dozens of Sheriff Villanueva’s donors received permits to carry guns in public https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-15/sheriff-villanueva-donors-concealed-weapons-gun-permits

‘We’re terrorized’: LA sheriffs frequently harass families of people they kill, says report https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/04/los-angeles-sheriffs-harass-families-of-victims-report

Sheriff Villanueva Continues To Defy Subpoena And Refuses To Testify At Hearing On Alleged Deputy Gangs https://laist.com/news/criminal-justice/sheriff-villanueva-subpoena-continues-to-defy

California attorney general launches civil rights probe of L.A. County Sheriff’s Department https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-22/attorney-general-civil-rights-investigation-los-angeles-sheriffs-department

Claim alleges Sheriff Villanueva directed cover-up of deputy kneeling on inmate https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-25/deputy-force-kneeling-cover-up-claim

Vanessa Bryant: ‘I’m willing to go through hell and back to get justice for my husband and daughter’ https://www.courthousenews.com/vanessa-bryant-im-willing-to-go-through-hell-and-back-to-get-justice-for-my-husband-and-daughter/

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Does our criminal justice system work? Does it really provide for public safety? Or is it a broken, racist system that makes society’s troubles even worse? I talk with leaders of La Defensa, a nonprofit working to end our reliance on jails, cash bail, and a system that throws people away.
Guests:
Ivette Alé-Ferlito, executive director and co-founder, La Defensa
Megan Castillo, ReImagine LA Coalition Coordinator, La Defensa
Gabriela Vázquez, Deputy Director, La DefensaLa Defensa: https://ladefensa.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladefensx/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ladefensx/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcJNyAax_3VApe5qtRExmWw

Re-Imagine LA: https://reimagine.la/
Defenders of Justice judicial slate: https://www.thedefendersofjusticela.com/
Court Watch LA: https://courtwatchla.org/

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Who will represent South Los Angeles in the California State Assembly? That’s a big question facing voters of the 57th Assembly District, which includes South Los Angeles, Southeast Los Angeles, West Adams, University Park, Florence, Watts, Downtown Los Angeles and Skid Row
Dulce Vasquez currently serves as Assistant Vice President for Arizona State University in Downtown Los Angeles. She was previously the Managing Director of Zócalo Public Square, L.A.’s civic forum. She was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to serve as a Commissioner to El Pueblo Historic Monument, Los Angeles’ birthplace.

Born in Tampico, Mexico, she's lived all over the country, but has called LA home for the last 15 years. After spending half of her childhood undocumented, she attended Northwestern University, The Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), and earned a Master’s in Public Policy from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
She has the endorsements of incumbent Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Equality California, and Abundant Housing LA.

I spoke to Sade at length shortly before Christmas. about her life and her agenda . Her website info is here; https://www.dulcevasquez.com/

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Since 2020, L.A.'s 10th council district has had a revolving cast of councilmembers, both elected and appointed. Now, voters finally get to choose a permanent, voting representative on the council.There is a big and impressive field of candidates – and on this episode I talk with Rev. Eddie Anderson.
Pastor Eddie is a civil rights activist and ordained minister with degrees from Morehouse College and Claremont School of Theology. He is an organizer for LA Voice(PICO),advocate for Black Lives Matter, Co-Founder of Clergy4BlackLives, a convener and former Co-Chair of the New Poor People's Campaign in California. He served as a Commissioner for the Los Angeles Redistricting Commission (2020-2021) and is on the board of the ARDI Advisory Body of Los Angeles County and the Black People Experiencing Homelessness Committee for LAHSA and LA County.
He has the endorsements of the Los Angeles Times, Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, and the California Working Families Party.
You can learn more about him at: https://anderson2024.com/

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Councilmember Raman has fought for renters, solutions to homelessness, strategies to combat climate change, and smart, effective programs to promote public safety. She has made significant progress — and now she is being punished for it. Special interests are spending a fortune to defeat her, reverse progress, and kneecap the progressive movement. She joins Mike and Peter Dreier to discuss their article in The Nation this week, reporting on the campaign against her. Their article, "Los Angeles Death Match", (the online title "LA’s Corporate Class Wants to Reverse Progressive Gains"), focuses on the combined assault of corporate landlords, the police and firefighters associations, and right-wingers are fighting like hell to defeat her. She talks about her love for LA, tackling big challenges, and fighting the bullshit.
The Nation: Los Angeles Death Match
Raman's re-election website: https://www.nithya2024.com/

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.