Mel Wilson
Mel Wilson ran for election for Mayor of Los Angeles in California. He lost in the primary on June 7, 2022.
Wilson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Mel Wilson was born in Boligee, Alabama. He earned a bachelor's degree from California State University, Northridge, in 1977 and a master's degree from Columbia College in 2019. His career experience includes working as a realtor and legislative housing advocate. Wilson has been affiliated with the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, the California Association of Realtors, and the National Association of Realtors.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Mayoral election in Los Angeles, California (2022)
General election
General election for Mayor of Los Angeles
Karen Bass defeated Rick J. Caruso in the general election for Mayor of Los Angeles on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Karen Bass (Nonpartisan) | 54.8 | 509,944 |
 | Rick J. Caruso (Nonpartisan) | 45.2 | 420,030 | |
| Total votes: 929,974 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Los Angeles
The following candidates ran in the primary for Mayor of Los Angeles on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Karen Bass (Nonpartisan) | 43.1 | 278,511 |
| ✔ | | Rick J. Caruso (Nonpartisan) | 36.0 | 232,490 |
 | Kevin de León (Nonpartisan) | 7.8 | 50,372 | |
 | Gina Viola (Nonpartisan) | 6.9 | 44,341 | |
 | Mike Feuer (Nonpartisan) (Unofficially withdrew) | 1.9 | 12,087 | |
 | Andrew Kim (Nonpartisan) | 1.5 | 9,405 | |
 | Alex Gruenenfelder (Nonpartisan) | 1.0 | 6,153 | |
 | Joe Buscaino (Nonpartisan) (Unofficially withdrew) | 0.7 | 4,485 | |
 | Craig E. Greiwe (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 2,439 | |
 | Mel Wilson (Nonpartisan) | 0.4 | 2,336 | |
 | Ramit Varma (Nonpartisan) | 0.3 | 1,916 | |
| John Jackson (Nonpartisan) | 0.2 | 1,511 | |
| Total votes: 646,046 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Mel Wilson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wilson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Faith & Family
Business Leader Housing Advocate
Mel Wilson is a CSUN business graduate, All-America and NFL football player. Raised by a single mother and grandmother in the San Fernando Valley, Mel attended church in So. LA where he married his bride 48 years ago. He’s a housing advocate, Realtor, successful business leader & created good paying jobs. He fights for the Middle-class and will make housing & childcare affordable, LA Safe, business friendly, and will fight climate change. He helped thousands of middle-class families create generational wealth while fighting housing discrimination, redlining and gentrification. He was trusted by three different mayors, Democrats and Republicans - Tom Bradley, Richard Riordan and Antonio Villaraigosa. Here’s what they say about Mel Wilson: He is honest, has integrity, works hard, and is a team player -Mel gets the job done. He is a trusted leader with a reputation for having a level head and a strong focus on doing what's right for every day, hard-working people. Mel served two terms on the LA Metro Board, cleaning LA's dirty air by building most of the rail projects in LA and converting all Metro buses from using diesel fossil fuel to low emissions. As vice president of the LA City Fire Commission, he led the way to hire 500 new paramedics to make LA safe. Mel was the leader who fought to get the San Fernando Valley its only light rail system. Mel fought to secure $120 million for the Leimert Park Metro station.
- Support the Middle Class, Make LA Safe, Free Mental Health Therapy, Accountable Community Policing, Defeat Mandates.
- Rollback DWP Rates, Fight Climate Change, Offer DWP Discount Charging, Zero Emissions Metro & LA City Buses & Vehicles
- Create Good Paying Jobs, Childcare Subsidies, Down Payment Assistance, Hire 75,000 High School Students.
I am standing up for the Middle-Class. I am passionate about supporting the Middle-Class, making Los Angeles Safe, making Housing Affordable, ending Homeless. Investing in Children and Families and defeating vaccination mandates. Gas prices have increased to above $5 per gallon, the DWP and utility bills are too high, grocery prices are rising, inflation is eating up your buying power, rent prices are through the roof and housing prices are no longer affordable. The rich get richer, the middle-class gets poorer and it's just not fair.
