Voters in Assembly District 54 have a difficult choice between two strong candidates — longtime Assembly staffer and Democratic Party leader Mark Gonzalez and John Yi, a community organizer who has run nonprofit advocacy groups.
They are both first-time candidates who have made their careers in public service. They are both progressive Democrats who share many of the same priorities, including increasing tenant protections and rent relief, making it easier to build affordable housing and ensuring the district gets its fair share of funding for transportation, sidewalks, trees and other quality-of-life improvements.
We recommend Gonzalez because he has a deep on-the-ground understanding of the needs of residents across the district and is the best positioned to deliver results. He’s been an Assembly staffer in the area for more than a decade. He worked for former Assembly Speaker John Pérez, and most recently served as district director for the current Assembly member, Miguel Santiago, who ran for Los Angeles City Council District 14 but did not make it out of the primary. Gonzalez is running to replace him.
Assembly District 54 stretches from Koreatown and Westlake through downtown and Boyle Heights to Commerce and Montebello. It’s one of the poorest districts in the state, with about one in four children living in poverty. It includes historically working-class, immigrant communities that have suffered from chronic underinvestment from the public and private sectors, but are now seeing a real estate boom, fueling concerns about displacement, gentrification and affordability. Some 80% of residents in the district are renters.
Gonzalez said many of his legislative priorities, including increasing tenant protections and improving access to healthcare, are derived from his life experience. He grew up in Section 8 rental housing and remembers being afraid to ask for repairs for fear the landlord would deem his family a nuisance or problem tenants. As caregiver to his mother, who had a stroke, he’s seen firsthand the nonsensical bureaucracy of Medi-Cal that makes it too hard for low-income seniors to qualify for medical coverage.
Like his boss, who passed some significant housing bills, Gonzalez wants to make it faster and easier to build housing. His priorities include streamlining environmental review of projects, making it easier to convert commercial buildings into residential uses and reconsidering building regulations, such as staircase rules, that limit apartment construction.
With the relationships Gonzalez has cultivated over the years — he has the support of Gov. Gavin Newsom, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and several local members of Congress — he can pick up the phone and call powerful people to press the case for funding and resources for a district that has more needs than most.
Yi was most recently the executive director of Los Angeles Walks, a nonprofit that advocates for street safety and a more walkable city. He has experience listening to often unheard communities and working with them to advocate for their needs, such as new crosswalks on busy streets and making Metro’s buses and trains safer for riders.
Like Gonzalez, Yi says tenant protections and affordable housing construction are among his top priorities. He also wants to work on bills to fund public works, such as sidewalks, trees and streetlights, so it’s safer for people to get around without a car, and to incentivize environmental investments, such as light-reflecting pavement and grassy stormwater-capture bioswales that can make urban neighborhoods cooler. Those are important priorities for a district that lacks basic amenities and green space.
Both candidates have good ideas and a passion for improving their communities, but of the two, we think Gonzalez is best equipped to advocate and deliver for the 54th Assembly District.