California Assemblyman & Santa Monica Mayor on Cross-Jurisdictional Partnerships
Watch the full episode: YouTube
Episode Summary
California Assemblyman Rick Zbur joins Santa Monica Mayor Lana Negrete to explore the power of regional collaboration in solving complex civic challenges. This conversation reveals how strong relationships between state and local officials can accelerate emergency response, shape innovative legislation, and address homelessness, housing, and public safety. From deploying the National Guard during wildfires in under 24 hours to developing the FOUND Act for pet evacuation, they demonstrate how cross-jurisdictional partnerships turn local innovations into statewide solutions. Mayor Negrete proposes a groundbreaking transparency tool for government coordination, while both leaders emphasize the importance of working across political divides with mutual respect and shared commitment to public service.
Key Topics: Emergency response coordination, homelessness prevention, housing security, legislative collaboration, government transparency tools, bipartisan cooperation, film industry tax credits
Table of Contents
- Introduction and Welcome
- Assemblyman Rick Zbur's Cross Jurisdictional Role
- Mayor's Perspective on Collaboration
- Case Study: Fire Response and Legislation
- Challenges and Opportunities in Regional Collaboration
- Homelessness and Housing Initiatives
- Improving Communication and Coordination
- Building Relationships Across Political Lines
- Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts
Introduction and Welcome
Evan Meyer: Hey everyone, and thank you for joining today. We have Santa Monica mayor Lana Negrete back again from our last time with council woman Tracy Park with Los Angeles in our part two version of the Regional Collaboration Series. So this time with Assemblyman Rick Zbur, thank you for joining us.
Evan Meyer: Thank you for being here.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: You are welcome. Glad, glad to be here.
Evan Meyer: Um, last time was really, was really fun. We had a good a great conversation. I'm excited to continue the conversation around the collaboration, cross jurisdictional partnerships, and especially around our really difficult issues like homelessness, transportation, housing crime, public safety and all that.
Evan Meyer: So we know that stuff is important but it's matter of actually getting it done and having those conversations across these. These lines. So, it's exciting to, to have a local a local elected as along with a state elected representative to be able 00:01:00 to have this conversation.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur's Cross Jurisdictional Role
Evan Meyer: And let's just start with you assemblyman Zbur. What does that mean to you? When I say cross jurisdictional collaboration or regional partnerships? What comes up for you personally, professionally?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: Well, you know, I represent my, my district starts over in Griffith Park and I go over the hill into Universal City and Universal Studios, and then run all the way along Santa Monica Boulevard, out to Santa Monica. So I've got Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills Westwood west LA and Santa Monica.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: And so I've got four cities in my district and I view my role as really helping local elected officials accomplish the things that they wanna accomplish for their cities. And that is a big part of my responsibility. You know, some of my job is really to listen and to understand how I, what I need to do at the state level to help our local elected officials.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: And you know, I try my best to maintain good good working relationships with all four with the elected officials in all four cities. And luckily I've got like 00:02:00 amazing elected officials that I get to work with, including our mayor. So.
Mayor's Perspective on Collaboration
Evan Meyer: And, and how about you, mayor? What, what comes for you in when you hear that?
Mayor Lana Negrete: Well, it's being able to, again, building on relationships, that's key. So being able to text our assembly member is something I don't take for granted. Being able to call him up or his field staff, get immediate responses and involvement. I mean, through the fires it meant working with Caltrans.
Mayor Lana Negrete: It has developed into something that's really neat. We're actually working on a bill together and assembly member's brought it forward, which was an issue that we realized during the fire needed to be addressed, which was how we deal with animals. So, everything from instantaneous small and big issues in the moment realizing that we maybe need to talk about creating a bill and having our assembly member be the author of that.
Mayor Lana Negrete: So it's great to have that relationship 00:03:00 and continue to be in touch when you need something, you can get to it much quicker. And oftentimes you're working at the same speed at the same time on a lot of the same issues. And so it kind of feels like, you know, though he's an assembly member, he knows so much about what's going on in Santa Monica and has great field members that are also locally showing up to all our meetings.
