books on a bookshelf

Announcing VIDAS: Los Angeles Chronicles 2015 – 2025

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After more than a year “behind the scenes” as author and editor, Henry Lara and yours truly finally announce the release of VIDAS: Los Angeles Chronicles 2015 – 2025. In Lara’s own words: “For the past ten years, I’ve walked the streets of Los Angeles with an Android and a DSLR, meeting people, photographing moments, and collecting stories. Between 2015 and 2025, I captured nearly 400 stories. For this book, I chose 70. Seventy stories that stayed with me. Seventy moments from a city that has given me so much to capture, write about, and remember. Some stories are told through photographs. Some through prose. And some found their way into poetry…This book is my way of bringing those moments together and sharing a part of Los Angeles as I have felt and lived it over the past decade.”

VIDAS is now available for PRESALE! Copies arrive in mid-October, when there will also be an official LAUNCH PARTY. And I don’t think you’ll have to think hard to guess just who’s planning it. For now, your early support would mean the world for my friend’s work, as well as for mine towards the finish line!

Thanks so much for supporting this gargantuan undertaking by Angeleno Heart and yours truly.

J.T.

The War on Housing Is Next. Here’s how to fight back!

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Did you know that in 2019, during Trump’s first term, the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) under his administration proposed the elimination of rental assistance to any families of mixed immigration status? This was despite the fact that HUD’s allocation of funds had been prorated–or divided to support only eligible renters in any given household–since 1995.

The Proposed Rule was defeated by more than 30,000 Public Comments in opposition, but now it’s rearing it’s ugly head again, even as Trump 2.0 threatens to sign no more bills until the so-called “SAVE” and “MEGA” Acts are passed. Stateline also notes that “HUD’s own analyses from previous mixed-status rule discussions estimated there are about 25,000 mixed-status households living in HUD-assisted housing, fewer than 1% of all households receiving federal rental aid.” In other words, it’s only the latest completely baseless attack on immigrants using federal lawlessness.

The good news, however, is that people across the nation are fighting back, including right here in Los Angeles. Check out the Press Release by the National Housing Law Project below to learn more about the latest Proposed Rule, and even the Proposed Rule as laid out by HUD’s Secretary Scott Turner. When you’re ready to submit your Public Comment in opposition, please do so HERE.


J.T.

THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST MAYOR OF BURBANK

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On this installment of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast we speak with Konstantine Anthony, the former mayor of Burbank and a current representative at the Burbank City Council who is now running to replace Kathryn Barger for Los Angeles County District 5. Keep up with Council Member Anthony’s campaign through his IG, and find your Voting Center or Drop Box for Election Day here.

(0:30) Introductions, welcome Council Member Anthony to the podcast!
(1:20) Konstantine Anthony is the former mayor of Burbank who is now running for L.A. County Board of Supervisors Seat 5
(1:48) Among other things, the Supervisors run the County Department of Public Health and the L.A. County Jails, and also act as the governing body for unincorporated parts of Los Angeles
(3:56) L.A. County District 5 is also home to at least 83 unincorporated communities. What’s Burbank’s relation to this structure, for example?
(5:14) Burbank did a lot of work without too much support from the County, actually
(8:06) Let’s hear some more about Council Member Anthony’s time as a mayor for the city of Burbank, especially as the city’s first-ever Democratic Socialist Mayor
(10:53) Governance as a matter of pushing back in both directions
(12:29) Council Member Anthony’s rescinding of his endorsement of Adam Schiff as California’s next Senator 
(13:48) The popularity contest
(15:06) Council Member Anthony’s persistent presence on the picket lines
(17:22) To be sure, re: the issue of homelessness and rent insecurity in Burbank…
(20:42) L.A. City Council’s governing power on homelessness
(22:36) How did decriminalizing homelessness in Burbank sit with the Burbank Police Department?
(24:34) The importance of fiscal responsibility on the job, actually
(26:32) Taking on the L.A. County Sheriffs at the Board of Supervisors
(29:02) On L.A. District Attorney George Gascon.
(33:49) On the question of rent burden in Burbank, as well as the housing plan over the next ten years
(37:03) Stronger rental protections in Burbank, as well as the right to counsel for tenants
(38:32) What affordable housing needs to look like going forward, especially for immigrant families
(40:38) On housing versus jobs in County District 5
(44:10) Mixed-use housing with commercial space for jobs
(46:42) Speaking with residents in L.A.’s more expensive and unincorporated cities and getting their buy-in on more housing in their neighborhoods
(48:36) The importance of water conservation for County District 5, or the high desert region(53:07) To be sure, for the voters out there who just learned that there is such a thing as County District 5
(56:20) Thanks a ton again for your time, Council Member Anthony

To make a one-time donation to JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, check out my PATREON.

