State Senate candidate Eric Alegria wants to bring his extensive experience in local government to the State Senate. (photo courtesy of Eric Alegria for State Senate)

The 2025 wildfires – along with the county’s response to it – are a major reason why former Rancho Palos Verdes council member and mayor Eric Alegria has thrown his hat into the ring to replace California State Sen. Ben Allen (D-Los Angeles) in the 24th District. While his city was not majorly affected, he knows all too well how vulnerable the district is.

“I had done so much work in my community to ensure [fire] prevention as well as invest wisely and be active [in] protection and emergency management of our open space, and I think there’s a lot of learning from those experiences that I want to take with me. For instance, we organized the first of its kind, public safety committee across four [coastal] cities to coordinate our efforts. We invested in artificial intelligence cameras that do early detection on fires, and then just did a lot of planning and coordination. I think that’s an important part of our future with climate change. I think the Palisades fires reminded all of us that even those of us that are in more urban parts of the district, none of us are immune from it.”

Alegria’s biography spans beyond local government, having worked as an instructor at both USC and El Camino College. He is also currently owner of a West Los Angeles gym and the COO of the nonprofit Wellness Equity Alliance, which works to break down barriers and systemic inequities to health and wellness. At the state level, he served on the Occupational Health Board, the Prison Industry Board and the California Film Commission. He said he sees an opportunity to work beyond the California film and television tax credits that were approved last year.

“Obviously, it’s not enough. And I think the entertainment industry and all the trades that support it would certainly agree with that sentiment. Obviously, we’re a little bit behind eight ball,” Alegria said. “This most recent tax incentive was another positive step forward, but I do think that such the entertainment industry is such a core part of our community, this district and the greater L.A. basin that that we need to constantly be exploring ways to expand … The efficiency by which the industry experiences doing business in our communities – there is some variability across cities. And so, ensuring that our cities are providing the best practice and the most efficient experience for anyone that’s pulling a permit for filming is an aspect of the experience that we can focus on and try to improve.”

When it comes to housing, Alegria emphasized that many communities are upset with “one size fits all” legislations, particularly Senate Bill 79, that has unilaterally determined housing goals for the state.

“The local communities, the planning committee and commissions need to maintain some ability to sort of think about how to organize and build communities in a thoughtful way,” Alegria said. “Our coastline, our coastal communities, could look fundamentally very, very different in the future. And perhaps well intended, but I think some of the legislation, such as the builder’s remedy. are not positive for our cities and our communities and really don’t address the affordability issue that they sort of espouse to do.”

He noted that he has the endorsement of California Cities for Local Control and cited his conversations with developers, noting that they often find it cost prohibitive to be enticed into building in communities.

“I worked for the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles, many years ago when it existed. I was fortunate to work on the rewriting of the housing policy at the time. It just fundamentally informed my perspective that you’ve got to make the economics of a given project and the incentives that may be accompanied by that make sense for those specific developers in order to sort of produce the project and produce at least some units of affordability as well,” Alegria said.

In the area of homelessness, he cited the city of Redondo Beach as a benchmark, stating its programs have been effective without being “cost heavy.”

“Providing a solution to homelessness has needs to be multi-tiered. We need to provide for the backing capacity to direct people to go to a place where they can get resources and support,” Alegria said, adding that the city’s combination of care courts and cheaply constructed housing led to statewide recognition for their progress on homelessness.

“This is definitely not an easy issue to solve, but I think it takes all levels of government, particularly local governments, having the sort of liaison embedded within them to help understand the resources that are there and draw people the resources,” Alegria said. “I think part of the disconnect is there are resources, but oftentimes they’re not being connected directly with those folks. That’s a big part of it, but I’d [also] want to see more accountability for all of the money that’s being spent.”

As a small business owner, Alegria professed to understand the unique hurdles faced by businesses.

“The cost of doing business is nearly 20% higher than the national average in Los Angeles specifically. And so, I think we have to constantly be looking for ways to sort of stabilize and ensure that – particularly the small business community – is compelled to invest here and to stay here. And I think there’s different ways to remove obstacles for small businesses. And some of those are regulatory simplification. Some of those, I think, are related to investing in the labor market and ensuring that there’s the kind of talent that matches the industry in question in the community, so just building for pathways for everyone,” Alegria said.

He added that there could be tax incentives for new businesses to help them reach stability.

He also views public safety as central to the district.

“As a City Council member in my city during the coronavirus pandemic, I was proud to have eliminated our tax for our small businesses for three years. And that’s just one small example of those kinds of things that I think government needs to [do] when possible to ease the way,” Alegria said. “Because to me, small businesses, just like the investment of homeowners, is a reflection of investment in the community, and ultimately a reflection of the stability of a community. So, it’s really important that the government, and in this case our state and our cities and our county, make a concerted effort to make things a little bit easier.”

With the Metro D Line Extension opening on May 8 and the recent approval of the Metro K Line Northern Extension, Alegria discussed his transit goals for the district.

“I see the future as transit being a combination of micro transit and some macro transit solutions, and what I mean by that is, within the context of smaller communities, I think there’s opportunities – whether it be by virtue of the bike lanes or the local transit authorities – to ensure that there’s sort of an internal, smaller community based transit system. But then I am a supporter of some of the solutions that we’re trying to extend lines and ensure that there’s an opportunity to get people out of their cars, off their freeways, going from one major regional hub to another. I think the combination of those two things together are going to help get us to a better place,” Alegria said.

Originally from Washington state, Alegria said that he is proud to now call the 24th District home.

“I grew up in a farming community, essentially working with farm workers and an apple packing warehouse. [It was] a childhood of experiences that really informed my belief in the combination of hard work [and] opportunity. I’ve spent 25 years as a student and resident in California, and my experiences here have taken me down the whole coastline. So all of my most meaningful experiences in life have been experienced in this district. I lived in Venice. I was a football coach at Santa Monica High School during that time, while I worked for [Los Angeles] City Council District 11 as an intern and aid, and moved to El Segundo and on down. And I just find our district – this district, our coastline – to be the most beautiful area in the world. And that’s why I poured so much of my energy, including my 10 years or so of elected work, into protecting it.”