Los Angeles: Indian American business leader Jessica Lall formally announced her candidacy to run for mayor of Los Angeles. Lall said, “This is a defining time for Los Angeles, and I have thought long and hard about the role that I can play, and the leadership and solutions I can put forward as mayor of Los Angeles. I believe that I can help LA turn a corner and recover into a city that we are all proud of.”
The candidate hopes to win the seat currently held by Eric Garcetti, who was chosen as the person President Joe Biden wants as the US ambassador to India. Garcetti remains in the mayoral seat as his nomination awaits confirmation. Lall, in her campaign website, claims that she is an “outsider with insider experience.”
Her platform aims to address some of the city’s hot-button issues, notably homelessness. There is no larger crisis than homelessness facing the city, the business leader says. And it is clear that even despite good intentions, our government institutions have failed to adequately address the housing and humanitarian crises plaguing Los Angeles, she adds.
“Despite unprecedented investments by voters taxing themselves twice, the problem has only deepened,” the campaign site notes. “I have worked inside City Hall, and led outside City Hall working on our city’s issues day in and day out over the last decade. That is the experience I bring to bear, and why I will be uniquely prepared to tackle homelessness from Day 1.”
Lall, 37, has a decade of experience leading organizations, spending the last five years as CEO of Central City Association, a major advocacy organization with over 300 members that is focused on critical issues facing Los Angeles from child care to jobs to homelessness.
“I know what it means to rally people behind a vision and then be held accountable for outcomes. I know how to build a team, manage limited resources and make tough decisions. I’m not afraid to make changes and be bold,” the working mother said.
Lall grew up in Texas and England, the daughter of an Indian immigrant father and mother of a military family from Oklahoma. She first came to Los Angeles when she was in high school and attended Taft in Tarzana for one year.
