Santa Monica Council Candidate Spotlight: Ericka Lesley

SANTA MONICA, CA — Ericka Lesley grew up, as she puts it, "all over the place." The daughter of an Air Force mother and Navy father, Lesley describes herself as a military brat who lived in several states before making Santa Monica home. She attended Santa Monica College and said she was part of the first cohort of its Public Policy Institute. At 10, she wanted to be a firefighter.

Lesley moved to Santa Monica in 2009 after unsuccessfully seeking an interdistrict school transfer for her oldest son, who is autistic. She lives in the Pico neighborhood and said her experience as a single parent gives her a perspective she believes is missing from the City Council.

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What is Santa Monica getting wrong about homelessness today, and what would you do differently?
What they're getting wrong is the intake system. They're leaving out domestic violence victims and families displaced because of financial constraints. We look at the people visibly on the street, but that's different from those who are invisible.

I've seen people denied services, including a domestic violence victim from another state who was trying to escape her abuser. We need an intake system that recognizes there are different reasons people become unhoused.

What measurable result would convince you that a city-funded homelessness program is working and what result would cause you to stop funding it?
I want to see people permanently housed. We need somebody making sure people are actually receiving services because too many people get lost in the cracks. Temporary housing should be an incremental step toward permanent housing.

We should also help people with things like credit repair because without good credit, they're going to have trouble getting a good apartment. If people aren't being housed and their status isn't changing, that would cause me to defund the program.

What should happen when someone living on the street repeatedly refuses an offer of shelter, treatment or services
The problem is that when people enter these programs, they're asked for documentation. If somebody has been moving from pillar to post, are they really going to have a lease or papers showing their history?

There needs to be some mechanism for documenting that history so they can get into programs and receive help.

What's your default karaoke song?
I don't do karaoke. You want your ears to bleed?

What song or band makes you crank up the volume in the car?
I go from classical to hard rock. Lately, Michael Jackson, "They Don't Care About Us" and "Scream" with Janet Jackson.

Santa Monica Airport is scheduled to close at the end of 2028. What, specifically, do you believe should replace it?
The people want a park. And we're going to have a park. I represent the people and I want what the people want. I wouldn't have the existing businesses move out and I wouldn't have the museum leave. We don't need to lose another piece of art or culture. And I would keep Barker Hangar. Develop the rest into the park.

The airport property is enormous and converting it will be enormously expensive. How much should Santa Monica taxpayers be expected to pay for the project and where should the rest of the money come from?
In a perfect world, it would come from the federal government. We have to fundraise and get grants. We're broke. What are we paying for?

We need to concentrate on revitalizing our business districts before we start talking about paying for anything else. We also need to understand what environmental remediation the airport land will require. I'd like to see space there for green jobs and green-energy education, especially with Santa Monica College already there.

What's your guilty-pleasure TV show?
My garbage TV..? "90 Day Fiancé."

When was the last time you took public transport and where was it to?
I ride the bus and train occasionally just to see how clean they are and what's going on. My children ride regularly, so I want to see what they're experiencing. Mama has to get on and see what's going on.

What is the single most important thing City Hall can do in the next two years to bring businesses and residents back to Third Street Promenade?
Invest in the local economy.

Is downtown Santa Monica fundamentally suffering from a public-safety problem, a business-model problem or a development problem, and what role should new housing play in its recovery?
I'd say all three. On public safety, my concern has always been that putting the police substation downtown could move crime into residential areas.

On the business side, people aren't into malls anymore. I think we should have outlet stores on the Promenade. I also think we should have esports tournaments and watch parties, with restaurants participating and running specials. We need activity that gives people a reason to come downtown.

Who would you most hate to be stuck in a lift with?
Donald Trump.

What's your most irrational superstition or habit?
Splitting poles. If you're walking with somebody, you both have to go around the same side. Splitting the pole is supposed to be bad luck.

Does Santa Monica have a revenue problem or a spending problem and if finances deteriorate, what specifically would you be prepared to cut or change?
We have a revenue problem. It's not so much what I'm willing to cut. I want to go after Airbnb for illegal Airbnbs in the coastal zone and get our due.

Who was your childhood hero?
My daddy.

What's the most recent book you gave up on, and why?
Who has time to read? Actually, I take that back. I do read the Bible, but I haven't given up on it.

Has Santa Monica gone too far, not far enough, or roughly the right distance in redesigning streets around bicycles and pedestrians and would you support removing or substantially redesigning a project that was shown to create new safety or access problems?
I think we went too far on Broadway. I think we need to remove one side. We need to take every mode of transportation into consideration. We shouldn't put one mode over another.

My concern is disabled people, families with children, businesses and emergency access. Before changes like these are made, there should be an impact report involving fire, police and businesses. I'm not against bikes. My own son was hit by a car while riding his bike, but we need designs that work for everyone.

What's the worst job you've ever had?
Being an administrative assistant. My boss would get people's checks from corporate and tell employees they hadn't arrived. One guy said he was about to get evicted if he didn't pay his rent. I remember calling him and telling him his check was there. I guess I've always been an activist.

What completely different job would you secretly love to do
I'd like to be a union organizer. I'd feel like I was fighting for something substantial and worthwhile.

Santa Monica faces major decisions over the future of both the Civic Auditorium and Bergamot Station. What should happen to each and how much should preserving their existing cultural uses influence those decisions?
They have an opportunity to revitalize the Civic without costing the city a dime. I would have that take place. Bergamot needs to stay. Instead of wiping our city clean of culture and art, we should look at converting empty office buildings for housing because the infrastructure is already there.

If Bergamot ultimately has to become mixed-use, don't take out all of the arts. The artists and galleries need to be taken seriously. Bergamot could be a money magnet for the city if it's utilized the right way.

When did you last do something for the very first time?
July. I went to Alabama. I'd never been to Alabama before.

Do you have any tattoos?
Of course. And piercings too.

Should Santa Monica continue challenging state housing mandates, or accept that Sacramento has largely removed the city's discretion and concentrate on deciding where new housing goes?
We fought the housing before and lost horribly. How much money are we going to lose fighting an uphill battle, pissing in the wind, for something that at the end we're going to have to do anyway?

So I guess the short answer is no.

Does Santa Monica need substantially more housing and if so, where should it be built? Would you concentrate most new development downtown even if that means substantially taller buildings, and what areas should be protected from additional density?
Mostly downtown. It should also be in our commercial corridors, including restructuring old office buildings where the infrastructure is already there. More affordable housing, not market-rate. We don't need more market-rate housing. We have plenty of that. What we need is affordable housing.

People are really suffering. People are buying their groceries on fucking credit. We need people making policy who understand that.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.