Year after year the middle-class is feeling the big squeeze. Many people are grappling with this question: What do I pay first, rent/mortgage, DWP, medical bills or car payments? For young families, childcare is too expensive. With low-paying jobs, the middle-class is living on the edge from paycheck to paycheck. It is pretty overwhelming to live with this fear: I could be one accident away from becoming homeless.
Career politicians live a comfortable life playing musical chairs, hopping from one political job to another and making promises they don’t keep at the middle-class taxpayers’ expense.
I have a vision and a plan to support middle-class workers and small businesses in Los Angeles. It’s time for change! As mayor of Los Angeles my highest priority will be elevating the middle-class.
My Mother and Grandmother
Jesus Christ
Honest, integrity, willing to work hard, being a team player, willing to engage with people even if they disagree with you. Having the attitude of a servant leader.
I have excellent active listening skills and I'm a life-long learner. I have excellent demonstrative skills of being able to adapt to changing circumstances and a willingness to adjust to real-time factors.
Making Los Angeles a safe, business-friendly city that supports the Middle-class, invest in children, youth, seniors and families. Also important to me is to leave a legacy of leading the nation and the globe in fighting climate change. Overall, making LA a city where people can work and earn good pay, play to their heart's delight, and live the life of their dreams.
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. civil rights peace marches when I was 8 years old
Picking cotton for two years
The Holy Bible - the principles, virtues, and stories guide me in my daily walk in life.
Overcoming implicit bias.
The mayor is the coach of the team. He/she recruits and or inherits his/her team members. He/she set the game plan, assign his specialize team members to their positions. He/she sets the vision, establishes the culture, call the plays and work with his/her assistant coaches and team members to get the job done. He/she has to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the team, prepares their scouting report, calls the plays and hold everyone accountable for their respective jobs and duties. Along the way the mayor like a good coach must make adjustments as the game progress.
Making Los Angeles safe. Supporting the Middle-class.
The mayor is not a member of the city council.
Setting the city's vision, developing workable plans, leads with confidence and work collaboratively with each City Councilmember, all the city's general managers and continually engages with the public.
I love the people most and their diversity of talents.
Making the city and schools safe with limited resources. Creating housing that's affordable, especially for the workforce. Ending homelessness.
Being the largest City in the state, the City of Los Angeles (L.A.) should set the tone of the relationship between state and the city. Ideally L.A. and the state government should work collaboratively.
As the second largest city in the nation, LA should be the nation's leader in things that support the Middle-class. The city should be a strong advocate for all Angelenos.
The mayor sets the vision, appointment a chief of police and commissioners that are dedicated to accountable community public safety. Hon
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Wilson's campaign website stated the following:
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City Safety & Policing
Throughout Los Angeles, our communities are plagued with violent crime. Our neighborhoods are places where murders, robberies at gun point and home invasions feel all too common. My plan will hold criminals accountable and hold cops accountable. As I talk with people across our city about their concerns, personal safety often comes first. People are tired of constantly being afraid – afraid to leave their homes, afraid of unhoused individuals blocking their path when they want to go shopping, or to exercise at the park, or even walk in their neighborhood. My plan will change this.
I will fund the hiring of 11,000 LAPD officers, adding up to 1,500 patrol officers. I will hire 350 mental health experts to assist our police, while diagnosing and providing treatment to those desperately in need of it. Criminals will be held accountable; the cops will be held accountable to the highest standards.
I will create a dedicated Metro Police Department to patrol our transit stops, buses and trains. Metro police will randomly ride buses and trains to ensure that Angelenos can ride the Metro bus and rail systems safely.
I will promote working with our communities to develop tailored policing plans, foster better relationships with law enforcement and ensure cadet recruitment is representative of L.A.’s diverse communities. Police officers will get to know their neighbors by hosting station open houses, participating in children/youth after school sports activities and other community activities. Police officers who get engaged with the communities they serve are eligible for merit incentives when recommended by their communities.
I want all our communities to feel their children have a path forward. My Tomorrow’s Youth Works program will provide part-time employment to 75,000 actively enrolled high school students and reward academic performance with merit bonus pay.
