There is something powerful about the experiences of severe poverty. I was so scared I wouldn’t make it that I became addicted to making it. Funny, it is my experiences growing up in a family that had no direction or plan that helped me become an expert at having direction and a plan.
In my line of work, I help businesses map out long term strategies based on market and product trends. I go into major companies with all the resources in the world that are headed into trouble, and I re-align those resources to make everything work successfully.
I am forever grateful to my adopted parents and the wonderful friends I made over the years. They inspire me. But I am also inspired by the hard-working immigrant families in this city who have the same look in their eyes I had when I arrived in LA.
LA isn’t rural Indiana, but our journeys are the same. In both places, we have to claw our way to a life that matters, just to get what’s fair. In both places, the system is broken. In both places, a select few play by their own rules.
Just a couple years ago I set about to do what I’ve done my entire life: find answers to seemingly impossible challenges. What were other cities doing to address homelessness? Why are the streets clean in Austin and not LA? Why were politicians here in office for 40 years if things never got any better?
Here’s what I have concluded. We cannot trust the people who created our problems to also be the people who solve them. Angelenos deserve a leader who cares about the people of this city more than a political career. Someone who is willing to speak the truth.
You and I can fix L.A. together. We need to bring the temperature down. We need to understand no party by itself has the answers. We do not have to make do with what is. We need to stop thinking small. We can make our city affordable and beautiful again. We need new leaders, with new ideas.
Craig is a leader fighting for your fair share. With real plans and accountability.
