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I'm David Nazar.

Imagine what it's like having to flee your war torn country as a child.

Having no idea where you're going.

And decades later, you're a council member on the Los Angeles City Council.

After spending several years as an assemblyman for the state of California.

Only in America, that's for certain.

Well, that's the story of L.A. City Councilman Adrin Nazarian.

Nazarian was just eight years old when his family fled Iran just a few years after the Shah was exiled and the radical Ayatollah government took over, sparking the mass exodus of Iranians.

Southern California, Adrin and family included.

His family landed in the US, settling in the San Fernando Valley.

Fast forward this great story.

Councilman Nazarian eventually made his way to UCLA and graduated with a degree in economics.

And then on to the world of politics.

We're going to hear about that story first, though.

We're going to hear all about Los Angeles.

Joining me now is LA City Councilman Adrin Nazarian and thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you very much for having me, David.

Appreciate it.

What an honor and good last name.

You've got the i a n let's begin with city business, so to speak.

Now, last week on our program, we interviewed a couple of names you might know former L.A. Sheriff Alex Villanueva and a journalist.

His name is Jake Humphreyville with, City Watch.

He's sort of quite the critic of the finances.

We'll get to all of that.

You know, they're very concerned about the homeless situation, the crime.

Homelessness is really bad.

Councilman, we've done for the last year or two a series of stories on homelessness.

It really seems to be getting worse in a skid row West L.A., MacArthur Park area.

What's your take on what's going on and what could be done more proficiently to help with homelessness here in Los Angeles?

So it's it's, homelessness is the probably the biggest failure that our state and our city and our region has, and the entire United States, has experienced in its policymaking and safety net devising.

You know, our, our country, hasn't necessarily put into place protective safety nets, well established to make sure that, difficult circumstances don't become worse off.

It's it's one thing it's understandable when there are one offs impacting individuals or a small region.

But it's another thing when you have hundreds of thousands of homeless individuals in the wealthiest country in the world.

And to top it off, a quarter of the half of them, almost half of the entire nation's homeless population is in California, and a quarter of the entire population is here in Los Angeles region.

So this is something that the city alone is not going to be able to address.

This is something that the federal government is going to need to step up and help, because you don't want a place like Los Angeles.

That's been the engine of the entertainment industry.

That is such a large hub.

We have 10 million residents in LA County, 4 million in the city of Los Angeles.

The county is one fourth of the entire state's population.

So with density come issues.

But what you shouldn't allow to happen, is the exasperation of issues and then becoming crisis over time and then not being able to address the crisis.

And that's where we're at.

That's where we've been.

We're putting in a dent.

We've, as a as of the latest, outcomes over the course of the last few months, we've seen that homelessness is decreasing.

We are placing many individuals in homes, whether temporary or permanent, but we haven't had the infrastructure in place to keep up.

And we're just now building and executing the infrastructure.

And let's take more of a deep dive on that.

And thank you.

I almost fell out of a chair as you started speaking because you're the first politician.

What a breath of fresh air.

Who said it's been a failure?

And I actually respect that greatly.

And I know you say it is getting better.

It seems like there's a dent in.

Yes.

We reported, recently about the loss of the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority.

Yes.

They did their survey, but it's just a three day survey over 365 days.

And I know that you folks here in the city are saying, well, there's a slight decrease, and I've got to be honest with you.

And I say this with all due respect, it's terrible out there.

And every few months when we interview more folks out there, there are more tents, more homeless encampments, more people on the streets of fentanyl.

Drug crisis has gotten completely out of control.

And I'm not sure what it is going to take, whether it's policy or a bit more of a kinder, gentler criminalization, if you will, or just more resources.

I don't know the answer any more, but you did say it's been a failure.

What's been a failure is our, our response overall as a country.

Now, what we've also gone through are many different experiments that have either proven to work or not to work.

When you say crime is on the rise, crime was on the rise.

It's actually gotten less, homicides and and violent crimes have significantly lessened than what it was.

I grew up in Los Angeles, so, you know, parts of Los Angeles were a war zone.

I, I very vividly remember regularly hearing gunshots or the reporting of a lot of gunshots that, that that's changed quite a bit.

I'm not saying it's all gone, but it's significantly changed.

So when, when when we talk about difficult circumstances facing this city, I don't want to speak and I never want to speak in absolute terms.

I think we have our challenges.

You know, homelessness is a manmade challenge, you know, because we haven't addressed it over time.

We failed to have a good safety net system in place.

We then failed to address the housing crisis and the lack of, building newer homes.

You know, we need both both components of affordable housing to meet the needs of individuals who, need affordable rates of housing.

But then we also need to keep up with the growth of the population.

So we're providing enough market housing so that it keeps on par with the pricing.