Accountable Community Policing involves community engagement, interventions, and the apprehension of those who commit crime. For our communities to truly feel safe, they need to trust the police. Our police officers and mental health experts will be trained and equipped to handle any situation. Police personnel will be required to take annual continuing education training, to equip them for conflict resolution, providing de-escalation skills. Our police department will work with, state and federal agencies and prepare for domestic and international terrorism events, and to be readied for the upcoming Olympics.
I will put together independent oversight consisting of a five member police commission that will include at least one community leader and one experienced defense attorney. Our police chief will be accountable for crime reduction and the performance of our officers. Through metrics established by myself, the police commission and the community crime reduction will be measured. Working together, I believe that my Accountable Community Policing plan will create a better, safer L.A. on whose streets we can all feel safe to walk. Climate Change
Battling global climate change starts here in Los Angeles. I envision a City of Angels that’s at the forefront of global, smart cities. Imagine L.A. absent of smoggy skies where you can see picturesque skylines on a return flight home or on your daily commute. Climate change is real and greenhouse gases are major contributors. L.A. has the dirtiest air in the nation, which is why the American Lung Association gives L.A. an F grade. What’s more, the EPA reports that Southern California climate has risen by three degrees. We’ve seen the fallout of this increase—record wildfires, severe drought, and more erratic weather. We will lead the way and create a better L.A. by seizing sustainable, entrepreneurial opportunities. Through innovation we can leverage in the areas of renewable energy, energy storage and water conservation. Our urban landscape will be designed to efficiently connect people and places to work and play. Together we will create an economy where young adults, older adults and people without college degrees will benefit from higher paying jobs that will result in a higher household income. L.A. will become known as a city where well-paying green jobs are the norm instead of the exception. The process of greening L.A. will transform our infrastructure into ecofriendly systems that will help us better steward our resources for future generations.
I have an ambitious plan to implement sustainable entrepreneurial climate control initiatives to reduce our greenhouse gas output 50% by 2032.
We will reduce greenhouse gases by converting to zero emission fuels in L.A. City and Metro owned cars, trucks, buses, and trains. The city will use zero emission autonomous vehicles in heavily congested urban areas to reduce traffic congestion. We’ll build live-work housing along transit corridors to reduce commute times. We will speed up traffic with staggered work shifts and telecommute initiatives. My plan includes offering discount electric charging rates for vehicles registered within L.A. City limits and reducing traffic congestion by encouraging businesses to stagger worker commutes with telecommuting options. As well, we will limit large truck deliveries to take place off peak hours.
We will convert DWP energy uses to 100% renewable energy by 2032. We will invest in wind, solar and wave technologies for generating electricity.
We will significantly reduce water consumption with the goal of achieving a 30% reduction in water consumption by 2032. By investing in water conservation, water recycling and water transportation technologies we will reduce the reliance on transporting water from Northern California.
We will begin to discourage the use of hard surface materials for sidewalks and driveways. Instead, we will encourage the use of permeable surfaces to capture rainwater and divert stormwater runoff into the underground aquifers recharging groundwater table. This will allow the capture and reclamation of stormwater and groundwater runoff. Additionally, we will implement the use of xeriscape environmental designs for residential, commercial, and open spaces to minimize water use.
Through the community planning update process we will promote open space and smart growth initiatives. Design and building incentives in transit-oriented and commercial corridors will be offered. We will optimize usage of commercial corridors by promoting conversion to mixed-use housing developments strategies in heavy transit corridors. Available, affordable housing for the workforce will be a reality we can achieve through the promotion of mixed-use developments. Walkable communities will be encouraged by incentivizing live-work, walkable, bike-friendly communities. We will emphasize the use of alternative modes of transportation. Through a designated lane/higher priority lane, right-of-way will be given to bikes, scooters, skateboards, and other human powered vehicles on major thoroughfares.
