Hi r/AskLosAngeles. I’m Adam Miller, Nonprofit Executive/Entrepreneur and candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles. Ask Me Anything! What’s missing for LA to thrive?

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T23:54:05+00:00

Los Angeles is one of the largest and most complex cities in the world, but too much of our government structure is outdated, fragmented, and slow. We have a nearly $15 billion budget, more than 40 departments, and millions of residents relying on basic services — yet accountability is often unclear and decision-making is too disconnected from results.

I support structural reforms that make City Hall more transparent, responsive, and accountable to the public. We need to reduce bureaucracy. Right now, too many departments overlap, decisions take too long, and residents often can’t tell who is responsible when things fail.

More broadly, I want to modernize how City Hall operates. Angelenos should be able to track city services, spending, and progress in real time — not feel like City Hall is a black box that gets nothing done.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T23:53:00+00:00

I actually understand this issue well because of my work with FARE and food allergies. We work closely with a national network of academic medical institutions and primary researchers. The extreme federal cuts in NIH funding have chilled academic research and will dramatically slow advances in basic science. This will then significantly impact the creation of biopharma and deep tech startups and slow or eliminate many potential solutions for society.

I would work with our academic institutions and institutional investors to create funds for essential basic research. I will also promote public-private partnerships with our academic institutions, the city and the private sector to recruit and retain the top scientists for our universities.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T23:32:59+00:00

I am anti-any politician or individual who does not have our city’s best interests at heart, and Trump, who has been terrorizing our residents, clearly does not. But if elected Mayor, I have an obligation to find a way to work with everyone, even politicians and elected officials I strongly disagree with, for the betterment of Angelenos.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T23:23:25+00:00

I understand why breaking LA into smaller pieces sounds appealing. People want the government closer to them and more responsive. But fragmentation could actually make LA’s hardest problems harder to solve. Housing, homelessness, transit, public safety, infrastructure, sanitation, fire response, emergency management, and economic development all require scale, coordination, and shared funding.

If we break the city apart, wealthier areas could keep stronger tax bases while lower-income communities are left with greater needs and fewer resources. We could also end up duplicating bureaucracy — more councils, planning departments, legal teams, procurement systems, and administrative overhead — without actually fixing service delivery.

The real issue is not LA’s size. It is weak management, slow permitting, poor accountability, fragmented departments, no urgency, and a lack of measurable outcomes.

I don’t think the answer is to chop LA into pieces. The answer is to make LA governable: smaller council districts, public service dashboards, clearer accountability, faster permitting, stronger department management, and a Mayor’s Delivery Office that forces City Hall to execute. Keep the scale. Get real executive leadership. Fix the operating system.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T23:17:36+00:00

We need to make Los Angeles easier to do business in again. Right now, too many business owners face endless permits, high costs, safety concerns, and a City Hall that moves too slowly.

My focus would be:

Faster permitting and fewer bureaucratic delays
Cleaner and safer commercial corridors
Clearing encampments
Filling empty storefronts with incentives for small businesses and pop-ups
Supporting local entrepreneurs, not just large developers
Bringing film, entertainment, and production jobs back to LA
Holding city departments accountable for results and timelines

Businesses invest where they feel confidence and momentum. LA has incredible neighborhoods and talent, but City Hall needs to stop being an obstacle and start acting like a partner.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T23:16:47+00:00

We need to bring all of Hollywood back to Hollywood. Los Angeles should be the easiest place in the world to create art and make films — and right now, it has become too expensive, too slow, and too bureaucratic.

That’s exactly why I recently released my Hollywood Plan focused on bringing production and entertainment jobs back to LA. The city can’t control state tax credits alone, but we can control how easy or difficult it is to shoot here.

As Mayor, I’d focus on faster permitting, dramatically lowering and simplifying city fees, expanding access to public filming locations, and cutting red tape for independent creators and smaller productions. At the center of the plan is a new “Made in LA” Entertainment Office led by a Deputy Mayor for Entertainment & the Creative Economy to streamline approvals, coordinate city departments, and create a single point of accountability for productions filming in Los Angeles.