We haven't built enough market housing or we stagnated in building enough market housing.

And what ended up happening was the fewer number of houses, housing, on the market were attempting to provide the necessary housing for shelter for the growing population.

Well, over time the demand is going to increase and the supply is staying stagnant.

So the prices of the individual units are going to go up.

So this was a man made problem.

And that's also contributed to the problem of homelessness, because the rent prices and cost of living has become staggering.

And when you look at to what extent of your disposable income, is made up of what you pay for housing, you realize that when your housing goes from 35% to 50% to 60%, well, then you're using less of your disposable income for other things, for being able to spend it on your children, on your health care needs, on, on saving for the future.

You know, we're a country of non savers because we almost have a system in place to continue spending.

So I know I'm going a little bit far off the field of homelessness, but all of these things are issues that connect with one another and have brought us to the point that we are facing with right now.

And I do hear everything you're saying.

I greatly appreciate that.

And what you're saying.

It almost seems to me just being that we've been sort of in the trenches for the last couple of years on these homeless stories, that we're at a point where everything you say is so true, but it's almost as if it's sort of a utopian society.

Of course, we need more housing.

Of course we need cheaper rents.

Of course we've got to give people an opportunity to find places to live.

We've got to control domestic violence.

We got to do better in our VA so that these brave heroes who are off fighting for the United States or in the military, they return to the streets and then they live on the street.

You are so correct in what you say.

Let me offer this to you and let me know if this is something where I'm being absolutely crazy.

It seems to me that because homelessness is such a crisis, I almost view it as if if there's a hurricane in the southeast or a massive earthquake or a tornado in the west somewhere.

What emergency responders do, what government does they bring in FEMA, they bring in Red cross.

You bring in Doctors Without Borders, they triage the entire place, and they're dealing with tens of thousands of people who are victims of Mother Nature, so to speak.

Right.

These disasters, why not do the same thing in Los Angeles?

Is that feasible or am I being crazy?

Which I could be?

Those are short term incidents that are addressed.

This has been a long term issue that's been in the making.

And the problem also is don't forget, in Los Angeles, downtown was the main center of, inadequately providing shelter to the homeless population that we had, for many decades as buildings were, left to deteriorate, encampments were established and it was away from, the general, views or eyes of residents in Los Angeles.

And so what it would end up happening was the homeless population just continued growing in downtown area up until the early 2000, when a lot of these buildings were rehab and repurposed and were now utilizes lofts for residential purposes.

And as downtown became a more residential centric location, it pushed the homeless population out into the rest of Los Angeles, predominantly further west.

And smaller cities wouldn't want to deal with the homeless population and encampments, so they would continue pushing it into Los Angeles proper.

Los Angeles figured that it's not going to push the issue off.

Instead, they are going to address it head on.

And so when you look at the history of how this also came about, it's critical to keep that perspective, to know that we never really address this issue when we need it to.

We never got the assistance to do it.

And now it's going to take us some time to, address it meaningfully so that we're not just pushing encampments from one place to another, but instead getting people permanently housed.

And I am going to go on the record and say this.

I know all your hearts are in the right places.

There's no question you guys want to help.

Mayor bass is trying with the inside safe.

It just seems it's such a catastrophic pandemic and needs more, heavy artillery to try to combat the problem.

I want to get back to one thing you said, Councilman Nazario, and I want to get to your story because you got a great story.

Crime.

You mentioned homicides have decreased in the city of Los Santos.

That is absolutely correct.

And you say violent crimes are decreasing.

I think when I encounter them, when I'm on the street talking to just people every day on these stories, they're more worried about, like the home invasions, the carjackings, the burglaries, the petty thefts.

They're scared.

I mean, I've talked to people putting iron bars on their windows, and not just downtown L.A., West Los Angeles.

They're putting the perimeter fences around their houses.

People are worried.

They're worried about crime on the la metro.

So can you help?

Sort of put this in perspective, because I do agree with you.

There are fewer homicides.

There are fewer very violent crimes.

But the totality of the crimes, I'm not sure that's the case.

And maybe you can sort of set the record straight for me here.

And thank you that I appreciate that.

I try to shorten the answers.

And so that's why sometimes some things get lost.

Violent crimes are down.

But that doesn't mean that overall crimes, petty crimes part one crimes aren't up.

Unfortunately.

They are.

And there's a sense what you're what you're talking about is that sense of insecurity that most people feel.

When I was out campaigning for the last year, year and a half, and knocking on doors, what I heard quite a bit from a lot of my future Now constituents were that they had a certain sense of discomfort walking in their own neighborhoods, that they were looking over their shoulders where Los Angeles was never that place, really.

You know, this is this was I remember LA from the 80s and 90s.

