I said before that the problem with candidate Tim McOsker wasn’t that he was not qualified enough or that he didn’t have the skill sets and relationships. It’s clear that he does. The problem is that in the 113-year history of this district, the only voices that counted were those connected to money and power, whether connected to downtown Los Angeles or the Port of Los Angeles. But now that he is the councilman, many of us hope that he’ll put his skill sets, experience and relationships to use in lifting up the entire district.
His speech at the Dec. 10 swearing-in ceremony went a long way in addressing those hopes and fears. Our new city councilman used the swearing-in ceremony as an opportunity to heal the divides in CD15 after a divisive campaign, while also thanking his predecessor, Councilman Joe Buscaino and influential people, such as former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn and Supervisor Janice Hahn, who played significant roles in his political maturation and getting to the council seat.
In the days following the Dec. 4 Spirit of San Pedro Holiday Parade, there were anecdotal reports of parade attendees booing the Wilmington cheerleaders and band members from the Harry Bridges SPAN School. The reports were significant enough for former city council candidate Danielle Sandoval to release a statement that called out the disrespect paid to the students and called for more leaders to do the same.
Sandoval said she was disheartened and appalled at the treatment of Harry Bridges marching band staff, coaches, and most of all the children who participated in the parade. The students and staff endured obscene comments and thrown projectiles during their performance as they marched down Pacific Avenue.
“It’s disgusting and those involved should be ashamed of themselves,” she said.
The next day, the board of directors of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce released a statement condemning the reported incidents of abuse and reported that it had apologized to the school administration and band director for the reported incidents and said it would apologize in person to the band and cheer team at a scheduled meeting.
McOsker made special note that though he won two-thirds of the vote throughout the district, he had to be mindful that there were still 35% of voters who didn’t want him to be their next council member.
A breakdown of the statement of votes cast shows that McOsker got 56% of the vote to Sandoval’s 31%. In all five communities, 10% to 15% of ballots cast included a vote for no one. This could be the result of voters choosing not to cast a ballot for either candidate or reflects spoilage from ballot marking mistakes.
Nevertheless, in communities where McOsker was weakest, such as Watts, Wilmington and Harbor Gateway, he more than made up the ground and won four of the five communities in CD15.
In fact, McOsker won by a couple of percentage points in Watts and lost by a couple of percentage points in Wilmington, while coming away with strong wins in Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, and by far, San Pedro, where he really did get two-thirds of the vote to Sandoval’s 23%.
Still, if McOsker’s swearing-in ceremony speech were a jazz composition, he hit all the right notes. He expressed concern for equity and fairness in the delivery of services; charter reform to increase representation, prevent corruption and make government more transparent; do all in his power to address housing, from Section 8 voucher holders being more successfully paired with landlords, to achieving environmental justice and keeping good jobs; and pushing for better public safety and more sworn officers who are well trained and responsive.
In the weeks leading up to the Nov. 8 election, I told him my concerns about what his potential victory would mean. In reply, he told me to watch him and judge him by the work that he does. He’s not fully settled into office yet, but he’s off to a decent start.