Mayor Lana Negrete: I mean, it just feels like he's right next door even though a few days a week he has to be up in Sacramento.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: Well, that's so nice of you to say that, mayor. I appreciate that.
Case Study: Fire Response and Legislation
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: You know, I remember when when the fires were happening and I. In addition to the bill that the mayor talked about, which, you know, Santa Monica and her work in you know, during the, during the, the fires was a big part of the inspiration for that bill.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: But even before that the way that I. And I hadn't worked for that with the mayor that much 'cause she had just moved into her role as mayor. One of the things I remember her doing was calling and telling me that 00:04:00 they were they had put in a, the city of Santa Monica had put in a request for National Guard protection for the neighborhoods because so many, such a large part of Santa Monica had been evacuated during the fire.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: And of course, people were afraid to leave their homes unattended and, you know, protecting the safety of people in Santa Monica in part was about making sure that people felt secure in leaving their homes. And, I remember the mayor called me up and said that there, you know, they had put in a request and it was just sort of sitting there.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: And I remember going to the speaker of the assembly and the governor's office and I think we got you aid in about a day, I think from that, at that point. Yeah. So,
Mayor Lana Negrete: Less than 24 hours I would say.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: Yeah.
Mayor Lana Negrete: With that we've had the assembly member's been so great in bringing me along and introducing me to the right people. There was a emergency meeting, he made sure that I was at the table, things I really wasn't getting invitations to, and I was able to attend all those meetings and he continues to invite me to events to meet and work with other local leaders and state leaders. So, you know, that's it kind of pull our, through the door and assembly member's Zbur. I mean, I consider him a mentor and a joy to work with. He genuinely does care that. I feel like there's been times I've walked into a room and not known anyone. After the fires, he brought me in in terms of like, look, it was my first time being just an elected leader, just to, you know, and a half belt at the time or maybe three months I guess. But he's been a great mentor I would say.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: Yeah, well, I, you didn't need a lot of mentoring. You got a pretty sophisticated mayor, so, who, who really knows how to fight for this, for the people of Santa Monica. So it's been a, it is really been a pleasure working with her and, and the other members of the council, but, but the mayor in 00:06:00 particular.
Challenges and Opportunities in Regional Collaboration
Evan Meyer: Do, do you feel that, I guess either of you, do you feel that there's opportunities for improvement when it comes to, maybe not just between you both, but perhaps in California in general? When it comes to these types of collaborations, what, what would you recommend for other, other districts or what can be done to make it so that, especially in solving these difficult issues that this can become the norm. We talked about an example with, you know, the fires. How about, for example, with homelessness? What's being done and what could be done to make it easier?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: Well, so I mean, first of all, I think one of the things I'd like to say is that it's a real honor to represent Santa Monica because Santa Monica is one of those laboratories of experimentation in which a lot of what the city does is at the cutting edge and. A, the, the mayor talked about one of the bills that, you know, she and I and the city are working together 00:07:00 now.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: The FOUND Act, which is a bill that is focused on making sure that cities, when they update their emergency plans during a mandatory evacuation that provisions are made for evacuating pets and the people can identify, can find their pets if they have to leave their home. And you know, it recognizes the fact that pets are parts of the family.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: I have four bills now, and I've only been in office for two and a half years now that are actually modeled after things that were done in Santa Monica. The found act was one of them. I, I remember the city was, you know, city understood that there was a gap in caring for pets and actually, you know, took steps to make sure that that pets were being taken care of.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: And that's the model for this bill on homelessness. The, you know, I carried a bill in my first year well, two bills in my first year. One, one, which was passed which was AB 1620, which was a bill that allowed tenants in 00:08:00 rent control apartments that were in the second floor to move down to first floor units when they, if they had a disability or as they were becoming older.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: And that was actually something that the city of Santa Monica and West Hollywood together identified the problem. They actually had tenants that they knew were trapped in second floor apartments. And and, you know, they brought that to my attention and we carried a bill on behalf of both cities and got that signed into law.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: Another bill, which we, we shelved this year only temporarily because of the budget, but the California Housing Security Act is a rent subsidy program to try to keep people in their homes. And it's modeled after what Santa Monica's already doing. And of course, Santa Monica doesn't have the resources necessary to really make that program the, what it needs to be in order to really address homelessness as robustly as we need to do?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: But that's modeled after what Santa Monica did. And then last but not least I've got another bill AB 39, which is requires local electrification planning. It requires cities to put plans in for how you you know, where you're gonna put in electric vehicle 00:09:00 chargers strategies for electrifying homes to meet climate change needs, and that's modeled after a plan that the city of Santa Monica has already adopted.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: So, you know, one of the things that I'm really fortunate on is that I've got both in Santa Monica and in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills on the public safety front. Beverly Hills is really a leader in that in that area as well. But I've got three cities that are really at the cutting edge of things and really in leadership positions, and it allows me to sort of take those things and try to expand them statewide.