J.T.

STRAIGHT OUTTA SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

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On this installment of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast we speak with Jillian Burgos, the treasurer of the North Hollywood Neighborhood Council, which is known to issue more Community Impact Reports than any other Neighborhood Council! Burgos has called Los Angeles home since 2009 and is now running a people-powered campaign to replace Paul Krekorian for L.A. City Council District 2 this March. Learn more about the campaign through her website, and check back soon to find the time-stamps for our convo.

(0:30) Welcome Jillian Burgos! Would you tell us about yourself, and when you first declared your campaign?
(6:27) Let’s talk about Council District 2, and which neighborhoods it includes
(9:16) Let’s also talk about the Neighborhood Council system
(15:38) The NC’s can actually make statements about living conditions, including Renter’s Issues
(17:25) A lot of renters in CD-2 are also actors and writers who were on strike recently 17:32
(23:11) What would Jillian Burgos do regarding illegal Airbnbs in the district?
(26:01) Among other things, coalition-building at L.A. City Hall
(29:30) What would Transit Justice in CD-2 actually look like in 5 – 10 years?
(32:04) With all this said, what really sets Jillian’s campaign apart from the rest of the pack?
(37:42) How folks can volunteer for or otherwise support Jillian’s campaign
(38:43) Volunteering and the importance of matching funds
(40:18) Is Jillian’s campaign the real grassroots campaign in CD-2 to support?
(42:16) Yes, indeed. Now on to canvassing!

You can also catch the latest from yours truly on L.A. County Districts 2, 4, 5 and the District Attorney’s office via Making a Neighborhood; and yes, Los Cuentos has wrapped up with Elections in El Salvador and I’ll have a report back soon! For now, to make a one-time donation to JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, check out my PATREON.

J.T.

RAISING OVER $150,000 WITHOUT PAC MONEY IN L.A.

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Thanks to matching funds! Los Angeles, meet Ysabel Jurado for Council District 14.

(02:15) What is Council-District 14? Which neighborhoods does it include?
(03:42) Ysabel is another Highland Park native and graduate of Immaculate Heart High School
(05:38) Sharing the Highland Park area with Council-District 1, which takes the side south of York Blvd
(06:49) The reason Ysabel decided to run for this seat was to fight for her community (back in August 2022)
(09:33) What Ysabel’s hearing from community members about city politics
(11:39) Ysabel’s experience as a Tenants’ Rights Attorney fighting evictions during lock-down due to COVID-19
(13:06) On Social Housing in Los Angeles as a part of fighting the housing crisis
(14:52) Support the Eastside Cafe, which is fundraising to purchase more land back for El Sereno community
(17:20) Council-District 14 has the highest number of eviction filings out of all the districts; we need to enhance renter protections
(22:41) According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, since the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in California is $2,197, the median or minimum wage should be $42 an hour
(25:21) Ysabel has raised more than $150,000 for her campaign without PAC or corporate money
(26:18) What would Ysabel do with millions of surplus money in CD-14? Also, my humble Patreon plug!
(29:12) Protecting small, legacy businesses, including in Boyle Heights
(30:01) Dealing with resentment and frustration from community members re: resources for unsheltered folks
(34:58) L.A.’s Planning and Land Use Management committee accepted an appeal in Boyle Heights over Tiao Development’s proposed destruction of legacy businesses on Cesar Chavez Ave. to build market-rate housing
(39:14) Dealing with jadedness on housing and the idea that working-class communities cannot win against developers
(41:16) How Ysabel would serve on L.A.’s Planning and Land Use Committee
(43:04) Ysabel’s roots as a Filipina-American and how they inform her sense of land and stewardship rather than ownership
(45:27) Explaining how Tiny Homes are actually NOT housing
(50:40) How Ysabel will not allow for her identity as an Asian-American to be used as a “racial wedge” between her and Latinx communities
(52:28) At just over 50 days before mail-in ballots reach voters, what’s Ysabel up to?
(54:22) Follow Ysabel Jurado’s Campaign for Council District 14 on Instagram at @ysabeljuradola.

To make a one-time donation to my fundraiser for the 9th anniversary of JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, please check out my PATREON.

J.T.