Personal food security will be promoted through initiatives that support organic home gardens. We will encourage growing, harvesting, selling, and exchanging fruits and vegetable at local restaurants and farmers markets. And we will allow food sources to grow in parkways. Let’s join together to better steward our resources and create a greener, cleaner Los Angeles that future generations can enjoy. Making LA Business Friendly L.A.’s exorbitant business taxes and expensive housing make it one of the least business-friendly cities in America. Small businesses struggle to survive here. Big businesses leave for states like Texas, Florida and Arizona to make a profit. I have a feasible plan to support existing businesses, incentivize new business owners, and bring companies back to L.A. We will show the country that L.A. is open for business again! Here’s how: We will stop penalizing L.A. companies for doing business – I will put an end to the antiquated, excessive, gross receipt tax. Through this change we’ll make it difficult for companies to be wooed to move their business out of town. We will revitalize our small business and entrepreneurial community – My Start Small, Think Big program will offer small business loans that will be eligible for forgiveness after 12 months for those who hire and retain workers at competitive wages (20% above minimum). We will create innovative partnerships around training – I will foster collaboration with community colleges and occupational centers to train workers to become skilled. We will also foster partnerships with local start-up companies to offer first-time business owner incubator training. Restaurant Rescue Plan – L.A. has a world-class culinary scene. Let’s keep it this way! My Restaurant Rescue Plan will help new restaurants thrive while supporting our existing eateries:
(We will make our Restaurants a Safe Haven – I will create forgivable loan incentives for COVID safety improvement expenditures (ventilation, hygiene protocol), as well as create micro business grants for façade improvement.
We will incubate and generate good-paying jobs – Los Angeles is the place where innovation, creation, education, and hard work intersect. Our trade schools and higher learning institutions are excellent – advanced research is conducted at many of the universities. L.A. is home to four major studios that produce feature films and television programs. L.A. is a global leader in aerospace, biotechnology, entertainment, fashion, finance, hospitality and tourism, trade and logistics, and transportation. We will identify and promote industry clusters and focus on the key niches of the city of Los Angeles. Future focus: 10-year goal Our mantra will be: “we build it better in L.A.” As we convert to zero emission fuel consumption vehicles and move forward to 100% renewable, Los Angeles will become known as a bike-friendly town where Hollywood stars live, work and play, where creative thinkers muse and design and where good-paying green jobs are created. Housing L.A.
Los Angeles is suffering from an acute housing shortage crisis. Angelenos living on a fixed income, those with a low-income and middle-class workers are trying to figure out how to stay housed. Rent prices are too high which is forcing people to use half of their income to keep a roof over their heads. Many who were living in overcrowded conditions during the pandemic fell victim to COVID-19 at an alarmingly high rate. Underproduction of housing units decade after decade is the culprit that led to L.A.’s housing shortage. A confluence of factors have contributed to this underproduction. Key issues have been infrequent updates to community plans, Not-In-My-Back-Yard (NIMBY) housing opponents, uncertainty in the building permit process, L.A. building fees (that cost up to $60,000 per unit), as well as high labor, and material costs. The worst factor in the mix has been the elected officials in office over the last several years. They have not done the required job of leading, planning and educating the public about the need to accommodate for future growth for our workers, children, and grandchildren. This lack of strategic leadership has led to the housing unaffordability we are seeing. Apartment rental costs are so high that recent college graduates feel stressed and depressed because they cannot afford to move out of their parents’ home and into their own spaces. In today’s market, with housing prices creeping up to $800,000 for a starter home, only a few working families can afford to buy a house or condo. Historic communities are being gentrified and long-term residents are being displaced from their neighborhoods. Demographers and housing experts say that high housing costs is one of the main reasons that companies with good-paying jobs are leaving the state. As these companies leave, low and middle-class households are packing their bags and moving to follow the jobs; we are seeing more and more of our kids and grandchildren leaving to maintain gainful employment.
I researched and discovered the solutions to L.A.’s housing shortage crisis. In short, we need to build more housing faster and at a lower cost while preserving our quiet enclaves of single-family neighborhoods. We can do this by planning for our future, engaging the public, bringing more certainty in the homebuilding process, using innovative construction techniques, and by reducing, and waiving building fees in return for building housing and apartment units that Angelenos can afford.
