Q&A With Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez

Since he was elected to California’s 51st District last November, Jimmy Gomez has been a busy man, shuttling back and forth between Sacramento and Los Angeles every week. By law, he isn't allowed to be away from Sacramento for more than three days while the legislature is in session. Gomez was in Los Angeles last week while the legislature was in recess, meeting people and inquiring about some of his pet issues in such areas as healthcare, education and the environment. In a wide-ranging interview with Patch, Gomez talks about some of the work he has been doing on behalf of the Northeast L.A. communities he represents. Excerpts:

Eagle Rock Patch: What’s the first thing you did in Sacramento when you go there after being elected?

Jimmy Gomez: (Laughs) They actually put you through a series of extensive trainings—everything from learning about the legislative process to making hiring decisions and setting up an office. Things happen fast in Sacramento. The [California Assembly] election was on a Tuesday and the next day we flew to Sacramento. Training started Thursday and we were sworn in Dec. 3. The first deadline for introducing legislative proposals—in each session you get to introduce up to 40 proposals—was at the end of January. The proposals don’t have to be complete—you can introduce them as what’s known as spot bills.

Patch: What were some of your legislative proposals?

Gomez: Well, during the campaign I talked about how getting involved with government and politics was always a personal issue for me. Everything from health care and community colleges to LGBT issues,  the environment and jobs—I broke those issues out and ended up trying to get legislation for each of those categories. In introduced a bill—AB 735—regarding the L.A. River so that it would become eligible for different types of state money. That bill unfortunately got stuck in appropriations because they said they didn’t know what the cost would be to the state. But we’re going to be working on that to make sure that we can make the L.A. River a destination and a place people can use for recreation.

Another bill that I dealt with was regarding LGBT issues and residential care facilities—senior homes and assisted living. The bill requires administrators of those facilities to be trained in LGBT sensitivity and competency. Because what you have a lot of times is all these LGBT individuals who came out of the closet and fought for equal rights for the last 30-40 years. A lot of them are becoming seniors who are going to senior facilities, and there are some reports that show that they feel like they have to go back into the closet because they’re not welcomed.

Another bill I introduced was to get priority registration to EOPS—Educational Opportunity Program Students—and disabled students. One of the things we’ve learned is that when it becomes hard for people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds to get into a school, they’re much less likely to start school, stay in school and finish school. So my bill would give such students priority registration for a few years until they are able to meet certain standards and make progress to either get a technical degree or transferring to a four-year university. So it’s a bill that deals with my passion for community college and giving people that extra leg up.

Patch: What have you done regarding the proliferation of massage parlors?

Gomez: I introduced a bill—AB 1147—which tries to deal with the problem not just in places like Eagle Rock and Northeast L.A. but all over the state. One of the things we need to do is make sure that communities have greater ability to determine where massage parlors are located and at the same time allow the legitimate massage parlors the ability to operate. I have tried to work with the California League of Cities as well as the California Massage Therapy Council to develop that legislation. 

Both sides are a little dug into their positions, so we kept the bill in the Assembly Business and Professions Committee. One of my commitments to the committee is that I don’t want to move the bill to the floor unless there is some sort of agreement between the California League of Cities as well as the California Massage Therapy Council. Right now there is no agreement, but I think next year will be a whole different dynamic because at the end of next year there has to be a review of the law that allowed the establishment of massage therapists. And I think the massage therapy council as well as the league will be more likely to try to reach an agreement on how local municipalities can shut down any illicit activity and have some control over the placement of massage parlors.

Patch: This is a question from a resident in Eagle Rock about the so-called Caltrans Post-1989 Retrofit Soundwall Program funded by the L.A. County Metropolitan Authority. In Eagle Rock, along a half-mile stretch of the 134 freeway between Figueroa Street and Mount Helena, Caltrans has yet to fund what’s known as Soundwall Package # 14, evidently and partly because Caltrans is working on these packages in numerical order, and is currently focused on package # 11. Your office has been giving the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council updates about the program. Can you tell us something about it?