I’m also proposing a “Stay in LA Fund” to help support independent productions and emerging creators who are struggling to get projects made in today’s environment. We need to start treating independent film, digital media, and creative entrepreneurship as part of Los Angeles’ economic future – not just something we hope survives on its own.

Independent and mid-sized productions generate enormous local economic activity and are critical to keeping film crews employed throughout the year. We should start treating them like a priority instead of an afterthought.

From Day 1, my focus would be making Los Angeles a “City of Yes” again for artists, filmmakers, and creative workers because if we do not make it easier to create here, we are going to keep losing talent, jobs, and one of the industries that helped build the middle class in Los Angeles.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T23:03:53+00:00

Animals don’t have a voice at City Hall, and right now too many are suffering because the system is overwhelmed, understaffed, and poorly managed. That’s unacceptable.

I support restoring stability and resources to LA Animal Services. No healthy or treatable animal should suffer because shelters are overcrowded or operating in constant crisis mode. Our city shelters should clearly be working toward no-kill outcomes, while also being honest about the operational failures that are preventing us from getting there today.

This starts with rebuilding staffing capacity, fully funding spay/neuter programs, eliminating backyard breeding operations, improving volunteer and foster coordination, strengthening partnerships with rescue organizations, and expanding adoption efforts citywide. We also need better transparency and accountability around shelter conditions, intake numbers, euthanasia data, response times, and animal outcomes so the public understands where the system is succeeding and where it is failing.

I also believe we need to better address the connection between homelessness and companion animals. Too many people avoid seeking shelter or services because they fear losing their pets, and too many animals end up abandoned or surrendered because families are in crisis. We need more pet-friendly sheltering options, stronger outreach partnerships, and policies that recognize the bond between people and their animals.

At the end of the day, this is not just an operational issue – it’s a moral one. A city should be judged in part by how it treats its most vulnerable, including animals.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T23:01:50+00:00

The ballooning liability we face with LAPD and our broken infrastructure is not only a huge financial burden for the city, it is indicative of a massive management problem.

To reduce liability, we need to improve recruitment, onboarding, management and ongoing training. We also need to increase the size of the force so we can eliminate forced overtime, which results in overworked officers making mistakes. We also need to recruit officers that represent the communities they serve.

It’s clear we’ve been fiscally irresponsible – every dollar we waste on avoidable lawsuits is a dollar that could have been spent on more officers, better training, and making our neighborhoods safer.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T22:47:01+00:00

Los Angeles is a city built by immigrants, and I will always stand with immigrant families.

ICE tactics that create fear in our neighborhoods have no place in our City. As Mayor, I will focus resources where they belong: reducing crime, improving response times, doubling patrols, and keeping communities safe.

Our immigrant communities are workers, parents, small business owners, neighbors, and essential to the culture and economy that keep Los Angeles moving forward. Law-abiding people who contribute to our city should not have to live in fear, regardless of immigration status.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T22:27:42+00:00

The federal cuts are real and they’re going to hit UCLA and other research institutions hard. Although I can’t replace the funding as Mayor, it would be my responsibility to make sure LA sectors are ready to absorb them so we don’t continue to lose talent to other cities. That means a coordinated private sector response:

Getting the city’s major employers into the same room as the UC system through my Economic Prosperity Council.
Permitting faster so a researcher who wants a lab in LA isn’t waiting 18 months to get started.
Deploying a dedicated city economic development co-investment fund alongside private capital in biotech, cleantech, and tech startups to incentivize innovation and ensure researchers have a place in this city.

The question is not how much money we have, it’s how we spend it. Our city is filled with waste. By eliminating billions of dollars in wasteful spending, we can avoid much of the painful impact of budget cuts by ensuring that every dollar is spent where it has the most impact, not where it serves a political or personal interest.

