Originally published from The Los Angeles Times.
During his years as a community organizer in South L.A., Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson '95 saw the devastation wrought by the crack cocaine epidemic and the economic fallout that followed the 1992 L.A. riots.
Harris-Dawson’s two decades at the nonprofit Community Coalition, which Mayor Karen Bass co-founded, will shape his agenda. Homelessness, which disproportionately affects Black and Latino populations, and housing affordability will be his top issues, he said Friday at his first council meeting as president.
He represents a South Los Angeles district that takes in all or part of the neighborhoods of West Adams, View Heights, Hyde Park, Van Ness, Baldwin Hills and Adams-Normandie.
Dermot Givens, a political consultant who has observed Harris-Dawson’s career, described him as a relationship builder. The council member, first elected in 2015, secured enough votes to become president without a public battle with any colleagues, Givens said.
He’s a very nice guy, and he’ll continue that consensus-building as council president,” Givens said.
The council voted 14 to 0 in May for Harris-Dawson to replace Councilmember Paul Krekorian, who had held the position since October 2022.
Harris-Dawson grew up in South L.A., until gang violence prompted his family to move to the foothill communities of Altadena and Arcadia. He visited his grandfather in Baldwin Hills on weekends.
He went on to study political science and mathematics at Morehouse College.
At Community Coalition, he worked on education and job-related initiatives.
They’re keyed in on some of the very same issues,” Jaime Regalado, a professor emeritus of political science at Cal State Los Angeles, said of Harris-Dawson and Bass. “The policy concerns that the mayor has are very much the same that Marqueece has.
As president, Harris-Dawson can pick which council members serve on the committees dealing with budgeting, public safety, homelessness and other key issues. He’ll also schedule items for votes.
In an interview, he said he would form a new committee focused on “unarmed response” that will look at how police officers handle traffic stops, among other issues.
The council is already studying the cost and feasibility of creating unarmed civilian teams to respond to certain traffic issues, ending some traffic stops for minor infractions and limiting traffic fines in poorer neighborhoods. - The Los Angeles Times