Lexis-Olivier Ray is a multimedia reporter, writer, and artist based in Los Angeles. His primary beats are housing and justice, but he also writes about culture in L.A., as well as ghost towns and dive bars across California. His writing, photos, and videos have appeared in L.A. TACO, LAist, The LAnd Magazine, KCET, HyperAllergic.com, InvisiblePeople.tv and RoadTrippers.com.
Kelly Gonez is a member of the LAUSD Board of Education representing Board District 6, which encompasses most of the East San Fernando Valley. As a Board Member, her policy priorities include ensuring all students graduate ready for college and careers, supporting and empowering teachers and school leaders, and increasing community input in school board decisions.
City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson proudly represents the Eighth District of Los Angeles and chairs the city’s Planning Land Use and Management committee. City Councilmember, Harris-Dawson has introduced policies that combat homelessness, create quality jobs, clean streets, and encourage community policing. Within his first 18 months as a Councilmember, he authored Proposition HHH, a $1.2 billion bond for permanent supportive housing, the largest investment towards ending homelessness in the nation and has authorized more affordable housing than anywhere in the city in his first two years in office.
The Eighth District is home to over 248,000 people and the Councilmember proudly represents the district with the highest concentration of African Americans in the city. Never afraid to discuss issues of race and equity, Councilmember Harris-Dawson understands how decades of systematic disinvestment have harmed our communities and believes the people of South LA are its greatest resource. As a long-time community organizer in South LA, Harris-Dawson relies on his deep roots and relationships to build public trust and collaborative solutions.
Spike Friedman is the editor and co-founder of Knock LA, and organizer at Ground Game LA and NOlympics LA. NOlympics LA was launched by the Housing & Homelessness committee of the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America in 2017. The coalition has since expanded to include over two dozen partner orgs based in LA and California, as well as a growing transnational movement with dozens of groups around the world.
Anna Scott is a reporter and producer for KCRW, focused on housing. She reported for KCRW’s podcast There Goes the Neighborhood: Los Angeles. Before that, she produced Madeleine Brand’s news program “Press Play,” and Warren Olney’s “To the Point” and “Which Way, LA?” Anna reports regularly on homelessness for NPR’s national programs. She’s previously written for Bloomberg Businessweek, the Los Angeles Times and various local publications.
I use data to power accountability journalism. That means digging through databases and public records to uncover stories about how your identity and zip code can affect the kind of justice you get in Southern California.
As a data reporter, my work spans different beats. I’ve covered the avalanche of outside money in local politics, spiking firearms sales, Los Angeles’ bicycle infrastructure, and police militarization. I helped build a unique database on police shootings in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties for KPCC’s Officer Involved project.
I attended Macalester College and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and got my start in journalism at KFAI Fresh Air Radio in Minneapolis.
Jessica Meaney is the Founder and Executive Director of Investing in Place, an organization committed to transportation investments that strengthen communities. Jessica moved to Los Angeles over 20 years ago and chose not to own a car. It was a choice she was privileged to make and continues to inspire her professional commitment to improve Greater Los Angeles County to become more safe, reliable, and accessible for all, especially for those with the least options. This passion pushed her to create Investing in Place in January 2015.
Haley Potiker is a Communications Specialist at LAANE. Prior to joining LAANE in 2017, she worked on 2017’s ‘No on S’ and 2016’s ‘Yes on HHH’, as well as for a variety of other ballot measures, politicians, and nonprofits. Haley especially treasures her time spent with the communications offices of Senator Barbara Boxer’s 2010 re-election campaign and with then-city council president Eric Garcetti. Haley graduated from Occidental College in 2013 with a B.A. in Politics. Born in Long Beach and raised in Orange County, she has called the east side of LA home for the better part of a decade but still cheers for the Anaheim Angels.
Senior writer Doug Smith scouts Los Angeles for the ragged edges where public policy meets real people, combining data analysis and gumshoe reporting to tell L.A. stories through his 45 years of experience covering the city. As past database editor from 2004 through 2015, he hunted down and analyzed data for news and investigative projects. Besides “Grading the Teachers,” he contributed to investigations of construction abuse in the community college system and the rising toll of prescription drug overdoses. Smith has been at The Times since 1970, covering local and state government, criminal justice, politics and education. He was the lead writer for Times’ coverage of the infamous North Hollywood shootout, winner of a 1997 Pulitzer Prize. Between 2005 and 2008, Smith made five trips to Iraq on loan to our foreign desk.
Benjamin Oreskes is a general assignment reporter in the California section. Previously, he wrote the Essential California newsletter. Before coming to The Times in February 2017, Oreskes covered foreign policy at Politico in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Northwestern University, and looks forward to seeing the Wildcats play in the Rose Bowl sometime soon.