Gomez: We have put a list together of all the areas that need soundwalls along freeways but were delayed because of the economic crisis. A lot of it is a matter of funding and we’re working with Caltrans to make sure that we can find the funding for different projects. In fact, the Senate Pro Temp’s  office called my office to ask about which soundwall projects require funding. We haven’t finished that process but we’re still in a conversation with the Senate Pro Temp’s office and Caltrans. I’m actually meeting with Caltrans tomorrow [Aug. 2] to take a tour of our freeway system around the 51st District to look at which projects are outstanding and how I can be helpful to get those finished. 

Caltrans is a big entity and we have to build our relationship with that big entity in order to prioritize our projects in the 51st District. But I think we’re going to make some progress there and as soon as I get some more information about soundwall # 14 I’ll inform you as well as the resident who asked about it.

Patch: Last year, as you might know, there was a fatal accident on the 134 freeway during the Eagle Rock Park summer concerts series.

Gomez: I was there. And that’s one of the things we’re going to be talking about with Caltrans to see what their plans are to make sure those kinds of accidents don’t happen again. I think that wasn’t the first accident that happened [in that area].

Patch: The California Highway Patrol did a high-level investigation into the accident but is not making it public. There were hundreds of people at the concert and many of them would like to know what happened.

Gomez: I agree. We’ll look into it.

Patch: How do you identify local issues that need to be tackled on a state level? 

Gomez: First, you identify issues by being extremely accessible. By law, we [assemblymembers] can’t be away—can’t check in [with communities]—for longer than three days at a time when the assembly is in session. So we have to have a [legislative] session on a Monday and a session on Thursday. And then we get to go home for three days. So I fly back on Thursday and do a lot of events—neighborhood office hours, meetings with community leaders, tree giveaways, health fairs. We interact with the public quite a bit, and then we use the staff to talk with the neighborhood councils to get their input. And that’s how you come up with a lot of different issues. 

Patch: What else is on your mind?

Gomez: You know, a lot of people are used to seeing their council member a lot during events. And that’s good—government works best when it’s accessible to people. One of the things I’ve wanted to do is make government at the state level more accessible at the local level. So what we’ve started doing is a series of different programs and events in order to increase the accessibility to the Assembly office. One of the things we’ve done is start neighborhood district office hours. We set up a table, banners, and invite residents of a given neighborhood by mail to come and talk to me over coffee. We did one in Eagle Rock, over at Target. We did one in East L.A. We have one tomorrow [Aug. 2] at the Echo Park Farmers Market. And we have one in Silver Lake planned. 

We’ve been getting anywhere from 30 to 50 people. Incidentally, in one of the meetings, a gentleman came up to me and asked about a soundwall—except it was in East L.A. It’s a good way to interact and become accessible. We have also set up a series of what we call breakfast club meetings with different elected officials and statewide leaders to talk about what they do and allow the people to ask questions. 

The first one we did was actually here in Eagle Rock at the Women’s Club. It was with State Controller John Chiang. We did another one in Highland Park with State Treasurer Bill Lockyer. We have one coming up with the secretary of agriculture and one with Legislative Analyst Mark Taylor, who helps interpret a lot of the stuff that goes on in Sacramento. And we have one coming up with the chief justice of the California Supreme Court. We’re also making a cross-jurisdictional effort in which the offices of Senator Xavier Becerra, Kevin de Leon, José Huizar come together to serve communities in Northeast L.A. by organizing such events as health fairs. 

The idea is that if the elected officials of Northeast L.A. work together we can get more done. A good example of the that is the Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown. The governor put in $20 million to finish the park—it was a park that was never finished because of the economic downturn. What happened was that the Senate Budget Committee cut out the $20 million. So I worked with Kevin de Leon’s office to advocate to keep that money in. So that park, which was delayed for five or six years, is going to start construction next year and is to be finally completed after eight years of waiting.

Patch: How is your relationship with Gil Cedillo’s office, given that you supported his opponent in the CD 1 election?

Gomez: We invited Gil to different events and are going to sit down soon. It’s going to be fine. Gil and myself both understand that in order to serve the people of the 51st district, we have to work together. In politics, sometimes you’re on opposite sides. But in the end you know that you can get more done with cooperation and collaboration.

Patch asks readers: What's an issue in the community you'd like to see Assemblymember Gomez address?