And even if whatever circumstances we had, you felt safe in your neighborhood for the most part.

And and it's it's it's it's very disheartening when you hear your constituents who are working hard, who are, you know, many folks are trying to strive for a good middle class living, and they are struggling.

And then on top of the struggle, feeling afraid in their own home or in the vicinity of their home, that's not the way to raise a family.

I want to make sure that folks feel that comfort and I want to doing that in make sure, doing that requires us to make sure that we're supporting our police and public safety personnel to be able to do the things that they need to do to protect the community.

What do we do to make a more of a dent in those other crimes you just mentioned?

Is it more cops on the street?

Is it more sort of just self-awareness of our surroundings?

Is it better policing?

Because I'm not sure.

But as you aptly mentioned, yeah, people are scared.

They are looking over their shoulder wondering, you know, am I going to be a victim here in Los Angeles?

And L.A. was and is a great city, minus some of these flaws?

We we need to go back to increasing our police numbers.

There was a period in the mid 2000, that that, 2005 and on to 2010 that we were able to get to 10,000 police officers.

We've gotten significantly down below that again.

So at this point, we need to go past 10,000.

The more police officers you have, the more adequately resourced you are, the the better you are at making sure you're everywhere.

You're demonstrating presence, you're more engaged in the community.

So instead of being just the referee calling foul, you become more engaged in the community as well and you become a partner within the community.

That's what I want more community based policing.

I use that phrase quite a bit.

In the past, we also had neighborhood prosecutors at that time where the city attorney, there would be a city attorney assigned to every police division to work hand in hand with the police to address a lot of nuisance related issues.

The combination of all of these effects would allow neighborhoods to feel more empowered, to be able to address concerns, and to be able to address small things before they became big things.

You know, I would very much want us to look at ways of implementing some of those as well, increasing police force, but then at the same time making sure residents do have access to neighborhood prosecutor programs.

And you mentioned community.

You represent, quite a good swath of community here in Los Angeles as a second district, great communities like, Studio City, Toluca Lake and North Hollywood.

If I'm not mistaken, I kind of call the East Valley.

What you got?

What about a quarter million people there?

And I know you've really focused on over the years, dream, you know, better housing for folks, affordable housing.

Right?

Rents so folks can pay their rent.

Better services for seniors, even better transportation in the la metro.

It's a great system, but we've got crime on the metro, no question.

But one day, I believe it is going to be the greatest transportation system in the world.

We're not there yet.

We got to fix some of the crime problems and some of the build out on the infrastructure.

But what an amazing transportation system.

What have you been focusing with?

What have you been dealing with of your communities?

I know you're not just trying to help your community, but all Angelinos, really.

So thank you for that and that right now, the description you gave us was pretty loaded because I'm tempted to actually respond to some of those things, but look, Timmy, what's important is you got to look at the basic, the basics and the base of what makes a certain community great.

Los Angeles was put on the map because of Hollywood, right?

Because of entertainment industry.

What we've been seeing the team in industry fleet.

So we got to make sure that the entertainment industry stays, is is preserved.

It's back to thriving again.

And, and, you know, reaches a greatness again, in a different way now.

But, I want to see small businesses thrive.

I want to see industry succeed.

Technology is going to be something that we're going to be looking more and more as a way of, as more opportunities are coming to Los Angeles, from the Bay area, we're going to need to harness all of these, sectors and segments of the economy and make sure that we're growing and providing the workforce necessary to provide the workforce.

We need to make sure that we're raising our kids better informed about what opportunities there are for them, and create those opportunities for them as well.

Let me jump in for one second, and we'll get back to everything that you're going to talk about, because you said something that's so vital.

It is true that Hollywood is sort of fleeing Hollywood right there.

Fleeing lost is going to cheaper places Canada, Tennessee, different parts of the United States.

They're shooting and filming for half the cost.

So many folks I've heard over the years say, well, the city of Los and the state of California, the rules or regulations is so business unfriendly.

That is a great opportunity to try to bring them back here and stay here so that the directors and the writers and the producers, they we've got a backdrop for, you know, feature films galore.

So that is so vital for Los Santos.

You're right.

It was built in Los Angeles, built on Hollywood, the film industry and also oil.

And you want to keep Hollywood home, right?

That's what it is.

That's what it comes down to.

So what have you done to try to do that?

Just very recently actually put into effect a motion that was passed.

And now we're going to be working with, it's effects to, to start implementing once we get the report backs, put a motion forward that would streamline the permitting, processing, look at public safety personnel on scenes, because sometimes we create cumbersome and onerous requirements that don't necessarily need to be enforced or put into place as a restriction for filming.

And then sometimes you look at how, the industry is doing because there's a lot of shooting that takes place, film shooting that takes place, sometimes, you know, price gouging takes effect.

