Former State Senator Kevin De Leon appointed as councilmember for LA's District 14

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Former State Senator Kevin De Leon was appointed as the new council member for Los Angeles' 14th Council District on Thursday. The district stretches from Eagle Rock to Downtown LA and Boyle Heights.

Among De Leon's top goals that he wishes to tackle while in office is the homelessness crisis in CD 14, which includes Skid Row, by building housing for the homeless.

"We need to find government properties. That's city, that's county, that's state, and federal properties and we need to build on those properties," said De Leon. "There's a lot of land that the city owns and quite frankly is underutilized. We should be building on those properties sooner, rather than later."

De Leon also plans on tackling the issue of air pollution. He authored Senate Bill 100 which was approved by the governor in 2018, and has put California in a direction towards 100% clean renewable energy by the year 2045, according to De Leon.

"What we need to do in Los Angeles, we need to accelerate our goals and move towards transforming our economy towards electrification, which means we need to really invest in public transportation," said De Leon. "We need to make sure that we can change behaviors and get folks into public transportation."

With the ongoing pandemic, De Leon's top priority is also getting the economy to move forward.

"The coronavirus has left so many people either unemployed or underemployed. So there's a sense of panic, economic anxiety that is real among the constituents, not just in CD 14 but throughout the city of LA," said De Leon.

Councilmember De Leon's term ends in 2024.

"I'm really looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and tackling the issues that are very critical to the folks in CD-14," said De Leon.

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