To begin, the public needs to be engaged in the planning process from the offset rather than as an afterthought. Community plans need to be updated every 6-10 years to accommodate for future growth and demographic movement. The public must be allowed to be engaged in the process from the start to the finish of each community plan. The City must invest the required funds (through public and/or private sources) to maintain adequate, professional planning, and environmental, and administrative staff. There are 35 community planning areas in the City of Los Angeles. Each community planning area will be required to conduct an objective master plan, complete with an environmental study that will be good for the duration of the area’s community plan. We will add a caveat to the community planning process as well. If the City falls short of updating a community plan within the 6-10-year planning period, the City will not be able to approve construction of more than 200 units beyond the total quantity allowed in the area’s previously approved community plan. Environmental studies will be the housing production “road maps” that builders can reply upon, which will include land use, circulation, housing, conservation open space, noise and safety as the mandatory elements of the community plan. Housing production incentives will be available for low- and moderate-income projects that are in areas designated as Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) and Commercial Corridor (CC) planning areas. Priorities will be offered for housing and mixed-use projects that have a high walkability and open space rating.
Builders will be encouraged to develop work-live projects, childcare, and other smart growth initiatives, near transit corridors and commercial corridors.
My Housing Wealth Creation Program will help fund down payment assistance for 15,000 middle-class first-time buyer households. The fund will assist households that have not owned a home in the last three (3) years in buying a home or condo within the City of Los Angeles. This plan will be used to beat back gentrification and to stabilize neighborhoods. L.A. City’s Planning and Building and Safety Departments will defer and waive housing production fees for builders who construct housing units that can be purchased by middle-class households.
My Rental Assistance Program will use federal rental assistance funds to subsidize rental costs for 50,000 extremely low and very low-income individuals/families, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities. My team will advocate for and secure funds from state and federal government agencies to house 44,000 unhoused Angelenos, many of whom suffer from mental illness and drug addiction. Focus on the Middle Class
Career politicians live a comfortable life playing musical chairs, hopping around from one political job to another and making promises they don’t keep at the middle-class taxpayers’ expense. And who really thinks that a billionaire who manipulated the system, enriched himself and bought a $100 million yacht cares about you? Gas prices have increased to above $5 per gallon, the DWP and utility bills are too high, grocery prices are rising, inflation is eating up your buying power, rent prices are through the roof and housing prices are no longer affordable. The rich get richer, the middle-class gets poorer and it's just not fair. Year after year the middle-class is feeling the big squeeze. Many people are grappling with this question: What do I pay first, rent/mortgage, DWP, medical bills or car payments? For young families, childcare is too expensive. With low-paying jobs, the middle-class is living on the edge from paycheck to paycheck. It is pretty overwhelming to live with this fear: I could be one accident away from becoming homeless. I grew up poor, went to school, opened a small business, and worked my way into the middle-class. I believe that you shouldn’t have to work two or more jobs to pay your bills. I am not a career politician nor am I a billionaire. I was raised by my single mother who was a housekeeper and my grandmother in the San Fernando Valley, and I attended church in South Los Angeles. I understand your fears and I can identify with and feel your pain. I have a vision and a plan to support middle-class workers and small businesses in Los Angeles. It’s time for change! As mayor, my highest priority will be elevating the middle-class.
A budget is a list of one’s priorities, and the budget I will set for the L.A. city government will improve the quality of life for everyday people. I will use the foundation of my budget to bring about improvement for children, students, families, individuals, and business owners in the city of Los Angeles. My budget priorities:
My accountable community policing plan will hold criminals and cops accountable. We will engage community policing plans to make our streets, parks, and beaches safe. Our focus will be on crime prevention, intervention and reducing the response time when you call 911 for crimes or mental health distress calls. My middle-class focus will:
Vote Mel Wilson Mayor of Los Angeles. I have a plan, and I am ready to get to work on your behalf. [2] |
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| —Mel Wilson's campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 16, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Mel Wilson's campaign website, “Issues,” accessed May 17, 2022
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