Homelessness and Housing Initiatives
Mayor Lana Negrete: I'll say to answer your question on other issues, so a lot of the stuff we just discussed are yes preventative measures, you know, bills to make sure that people don't lose their home is definitely one key component of addressing homelessness and one issue that we're at the forefront on, but we also are a program service rich community. But in terms of answering your question as it pertains to like, how do you work with other leaders as a local leader? I'll just give an example that's most recent. Our governor has 00:10:00 made an executive order, you know, directing communities and local governments to address encampments. And for a city like Santa Monica that already had a strong encampment laws doesn't mean a lot for us. What it means is that I'm more concerned now that other jurisdictions around us as they start to really address their encampment laws. What does that mean for Santa Monica as a service rich city? Are we gonna see an influx of folks who are being shoved off and out of other cities into the city of Santa Monica? And so I would say that this is where this relationship is key because, our assembly member oversees four cities. Our senator oversees an even broader district. I have a relationship as does assembly member Zbur with Senator Ben Allen. I mean, I grew up with Ben Allen, he's a person I text. But that relationship with Tracy Park, the standing dinners with Lindsay Horvath working with other members of Zbur's district, that allows me to say, Hey guys, this is coming down the pike, this 00:11:00 is how it's gonna affect Santa Monica, and we wanna talk to each other to make sure we have a coordinated plan. And I don't have that relationship at the, a more rapidly door of how leadership at the local government level can help coordinate that. So I'd say that to communicate at that level, I don't think has consistently always been there for everybody in California. And so it's crucial because for us on a small scale, but a huge impact. We had a traffic issue with Caltrans closing the number one lane on the freeway. Tracy Park and I went out and made a video.
Mayor Lana Negrete: We made a lot of noise and had to lean on assembly member Zbur and Senator Ben Allen, but Tracy Park is the right person in District seven, and we're actually able to address that number one lane finally this week. But it was only because assembly member Zbur's office was like calling two, three times a week following up. Our police chief was, was, doing it. I 00:12:00 was calling Caltrans. That pressure bubbled it to the top and it got done faster than it would've. But it was only because of that pressure. If we didn't have that, I don't think we would've even heard our concern addressed. And it pertains to homelessness, I think it's because we can say, well, this is our problem in Santa Monica. And because we have strong encampment laws, because we have these other preventative measures in place, and because we have so many services, we have a different subset of issues we need to address. And the assembly member, knowing that West Hollywood and other cities may have different issues. That's how we can kind of like work together, but it's not always that way in government.
Evan Meyer: Yeah, do.
Improving Communication and Coordination
Evan Meyer: Do you feel that there's a set of best practices that would be templatizable in a sense around these kinds of things? Is it just sort of time and communication when something happens? Is it something that we can kind of 00:13:00 share with others to show that like, this is when you do it? What are the steps that we can go through to make sure that people and cities are operating effectively and coming together and working with their state electeds?
Mayor Lana Negrete: I mean, I think there's like a lot of events we get invited to, and it's not sort of laid out that way, but it's known that even if you're attending some event about a specific topic, maybe it's traffic, maybe it's homelessness. It's really about getting in the room and spending that first 15 minutes mingling with your other local electeds to build this relationship, but it can be more difficult the bigger that you get in council, in Santa Monica and West Hollywood and Culver City and other areas, it's a part-time job. But in the city of LA where it's a full-time job with a bigger staff, they may not be going to these events. So what would be useful is to have a one stop 00:14:00 communication piece to go to where you can connect with your other electeds and it would show you who is in charge of what, who's who like an org chart and you could click on it and send a message.
