Getting to know City Council Candidate Eddie Ha
Few people show up half an hour early for an interview. Eddie Ha was the rare exception.
Dressed in a dark navy suit and sporting aviator sunglasses, Ha exuded the swagger of his very own District 5, which encompasses Bel Air, Westwood and parts of Beverly Hills.
The son of Korean immigrants, Ha moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s, where he quickly joined California’s entrepreneurship scene. He later transitioned into commercial real estate, a field he has worked in ever since.
The city council candidate recalled the exuberance he felt moving to the city, which he remembers as bustling with culture and optimism.
“The economy was booming and the city was alive,” Ha said during an early-morning interview at Downtown’s City National Plaza. “LA was the epicenter.”
Yet he says LA has lost much of its charm over the past two decades.
“I’ve seen the degradation and constant decline of this city. It’s not necessarily by accident.”
Scroll to continue reading
Ha believes that restoring the city starts with reestablishing public safety. The first-time candidate seeks to redirect mismanaged funds to the Los Angeles Police Department, enabling the city to raise police salaries and meet its elusive 9,300-officer staffing goal.
Neighboring police departments in affluent cities typically offer higher starting salaries than the LAPD. In Redondo Beach, recruits earn between $5,000 and $10,000 more annually.
“I believe that most people, especially in my district, don’t feel safe. This is coming from people whose homes have been burglarized and people who have been assaulted in the street in broad daylight.”
Ha also criticized what he called “catch and release” policies, under which some individuals charged with crimes are released without posting bail while awaiting court dates. He argues the approach has contributed to officer demoralization and repeated offenses.
A study by the Public Policy Institute of California found zero-bail policies were associated with a 10% increase in the likelihood of felony rearrest, with no corresponding rise in violent felony rearrests.
Credit: Eddie Ha for LA City Council
Drawing on his background in commercial real estate, Ha plans to reduce the number of homeless individuals living on the streets. The District 5 candidate aims to construct larger homeless housing complexes with hundreds of beds outside dense residential neighborhoods, rather than smaller facilities embedded in the city.
“33 beds in a retail parking center isn’t going to move the needle when you have 100,000 homeless people in LA. It’s also hurting small businesses.”
Ha was particularly critical of his district’s Shelby housing project. The site came under federal investigation in October after its developer, Steven Taylor, allegedly attempted to resell the property to his own company at more than double the original purchase price using taxpayer grant funding.
A spokesperson for City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, Ha’s incumbent opponent, told Fox 11 that the councilmember’s office “had no role in the selection, negotiation or financing of the Shelby property.”
The Shelby project aside, Ha emphasized he didn’t take issue with Yaroslavsky’s actions in her first four-year term, but rather what she hasn’t accomplished.
“I urge her to be more present and attentive to her constituents,” Ha said. “It’s really about doing the right thing for the people and not getting caught up in politics and ideology.”
Credit: Eddie Ha for LA City Council
On government accountability, Ha is unflinching.
The District 5 candidate is calling for independent oversight of city budgets and contracts, along with a public dashboard showing spending and performance metrics.
“The way things are being run now is unprofessional. If this were a business, this borders not just on mismanagement, but gross negligence.”
In March, LA city officials moved to take control of more than $875 million in annual homeless spending after two scathing audits found that a joint city and county agency spent the funds recklessly. Most damning, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority lacked an adequate system to track $5 million in cash advances sent to five service providers.
Ha plans to put mismanaged funds toward more deserving projects, including salary hikes at the LAPD and hiring more care clinicians to serve homeless populations in city shelters.
Credit: Eddie Ha for LA City Council
The commercial real estate executive, who described his platform as “pro-business”, plans to slash onerous permitting requirements that he says constrain small businesses.
“The moment you sign a lease, you’re on the hook for rent every month. But you can’t operate the business until you get all the permits and inspections approved by the city.”
“You’re paying $10,000 to $20,000 a month with no income coming in, just waiting for approvals.”
Turnaround times for building permits can range anywhere from a few days to over a year, depending on the scale of renovation a business seeks to perform. In some cases, owners must also secure permits for drainage, grading, encroachment, excavation and health, further delaying when a shop can open.
In 2024, Los Angeles County launched its Small Biz Permits Express program, enabling small businesses earning less than $16 million in annual revenue to swiftly receive permits for minor renovations.
Credit: Eddie Ha for LA City Council
Ha is well aware of his status as an outsider, both as a businessman running in a city government dominated by career politicians and as a Korean American seeking to represent a district known for its sizable Jewish population.
Still, the District 5 candidate believes that shared values of family, community and a desire to see a better city transcend those barriers.
“No one should ever feel unsafe at any point in time in the city and neighborhood that they live in,” Ha said. “Protecting people who can’t protect themselves is what this is all about.”