Meet Asaad Alnajjar, Candidate For Los Angeles Mayor

LOS ANGELES, CA — Asaad Alnajjar, 61, is vying to be elected as the Los Angeles mayor.

In the June 2 primary, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass will face a challenge from 13 other candidates as she seeks a second term. Among them is Alnajjar.

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Learn more about Alnajjar's goals for Los Angeles:

What is your educational background?

University of Southern California

B.S. civil engineering (May 1987)

M.S. civil engineering — construction management / structural (May 1989)

California State Professional Engineering License, 1992

What is your professional background?

• Civil structural engineer with CA state Professional Engineering License working 37 years for the city of Los Angeles since 1989 on the design-build of multi-million infrastructure projects
• 25 Years of safety community volunteering for LAPD/LAFD, neighborhood councils and 11 years of volunteering for interfaith groups

Have you ever held public office, whether appointive or elective?

• Senior engineering manager — city of Los Angeles (1989 till now)
• Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council (elected till 2027)

What are the top three issues facing Los Angeles right now?

The top 3 issues are homelessness, public safety and business & economy recovery.

As listed on my webpage, my first-year priority:
1) Budget Accountability: Implements a 90-day plan to audit current homelessness budget & spending as matched to veteran benefits cycle.

2) Housing-First Strategy: Prioritizes mental health and addiction recovery access and expand on centers.

3) Development Reform: Imposes a moratorium on luxury developments until affordable housing benchmarks are achieved.

4) First Responders: Commits to fully equipping and staffing police and firefighters with modern training and resources to meet emergency incidents.

5) Fire Prevention: Optimizes LAFD programs specifically for wildfire-prone areas and expand on CERT program.

What is one specific policy you would implement in your first 100 days?

1) Budget Accountability: Implements a 90-day plan to audit current homelessness budget & spending as matched to veteran benefits cycle.

2) Housing-First Strategy: Prioritizes mental health and addiction recovery access and expand on centers.

3) Development Reform: Imposes a moratorium on luxury developments until affordable housing benchmarks are achieved.

4) First Responders: Commits to fully equipping and staffing police and firefighters with modern training and resources to meet emergency incidents.

5) Fire Prevention: Optimizes LAFD programs specifically for wildfire-prone areas and expand on CERT program.

6) Community: Ensures Los Angeles remains a safe environment for all residents and encourages civilians to be part of the active emergency operations center team.

7) Regulatory Streamlining: Supports small businesses by reducing red tape, introducing incentives, providing local contracts and improving district infrastructure.

8) Good paying jobs for working families: Create competitive wage jobs, open clear career pathways for new graduates, ensure safe workplaces, and make it easier for entrepreneurs to start and grow.

9) Once budget is adjusted then unfreeze vacant positions that were eliminated to repair the infrastructure.

What is your plan to reduce homelessness, and how would you measure success after one year?

My plan to reduce homelessness, "Engineering a Stronger Los Angeles," treats the crisis as a logistical and fiscal failure requiring technical precision. As a civil engineer with 36 years of city experience, my immediate approach moves away from career politicians’ "hollow slogans" toward a "compassion with accountability" model.

The Strategy:

• 90-Day Fiscal Audit: My first priority is a comprehensive audit of all homelessness spending to eliminate administrative waste, redirecting those funds into direct mental health and addiction services.
• Housing First & Mental Health: I aim to immediately move at least 10,000 individuals into permanent supportive housing within two years. I advocate for expanding clinical services to address the root causes of the crisis rather than just providing beds.
• Streamlined Construction: I propose a moratorium on luxury developments until affordable housing benchmarks are met, using my engineering background to fast-track low-cost, efficient housing projects.
• Public Safety Interdependence: I strongly believe once services are offered, city ordinances must be enforced to ensure public spaces remain safe and accessible for all residents.

Measuring One Year Success:

Dashboard: Success tracked via transparent public dashboard showing where tax dollars are spent and specific number of individuals transitioned into housing.

Placement Rates: A measurable reduction in high-visibility encampments through successful service-led placements.

What is one specific change you would make to improve public safety?

As your mayor I propose a specific shift from "political theater" to technical results by treating city infrastructure as a primary public safety tool. As a veteran civil engineer, I view issues like the copper wire theft epidemic and broken streetlights not just as maintenance tasks, but as direct safety hazards that require an engineering-led overhaul.

One central change I would make is upgrading the city’s lighting infrastructure to smart solar LEDs. All well-lit neighborhoods are inherently safer and that modernizing these systems — coupled with fixing "messy" sidewalks and potholes — removes the physical conditions that foster crime and instability.

This public safety plan also includes:

Fully staffing and equipping first responders: I commit to ensuring that the LAPD and LAFD have modern training, such as de-escalation strategies, and the technical resources needed to respond effectively to emergencies.

90-Day Budget Audit: to redirect funds from administrative "vanity projects" directly into core services like police, fire, and sanitation to ensure these departments are properly funded without raising taxes.

Community Emergency Response: I advocate for civilians to be part of an active emergency operations center team, leveraging my own experience in the LAFD Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

How would you improve transparency or accountability at City Hall?

As your 44th LA mayor my vision for transparency and accountability is built on the principle that Los Angeles belongs to its taxpayers, not its bureaucracy. My plan focuses on three core pillars: forensic investigation, fiscal restoration, and real-time visibility.

• Forensic audit and prosecution: My first step is a "massive audit" to answer three critical questions: where the tax money went, how it was spent, and how to recover lost funds. He explicitly calls for the prosecution of any discovered wrongdoing, signaling a zero-tolerance policy for the mismanagement of public resources.
• Restoring fiscal discipline: By rebalancing the city’s "checkbook," I intend to pivot from over-inflated, wasteful budgets back to the lean, efficient spending models I managed past 30 years. This shift is designed to ensure that essential "left out" expenses—such as street repairs, street lighting, public safety, and core infrastructure—are fully funded and prioritized for daily living.
• The Transparency Dashboard: To secure a "Strong Los Angeles" for future generations, I propose a real-time public dashboard. This tool will provide granular data on every expense, categorized by department, item, and council district, allowing every Angeleno to see exactly how their investments are being used in their own neighborhoods.

Why are you a better choice than your opponents?

I am Civil Professional Engineer, longtime senior city engineer and elected neighborhood council leader, with over 36 years of experience serving Angelenos and implementing projects for the city of LA and over 25 years of neighborhood council volunteer services.

I am a non-politician candidate with unique leadership skills that also has practical experience and knowledge to tackle the most pressing issues confronting Los Angeles today, including rebuilding Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades, bridging the gap to city hall services, repairing our damaged infrastructures, addressing homelessness, enhancing public safety, environmental sustainability and traffic congestion.

No candidate in this race has the hands-on Public Works city services experience and proven track record that I do. I have been a city of Los Angeles Engineer for over 36 years building and delivering solutions.

Now, I want to spend the next four years re-engineering your city as your elected 44th mayor. I have been at the forefront of some of the most innovative projects in the whole city. Oftentimes, the red tape and layers of bureaucracy along with confusion at city hall prevent good ideas from being implemented, especially when it comes to our safety and quality of services, where I believe a strong non-politician leader who has the practical experience, versatile knowledge, an innovative approach and clear vision to turn things around is needed to make good ideas a reality today.