Mayor Lana Negrete: Now look, we have email. Sure. But when you first get elected, you don't know that here's all the staff workers for your assembly member. Here's all the things that they can help you with and who they're in charge of. So honestly, if there was this type of tool you could use where you could go in there and not to just plug Gov Tools, but if there was a way to Google and search as an elected and find out the emails in Zbur's staff and it can put in a message to the right person about a specific issue. And it would automatically follow me and follow up, and other jurisdictions could see it. Oh, city of Santa Monica is working on the 10 freeway issue that's affecting us, or City X has 10 beds in their shelter, they're having this other issue that has to do with homelessness.
Mayor Lana Negrete: Let's see if we can help. That would be really cool because I think that would 00:15:00 allow us to have one place and it would let us see what everybody's working on. I can't tell you how many times I've called and ran something up a flagpole to a department and they said, somebody has already asked. Let me circle back with that person and it creates this let me circle back model that we do in government and everyone's circling back but nothing gets done if we made it all transparent and it's even more transparent, constituents can see it. It doesn't need to be private.
Mayor Lana Negrete: It could be that you see it and type in City of Santa Monica, what are the issues. Oh, that's the 10 freeway waiting for a response from Caltrans. Assembly member Zbur's staff could go in there and say let me see what's going on and look in. Oh, Santa Monica's waiting on Caltrans, let me see what I can do. And that was it. Wow. That would be a game changer. I mean, I think that would be a technology or tool we could put in place that would let people see what we are working on. 'cause I'm sure assembly member Zbur can tell you, we work on things and I 00:16:00 don't think our constituents realize the amount of things we're working on that are just as important as the big things that we're working on.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: I think you've just developed a new bill idea for next year.
Mayor Lana Negrete: Well we have, I have an idea for you. It's called Gov Tools. I'm being serious, it probably should be a bill or program that's rolled out, but
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: Yep.
Mayor Lana Negrete: That's one thing that seems most obvious from my end, and it's fully transparent.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Building Relationships Across Political Lines
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: I think my best, what I would say, my best practice is not as techy because I'm older than the mayor is, and so I I go, I go to old school things, but I think it's really just always making sure that you are, I 00:17:00 keeping relationships with the other elected officials that serve the public strong and warm, and that you always approach every person with an assumption of best intentions.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: You know, we you know, I don't agree with every single elected official on every single thing in my district. And they don't agree with me on everything, but I think, you know, I think we both have good working relationships with pretty much everyone that represents other people in the, in, in the areas that we cover.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: And it's because, you know, if you always make the, the, your top priority helping people in your district. Then you put aside all the, you know, all the other things that sometimes come up in political life. And you're willing to work with people who are, you know, more conservative than you, or more progressive than you, or, you know, different than you. We're all different and unique.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: And and that, that's sort of, I think the, the thing that I, I'm just, I'm really thankful for in terms of the elected officials that cover the area that I represent, I think it's an amazingly committed group of people. You know, the public I think, doesn't understand sometimes how you know, it's easy to become angry because there are a lot of problems that are affecting people's 00:18:00 lives on from a day-to-day basis.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: You know, I mean, people are barely, some people are barely making ends meet. Some people are not housed. People are on the verge of homelessness. Others have lost their jobs. And you know, it's easy to become frustrated and angry and but you know, when you're in the role I am, one of the things that it makes me, you know, optimistic about the future, even when the challenges seem insurmountable, is just that I, I, I would say without a doubt, the elected officials that at every level of government are in it for the right reasons and actually are trying their best to make the lives better for people in our, in our communities.