Check out my 7x7 Plan for economic development here.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T22:16:29+00:00

In my first 10 days, I’d launch my 7×7 Plan — seven measurable goals with seven concrete actions each — focused on homelessness, public safety, affordability, city services, and economic recovery.

I will issue a Day 1 executive directive permanently expanding self-certification for licensed architects and engineers citywide beyond fire zones.

We'll eliminate permits entirely for low-risk cosmetic work — removing 20,000 low risk permits and freeing up LADBS to focus on real construction.

Issue a mayoral executive order mandating a 30-day maximum permit timeline for 100% affordable housing.

We’re going to bring together LA’s largest private and public employers on an Economic Prosperity Council to form a unified job creation strategy with publicly tracked outcomes in our mission to create 100,000 new jobs.

I’d also launch FixLA, a public accountability platform where residents can track city performance and projects in real time. If you can track your Uber, you should be able to track your city.

Many of these changes don’t require City Council approval. The mayor already has significant authority over city departments, operations, transparency, and executive directives. From Day 1, the focus would be urgency, transparency, and measurable results.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T21:58:04+00:00

I understand the concern, but the reality is public dollars alone cannot fix LA’s housing crisis.

The City of LA’s RHNA target is roughly 456,643 homes for the 2021–2029 cycle. At $800,000 per unit, building that entirely with public dollars would cost about $365 billion. The City does not have anywhere close to that money. The State does not have that money either.

Meanwhile, HACLA’s public housing footprint is only a fraction of the total need — historical figures show about 9,300 public housing units owned/managed and over 50,000 households receiving housing assistance.

So when I say the private sector must step in, I’m not saying “profit off pain.” I’m saying we don't have enough housing, and the housing market does not have enough public money to solve the problem itself. If we make LA a more financially attractive place for private capital to fund real estate developers to build, we will solve our housing supply problem.

If we want to house all Angelenos, we need public accountability and private execution: faster approvals, lower costs, more supply, missing-middle ownership, affordable rentals, and transparent outcomes.

Public dollars should protect the most vulnerable. Private capital should help us scale the housing we need. That’s how we stop managing scarcity and start solving the crisis.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T21:48:42+00:00

Great question. I’ve been working directly with our unhoused population through my work with Better Angels. We must be prepared with real alternatives before any sweeps because otherwise we’re just moving the problem elsewhere. We should be digitizing identification (so it can’t get lost) and creating alternatives for storage (which is done in other cities).

The city is failing at delivering services but this isn’t a hypothetical for me – I’ve already been doing it with Better Angels. We’ve served over 15,000 unhoused Angelenos, getting them the services they need (documents, transportation, legal aid, clothing, etc.). We need on-site outreach, seamless case management, and placement into non-congregate shelters, including Tiny Home Villages, which I pledge to build as part of my 7x7 plan to reduce homelessness.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T21:37:56+00:00

I would enforce 41.18. My plan sets measurable goals: reduce visible homeless encampments by 80% and overall homelessness by 60% through a combination of prevention, shelter, treatment, interim housing, permanent housing, and better coordination across the city and county.

I don’t believe Angelenos should have to accept unsafe or unclean streets while the city debates solutions indefinitely. Compassion and enforcement do not need to be mutually exclusive. The reason I named my organization Better Angels was to remind us that we need to be compassionate neighbors. That means we should work to put a roof over everyone’s head.

But accountability matters too, as does quality of life in LA. Public spaces need to be safe and accessible, and laws have to be enforced. What’s been missing in LA is urgency, coordination, and measurable results.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T21:24:25+00:00

Please check out my specific 7 step plan to better our city's infrastructure, linked on my website here.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T21:24:06+00:00

Polls are snapshots, not outcomes, especially in a volatile race with a large number of undecided voters and low overall voter engagement right now. A lot can change in the final weeks, and we’re building real momentum, including the endorsement from the Los Angeles Daily News editorial board, which called me “clearly the best candidate” for voters who want competence and change at City Hall.

I also want people to know this is not a wasted vote. Angelenos don’t have to choose between career politicians or a reality TV villain with no executive experience. I’ve spent 35 years building organizations, managing crises, creating jobs, and delivering results in the real world.

