Housing
In an economy rigged to concentrate wealth in the hands of the top 0.001%, most Angelenos are denied meaningful asset ownership. They don’t hold stocks, bonds, or property. For millions, the closest thing they have to economic security is a rent-controlled apartment. Years, sometimes decades, of rent control allow working people to live in a decent home, in a stable neighborhood, at a rent they can afford. The foundation of that security is now under threat.
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In January 2025, my opponent approved sweeping zoning changes that dramatically raised height limits and allowable square footage across our neighborhoods. These changes make it far more profitable to demolish rent-controlled buildings and replace them with 10-plus-story luxury towers, where rents exceed $4,000 per bedroom. This is not an accident—it is a deliberate vision to extend the density of Downtown and Koreatown north through Hollywood, Silver Lake, and Los Feliz, all the way to the Hollywood Hills, at the direct expense of the people who already live here. As Vice President of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council and Chair of its Land Use Committee, my focus has been simple: protect affordability and defend our diverse immigrant communities.
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As your City Councilmember, I will use every tool available, including City Code Section 245, which allows the Council to veto Planning Commission decisions, to challenge luxury developments and keep our neighborhoods livable. I will also make relocation assistance real by requiring developers to provide six-figure payouts for every family displaced by luxury projects—ensuring that no Angeleno is forced out without the resources to secure a safe and stable home. This is about defending both our communities and the dignity of the people who call them home.
Disaster Preparedness
Los Angeles is facing a future defined by climate-driven disasters, yet our City’s response to the recent fires exposed a profound failure of leadership at City Hall. Wildfires, heat waves, and mass evacuations are no longer hypothetical—they are recurring threats. Instead of owning their lack of preparation, the City Council defaulted to deflection and political blame-shifting. In the aftermath of the fires, rather than taking responsibility for years of underinvestment, poor coordination, and inadequate planning, City leaders publicly undermined and scapegoated the City’s Fire Chief—the first woman to hold the position, with more than 30 years of fire fighting experience. As Vice President of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council, I saw the consequences of that failure firsthand. During the fires, I organized Hollywood nonprofits, neighborhood councils, and community partners to get critical supplies directly to those affected, including N95 masks for people experiencing homelessness and hygiene kits, food, bedding, and pet supplies for fire refugees in Altadena—work that filled gaps left by the City’s response. As your City Councilmember, I will replace political cover with preparation by rebuilding the civic infrastructure needed to keep communities safe: empowering neighborhood councils as frontline disaster-response partners, increasing funding for the Los Angeles Fire Department, taking preemptive steps to reduce wildfire risk, and ensuring the City has standing plans, partnerships, and supply contracts in place before the next emergency. Public safety requires leadership that plans ahead and takes responsibility—and Los Angeles deserves nothing less
Homelessness
In March 2025, a court-ordered independent audit by Alvarez & Marsal found that Los Angeles city and county officials could not accurately track how $2.4 billion in homelessness funding was spent over a four-year period ending in 2024. The report cited “nearly zero financial oversight” and an inability to verify whether nonprofit vendors actually delivered the services they were paid to provide. In response, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter warned that the City’s homelessness programs could be placed under a court-appointed receiver, calling the current system a “train wreck” of mismanagement. This failure comes as Los Angeles faces a historic $1 billion budget deficit, forcing painful cuts to essential services while taxes and fees continue to rise.
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As your City Councilmember, I will restore accountability and transparency to homelessness spending and bring a balanced approach that pairs compassion with responsibility. That means investing in housing, mental health care, and services first—while also protecting neighbors impacted by encampments. I will make encampments safer for both unhoused residents and nearby communities by deploying cameras to help LAPD identify gangs that assault, intimidate, or extort “rent,” and by removing the most dangerous offenders from these areas.
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I will also enforce SB 43, which allows the City to place individuals experiencing severe mental health or substance use crises into medical facilities where they can receive proper care. My opponent has refused to enforce this law, leaving both unhoused individuals and the broader community at greater risk. Every Angeleno deserves safety, dignity, and a real pathway into permanent housing—and City Hall has a responsibility to deliver it.
Helping Los Angeles’s Small Businesses
Making It Easier to Do Business in Los Angeles
Los Angeles should not make it harder for businesses to succeed. As City Councilmember, Colter will streamline permitting, cut red tape, eliminate duplicative inspections, and improve coordination across city departments so businesses can invest, expand, and operate with confidence.