Parking, prices go up.

Other related costs go up.

And you want to make sure that everyone understands and appreciates the importance of these shoots taking place, these filming shoots taking place.

And you want to make sure that there isn't any price gouging.

So we're looking at multiple different fronts of what can the city do to make sure that we're reducing the cost, that then accumulates and becomes a big component of the decision to not do something in Los Angeles?

And by lowering these several different costs, we bring down the overall price of doing a shoot in Los Angeles and keep filming here.

Again, you want to keep Hollywood here.

You want to keep Hollywood home.

You want to make sure that folks that are raising the next generation of talent, stay here and thrive in this creative economy right here.

You have lived, life so far.

Many more years on the horizon, obviously, and have taken a road well traveled.

You're a kid in Iran, you're Armenian descent, yet Persian roots, living in Iran.

The shores deposed, late 1970s.

And then a few years later, the Iraq, Iran war.

Thousands upon thousands of people were killed.

The numbers are, off the charts.

Your family flees, you make your way to the United States, take me through some of that story.

And then how did you make your way to UCLA?

And then sitting in these great hallowed halls of the Los Angeles City Council?

I mean, that's just an amazing story.

My father was an architect.

Successful architect at that.

My mother had a hair salon.

And so we had a very comfortable and enjoyable life.

And, as Christian, I Armenians, we were very small minority in the country, but we were treated very well.

Minorities in Iran under the Shah, for the most part, were treated very well.

Yes.

Once the regime change to happen, we didn't know what to expect anymore.

And as you know, my father's Persian Jewish.

So the Jews as a minority, a tiny minority, as were our many Christians.

But we were treated well.

It wasn't often the case anywhere else in the world, but Iran afforded that luxury until Ayatollah took over.

But please continue.

And and you know the story.

And that caused forced quite a bit of an exodus because you don't know anymore whether you're going to have the same protections or not.

Right.

And overnight, we didn't have a police force anymore.

And instead we had vigilantes who you don't know where their loyalties were.

And so any given incident, your life could be in jeopardy.

So so we had to flee, but we couldn't also flee all at once.

So my mother took my brother out of the country.

First was 16 years of age.

Went to Cyprus, to a boarding school there and stayed there for three years, then came back and got me out of the country.

My sister was already here going to Valley College, so we joined her and, and, and so my family was kind of spread apart, three different continents for a period of about seven years until we were all reunited.

And once you're reunited, you're just thinking during this time, you're just thinking about staying above water, right?

You're not thinking about running for office.

You're not.

These were things that wasn't even part of the mindset.

Both culturally as well as during the struggle.

So it wasn't until high school where I wanted to go to law school during my college years, I decided to, do as many internships as possible to build up the resume necessary to go to to get into the best law school I could and also get the scholarships I need.

Because, of the tenuous circumstance of, not being able to potentially afford law school.

So I, I, I as I was doing all these different internships, I was introduced to the program coral, which is a leadership training program.

I applied, got in, did it for a year, and I thought that that would build my resume and I would get into any law school that I would like.

But along the coral program, I met a candidate, worked on his campaign who ended up becoming a member of Congress.

So right after my program ended, I worked for him again, thinking that that would be build up towards, a great law school, application and entrance.

But then that led to working on campaigns because I realized it's one thing to work in an office with a candidate that you that that that you work for elected official, you work for it.

It's another thing when you want to reshape an area and you start bringing in candidates who understand the plight of the public that they represent, understand the issues well.

So just to jump in for a second was that what got you with the political bug?

Was that what that was?

It was yeah, it was because it was one thing to work on for an elected official and to see the vast amount of need that there was.

So I was constantly helping folks with, especially a lot of immigrants with their visa cases.

But it was another thing to then work on a campaign and try to empower a community and let them know about the benefits of participating in elections, because there are large swaths of Los Angelinos or Americans who become a citizen but don't want to vote because of their past experience from their country or the region they fled from or came from.

In the case of Armenians, whether you've left the Soviet Armenia was the, you know, the the corrupt Soviet system, or you left Lebanon, where there was always fights between, Christian and Muslim Arabs, or Iran, where there was no elections because there was a monarch right up until the overthrow, we never really learned or benefited from actual democracies.

And so when you come to a place like the United States, you are not really well versed and you don't know if you participate.

What's going to happen?

Is the government going to take your name down and misuse it, right when there is all these fears given where you've left behind, you don't want to participate.

You just want to fly under the radar.

So it was a way of empowering people to get them involved and engaged.

Where you are participating, you are involved and you're engaging folks.

And it's a it's a credit to what you do.

Councilman Adrin Azarian thank you so much for being here.

What an honor.

Thank you.

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