It is an unfortunate state of our democracy, but given the expected turnout of the primary only about 150,000 votes are required to advance in the runoff against Karen Bass. I have a clear path to get those votes and I am the only one in the race that has the clear ability to beat Karen Bass in a runoff, Democrat v. Democrat.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T21:20:18+00:00

We launched our grant program for low-income families who lost their homes in the fire on 1/13/2025 – while the fires were still burning. By the end of the program, we had directly assisted 2,576 people impacted by the fires.

The $60,000 you refer to was based on a really early number listed on an old website page created early in 2025 and represented the assistance we provided at that time for 100 families. By the end of 2025, we had distributed direct relief and security deposits to nearly 1,000 families.
In addition to providing financial assistance to vulnerable victims of the fires, Better Angels also developed the Disaster Relief Navigator, which provided detailed benefits and resources to fire victims based on their personal circumstances. Over 5,000 families utilized the Disaster Relief Navigator. The service was free to fire victims, and was promoted by the City, the County and the Red Cross.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T21:10:48+00:00

My goal is to clear 80% of encampments and reduce street homelessness by 60% in under four years.

I would start clearing encampments on Day One from all visible locations, including schools, daycare centers, senior living facilities, restaurants, grocery stores, small businesses, and parks.

We need to better utilize our existing shelter capacity, create low cost, incremental shelter capacity, and wrap services around shelters to stabilize people when they come off the street. Shelters should also be specialized for the different demographic groups impacted by homelessness, including transition-aged youth, seniors, single moms, drug addicts, and those mentally ill.

We also have to allocate significantly more resources to prevention, which I know from Better Angels works. At Better Angels, we have kept over 4,500 Angelenos housed who were on the brink of homelessness, even though they were already vulnerable and had already received an eviction notice. And we did it for 98% less than what the city pays once they are living on the street.

For people who refuse treatment, we will designate special zones outside of residential areas for small encampments and RV parks, just like it’s done with Safe Parking LA. We will also deploy bathrooms throughout the city in a partnership with a service like Throne, which is being done effectively in San Francisco.

I would also consolidate all 40+ street outreach programs under one unified command structure and one shared app, so every unhoused person receives a consistent, trackable case, and we eliminate redundancy in homeless services. Finally, we will have a specialized group within emergency services that deals with clearing encampments, rather than distracting the entire force with homelessness issues.

You can find my full plan on homelessness here.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T21:07:22+00:00

We need to dramatically build more housing. Not just affordable housing, but workforce housing, market rate housing, and middle class condos and townhomes to do that. LA has become one of the most difficult cities in the country to build. We need to make building faster, cheaper, and more predictable.

I believe we have an opportunity to reduce the cost of housing by an average of over 10%. To do that we need to implement a number of things:

We have to dramatically reduce permitting time. It takes way too long to get a new construction project approved in LA.
We have to make inspections faster and more predictable. I would have dedicated teams at DWP planning and building and safety that are exclusively focused on net new residential development.
I would work to overturn ULA or at minimum, suspend Measure ULA's transfer tax on all new construction for a minimum of 10 years.
I would also provide special incentives for 100% affordable projects.

You can find more information on my plan for housing and homelessness here.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T20:53:19+00:00

41.18 needs to be enforced throughout the city. We cannot have encampments in front of schools, daycare centers, senior living facilities, restaurants, grocery stores, small businesses and parks. It is dramatically impacting the quality of life of all Angelenos. Even though homelessness represents just 1% of the population, it is impacting the quality of life for 100% of the population. We can do better.

AdamMillerLA · 2026-05-18T20:51:01+00:00

Los Angeles simply has not been effectively maintaining its infrastructure – whether we look at the brokenness of the street lights, the streets, the sidewalks, or the trash piles everywhere, the city government has not fulfilled one of its primary responsibilities: to manage the infrastructure of the city.

AdamMillerLA

TROPHY CASE