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Stronger Business Voices Through Business Improvement Districts
Too many small businesses are forced to navigate City Hall alone. Colter will support the creation and strengthening of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) so businesses can organize by neighborhood, gain direct access to City leadership, and advocate effectively for public safety, sanitation, and infrastructure investments.
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Safe Streets and Reliable City Services
Public safety is economic policy. Businesses depend on safe, clean streets and reliable emergency response to thrive. Colter strongly supports funding police, fire, and emergency services and ensuring those resources are deployed effectively so commercial corridors and neighborhoods see real, measurable improvements.
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Protecting Small Businesses from Predatory ADA Lawsuits
Colter supports accessibility and full ADA compliance while also standing up to bad-faith and predatory lawsuits that unfairly target small businesses. He will advocate for reasonable notice-and-cure standards that expand access for everyone without punishing business owners who are acting in good faith.
Public Safety and LAPD
Los Angeles has fewer police officers today than it has had in decades, and the consequences are clear in longer response times and reduced neighborhood presence. Public safety depends on residents being able to rely on timely, professional emergency response, and too many communities cannot. I support increasing LAPD staffing to rebuild patrol capacity, improve response times, and restore community policing—but staffing alone is not enough.
Any expansion must be paired with strong accountability, transparent discipline, and meaningful civilian oversight. That leadership starts at City Hall, yet in three years in office the current council member has not met once with LAPD. My opponent’s views on the LAPD are so extreme that even many residents who share serious concerns about policing find them out of step. Public safety requires balance, engagement, and responsibility—not ideology or neglect.
Neighborhood Councils
Neighborhood councils are the backbone of local democracy in Los Angeles, but today they are being pushed to the brink—underfunded, sidelined, and threatened with elimination through City Charter “reforms.” As Vice President of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council, I know that a single council office cannot effectively govern a district of 250,000 people without strong neighborhood partners. As City Councilmember, I will put neighborhood councils at the center of governing CD13 by restoring their funding to $50,000 per council, hiring a full-time CD13 staffer dedicated to neighborhood council support, holding regular meetings with neighborhood council leadership, and integrating neighborhood council committees directly with relevant City departments. I will provide logistical, digital, and outreach support to recruit and retain board members, reform the election process, and ensure neighborhood councils have the tools they need to function. I will also introduce a Council motion to compensate up to five executive board members per neighborhood council with a modest monthly stipend—paired with clear accountability standards—to retain experienced leadership, prevent burnout, and strengthen the most accessible form of democracy our city has.
Protecting our Undocumented Neighbors
The Los Angeles City Council has failed to stand up to Donald Trump and ICE, putting our undocumented neighbors, and the civil liberties of all Angelenos, at risk. My opponent’s promise to provide legal services to those targeted by ICE collapsed almost immediately, and their office failed to update the public, coordinate with neighborhood councils, or act even after being warned about high‑risk locations, such as the Home Depot near Target on Sunset.
We are in a battle with our own federal government, and this is a battle of attrition: the goal is not to stop every ICE raid, but to make them as costly, visible, and difficult as possible. As your City Councilmember, I will strengthen Los Angeles’ Rapid Response Network by coordinating city helicopters and drones to confirm ICE raids, prevent false reports, and ensure the public is alerted to ICE activity anywhere in the city within minutes. This will allow community members, legal observers, and service providers to respond quickly and lawfully. The current councilperson has failed to coordinate with other cities, allowed city resources to shield ICE facilities and suppress public protest, and substituted photo ops for real action. The time for strongly worded letters is over. Los Angeles needs decisive leadership that will actively defend our neighbors and hold the federal government accountable.
Cannabis
Los Angeles’ cannabis industry is being strangled by excessive fees, burdensome regulations, and a city bureaucracy that profits at the expense of legitimate business owners. Many dispensaries cannot turn a sustainable profit under the current system, forced to navigate costly licensing, compliance, and inspection requirements while the city collects steep fees. The current council member has done nothing to fix this, allowing predatory practices to continue and even approving dispensaries next to schools, daycares, and rehab facilities. I will eliminate the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis, protect businesses from exploitation, and create a regulatory environment that allows cannabis entrepreneurs to succeed while keeping dispensaries safely away from sensitive sites.