Evan Meyer: Do you think? Do you think that? Most people in politics, Do you feel that in, in your experience, that that's the type of people that you deal with? In general. I don't wanna, you know, have to but like in general, do you feel like that's what you get out of being an assembly member 00:19:00 and, and, or does it, is it just locally that you see that?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: I think, I think it's broad, I mean, you know, there are political rivalries that happen in all the communities that I represent, and I think the, the folks that are successful ultimately in accomplishing things are people that sort of put political rivalries aside and really try to help the community and and I think ultimately.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: That's what happens, you know, most of the time, most of the time in my area. But I think that's also true in, you know, among my colleagues. You know, it's, we don't, there's a lot of people I don't agree with on certain things and especially on the other side of the aisle right now. But but I still, even with those folks, you know, there's a group of folks that you know, that I, while they disagree with me, they actually have authentic views that, you know they, they're, they are, you know, I think they're misguided, but they're trying to make the community better. I just think that their prescriptions are not that great. But, you know, you try to find common ground 00:20:00 on the areas where they are. I mean, for example, I'm, I'm working really hard and I know that Mayor Negrete has actually been really helpful and some others in the council on trying to get the film tax credit reauthorized and, and increased.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: I mean, that's gonna be a, that's a huge, huge need for the whole area that I represent. It's important for workers in Santa Monica. The, I mean, the tourism industry in Santa Monica really depends on having a thriving film and television tax industry. And you know, there's people on, you know, there are republicans there are supporting that bill.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: And frankly getting that through because it's viewed, you know, there's some folks in other parts of the state who think that it's you know, a giveaway to Los Angeles and not understanding that this is a jobs bill, you know, where you have to build the support person by person. And so, you know, I've got republicans that are supporting it.
Evan Meyer: That's great. It's, it's, it's great to see that you've been successful in building 00:21:00 those, you know, cross political borders and being able to do that successfully. And so on that note I think that's needed, regardless of who you are and what party you represent. Right? It's an important skill.
Evan Meyer: It's an important trait, the ability to, and there, there seems to be a lot of, some good movement coming along with people being able to have, find their common ground and have civil dialogue. We, we, we seem to have lost that for a while in, a lot of ways. And, and there, there does seem to be some some movement towards getting it back from, from what I can tell.
Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts
Evan Meyer: But this has been a great time with both of you. Thank you for sharing this. We're about at the end here unfortunately, but we do have a quick lightning round on if there's any last words that you wanna share about what you think, what you'd like to see as it, it relates to this in the future, and, and, and what we can do here to, to come 00:22:00 and solve these, these issues.
Evan Meyer: So any, any, any last words on that?
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: I think I would just like to say that, I mean, I really appreciate the mayor's leadership in the city of Santa Monica and the other members of the council. You know, we haven't, we haven't talked all about a lot of things that we're working on together, including issues that are affecting the Santa Monica budget, affecting the budget of Santa Monica College.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: We're in a big budget crunch right now in the city. The mayor has been up in Sacramento a bunch of times advocating for needs of the city. And you know, I just want people to understand how attentive and committed their elected officials are. Head of Santa Monica are. I mean, it's a really, a, a, a really extraordinary group of people and I'm very honored to have the opportunity to work with, with Mayor Negrete and, and the other members of the council.
Mayor Lana Negrete: I would just say that continuing to reach across the aisle even within our city you know, people thought, oh, because people ran on a slate that there would 00:23:00 be no congeniality there would be no working together. And, and that is not the case. I think maybe it's not ironic. I think we all are people and serving and we all agree on three things and so we already have common ground on how we get there.
Mayor Lana Negrete: We might have disagreements but I think we all respect each other, we respect that we're passionate and rooted in our belief that it's gonna do good for the community. So we allow each other the space to express that. We listen to each other, happy to get there and we respect each other on the back ends and enjoy each other's company is that when we walk away from city council 'cause it wasn't always like this, we still, after a passionate evening, we say goodnight to each other and enjoy each other's company. You know, company outside of it. And developing that is what I encourage people to do that with their elected officials to get their voices heard, and I 00:24:00 enjoy. I always encourage people to join commissions and boards and get involved as much as you can to understand who your elected officials are.
Evan Meyer: Wonderful. Well thank you both very much for, for being here. Thank you for your your your wisdom, and and for serving our community and doing it honorably. We will see you next time. Have a, have a wonderful evening.
Assemblyman Rick Zbur: Thanks a lot. It's really nice to get to know you on this. Take care.
Written by
Evan Meyer
January 6, 2025