From Skeptic to Supporter: Why I’m Backing Tim McOsker

By Rick Thomas, Columnist

I didn’t think another San Pedro politician would care about the Harbor Gateway. I was wrong.

A few years back, I decided to run for City Council in LA’s 15th District.

Why?

Simple.

It was on my bucket list.

Back in the day, my dream was to become Philadelphia’s first African American mayor. Then the Honorable Wilson Goode took that title. He proceeded to blow up a square city block, so I took my political career to another level and chose a different goal:

To become the first African American Mayor in the City of Philadelphia who didn’t blow up a square city block. 

Search for Wilson Goode.

After moving to LA, I figured why not aim for something slightly less historic but still ambitious: City Council District 15 in Los Angeles.

I filed the papers.

I was in.

Ready to make a difference—or at least get some cool campaign signs made.

And then the phone rang.

It was Tim McOsker.

He asked me to lunch.

Naturally, I said, “You’re buying, right Tim?” Campaign funds don’t grow on trees, bro.

So, we met at the San Pedro Brewing Company on January 18, 2022. Over lunch, I told him flat out:

“CD 15 needs someone not from San Pedro.”

Since 1951, every single Councilmember has been from San Pedro. That’s 75 years of one Councilmember from one neighborhood hogging the mic, while the rest of the district gets crickets.

Literal crickets.

I had reasons to run:

Dirty streets full of illegal dumping with no resolution.

Teen violence. A Boys and Girls Club is named after a 14-year-old who was killed by a street gang for no reason.

An 8th grader. For no reason.

The teen killed on the streets of Harbor Gateway was Cheryl Green, the namesake for the  Boys and Girls Club on Del Amo Boulevard and Denker. There’s no reason we should have to dedicate a Boys and Girls Club following the death of a 14-year-old.

“The Latino gang members were looking for a black person, any black person, to shoot, the police said, and they found one. Cheryl Green,” the New York Times wrote.  

That’s how huge this story was. National news coverage.  

It’s unacceptable.

Back to Cheryl Green shortly.  

But toss in sidewalks that looked like obstacle courses, semi-trucks barreling down residential streets with official permission, and the cherry on top: previous Councilmembers ignoring Harbor Gateway like we were invisible.

I was done.

Furious.

Motivated.

So, I ran.

And… didn’t get enough signatures to even make the ballot!

WA WA WA WAA…

I was doing pretty well on the above verbiage, wasn’t I?  Then crash and burn.

But hey—silver lining—my name made it to Wikipedia under “Did Not Make the Ballot.”

The last name on the list of “Did Not Make the Ballot.”

THAT’S ME!

It’s not exactly Mount Rushmore. It isn’t even the tagging on the new construction off 205th and Western.

But I’ll take it.

The race came down to Tim McOsker and Danielle Sandoval, and I backed Danielle. Because, again, I didn’t want another person from San Pedro.

Period.

Then something unexpected happened.

Tim McOsker, a San Pedro resident all his life, called me… again.

Lunch?

No.

Damn.  

I was gonna pick Raffaello Ristorante, or Compagnon Wine Bistro.

Nope.

He wanted to come to my neighborhood and walk it.

What da helly?

OK, let me get this right…the leading candidate for City Council District 15 wanted to walk the streets of this gentrifying hood?

Okay.

I figured, “Sure, why not?”

He showed up at my door, met Dexter (my Maltese Poodle with the heart and soul of a pit bull), and Tim McOsker didn’t get bitten!

What da helly?

Imma have to have a long conversation with that dog.

Then Tim started going through my vinyl records from the mid-70s and 80s like he was Power 106’s Justin Incredible.  And this dog is licking his hands, jumping up on him for tummy rubs.

What da helly?

That alone was suspicious.

But then we walked.

And we talked.

And he listened.

He showed up.

I didn’t believe it at first—politicians love good photo ops. But there was no photographer.

And then he came back.

AGAIN!

I remember one Saturday—me in gym clothes getting ready to head to Planet Fitness in Carson, LA Times in hand, pretending to work out—when Tim called.

“I’m around the corner,” he said.  “Just wanted to drop off a lawn sign!”

So now I had a lawn sign for Tim McOsker and Danielle Sandoval in front of my apartment.

I was so confused.

But Tim didn’t disappear after I lost my chance to get on the ballot. He kept showing up. Campaigning, yes—but also listening.

That’s rare.

I had my slogan for my campaign—“Walking For 15.”  I thought that was surprisingly good.  Tim had his—the “One-Five.”

One District, Five Neighborhoods: Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, San Pedro, Watts, and Wilmington.

Oh, I was upset with Tim when I was running, and I told him, “That ‘One-Five’ thing is really good.”  I asked my marketing agency before I fired them, “Why didn’t we come up with that?”

But in a district that’s been represented by San Pedro Councilmembers for generations, there was actually someone ‘Walking For 15.’

That was Tim McOsker.

Walking all five neighborhoods in one district.

Imma still have to have a conversation with that dang dog Dexter because apparently that Maltipoo sent back my mail-in ballot and voted for Tim McOsker!

Just kidding, just kidding.

So yes, I started that journey thinking I’d be the guy on the ballot. Instead, now I’m the guy backing the one candidate who came to my door, listened…and kept coming back.

And honestly?

I’m good with that.

I will say it repeatedly—noting that it wasn’t a very high bar—that judging from what I have lived through with McOsker, the prior Councilmember and garnering feedback from stakeholders who have lived in the Harbor Gateway for over 25years, we’ve seen a significant increase in Council support for this community from Tim McOsker.

That’s a fact.  

And in future columns, I’m going to go in depth on actions Tim McOsker has taken in the Harbor Gateway that make that “One District, Five Neighborhoods” slogan a reality.

Not the BS this community has had to live with for the past 75 years.

I was wrong.

I admit that now.

Yep, I was wrong.

I thought another Councilmember from San Pedro would never see the Harbor Gateway with the vision I have for this community.

But wait…there’s more.

Campaigning over.

Tim McOsker won.

Time for me to go away, right?

“Not I,” said the dog.

I wanted to make sure that my community in the Harbor Gateway got, well…recognition.

Recognition.

Over here!

Over here!

We are right here in the Harbor Gateway!

Tim went sideways towards me when I supported Danielle Sandoval. I campaigned for her right up to election day. But in politics, “you gotta be able to give a punch…and take a punch.”

So, I called Tim.

“What do you want to do, let bygones be bygones?” he said.

“Yeah,” I said. “We’ve got work to do.”

“OK, let’s do it,” he said.

Next move, I wanted to gather all the other candidates who ran to meet, greet, and discuss a great path forward so we could all do what’s best for our sections of Council District 15.

Only one candidate besides me showed up.

That breakfast at Think Café in San Pedro kinda went sideways. Not from me, because I was in it for the game of working with Tim to get… well, ‘recognition.’

Erika Velasquez, Tim’s District Director, set up the grub after my request. I mentioned to her that I had a conversation with LAPD Gang Intervention officer, Maligi Nua—Junior, as we all call him—about renaming the area around the Cheryl Green Boys and Girls Club “Cheryl Green Square.”  In honor of that 14-year-old African American girl whose life was taken away by a gang member who just pointed a gun and fired at several Black children in the Harbor Gateway 19 years ago.

That renaming request started with Junior, and I put it in front of the previous Councilmember’s team. And that request, like most requests for public service from that former Councilmember, went into the round file.

Oh, the round file? That’s a trash can for those in the AI generation.

I mentioned the request for the Cheryl Green dedication to Erika at that breakfast.

She said she’d look into it.

OK…yeah, right.

This ain’t goin’ nowhere.

Then Erika left a voicemail for me on April 1, 2023.  Yes, “April Fool’s Day,” so you know I was suspicious. 

But Tim McOsker’s staff is top-notch.  His staff are at the top of their game.

I kept that message because I knew I’d need it—for this day, when I’d write about my support for Tim McOsker and his second term.

Our Field Deputy, Rudy Martinez? Better than our prior FD Nick Chavez (sorry Nick). But both these FDs and his team…they’re responsive.

Now, full disclosure…some of them don’t like me…OK most of them don’t like me…alright, they all don’t like me, but I don’t care.  

Because it’s not about me.  

It’s about the people living in the Harbor Gateway.

Back to that voicemail from Erika:

“After our conversation…we went back and checked on that motion for ‘Cheryl Green Square’ in the Harbor Gateway…there was no paper on it…so Councilmember McOsker will have that motion to present and once that motion is ready it will be going to Council to dedicate that square.”

I need to get in line at my primary medical provider for a testosterone shot, because every time I listen to that voicemail…I tear up.

From that motion introduced by Tim McOsker:

“I THEREFORE MOVE that the intersection of Del Amo Boulevard and Denker Avenue in the Harbor Gateway be designated ‘Cheryl Green Memorial Square,’ and that the Department of Transportation be directed to erect permanent ceremonial sign(s) to this effect at this location.”

Recognition.

Recognition for the Harbor Gateway.

Thanks, Tim.

You’ve clearly earned a second term. I saw that you put in your papers in preparation for another four years as Councilmember Tim McOsker representing…the ‘One-Five.’

One District.  Five Neighborhoods.  

As it should be.

Tim McOsker for City Council, CD15.

And Dexter, the dog you stole from me, Tim wants a campaign t-shirt!