Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt took his campaign to South Los Angeles on Wednesday, in a neighborhood incumbent Mayor Karen Bass represented during her years in Congress.
Pratt spent most of his two hours at the Hyde Park block party talking and posing for photos with the hundred or so people who showed up. He declined to take questions from the news media, just as he did Saturday in a meet and greet in Sherman Oaks.
Marcella Anglada, 61, pulled out her phone and showed Pratt a video of nearby broken sidewalks that she said were impassable in her motorized wheelchair.
“And this is why I voted for you, because I know you’re going to do something about it,” Anglada told Pratt as he handed back her phone.
Older residents who need mobility aids such as walkers or wheelchairs are left without options to traverse their own neighborhoods because of the broken sidewalks, she told The Times afterward.
Jonathan Parker grew up in the area and gave credit to Pratt for campaigning there.
“If you can go here, you can go anywhere,” the 39-year-old said.
Parker and wife Victoriah Bech Parker run a Skid Row charity. They recently publicized a request they filed with the U.S. Justice Department, asking authorities to investigate alleged animal abuse on Skid Row. Pratt, Bech Parker said, was the only mayoral hopeful to show support for their effort.
Bech Parker said she said was willing to work with anyone — Republican or Democrat — to improve conditions for people and animals in the downtown L.A. area known for its high rate of homelessness and large encampments.
Residents were served barbecue, ice cream and drinks the Pratt campaign provided from food trucks while sheltering from the heat under shaded canopies and listening to tunes ranging from modern earworms to James Brown tracks from the 1970s.
At one point, Pratt posed in front of the barbecue trailer, pledging that “we’re gonna have lots of grilling in L.A.” — a shot at opponent Nithya Raman’s proposal last year to ban backyard barbecues on high fire danger days. Raman has since backed away from the ban.
Other supporters traveled from elsewhere in the city and included Miki Yamashita, who runs the asiansforpratt Instagram page. The Studio City resident wore a chartreuse shirt with “pratt” written on it — reminiscent of Charli XCX’s “brat” album cover — and told Pratt that many Asian Americans were supporting him to promote their small businesses and families.
“I am a frustrated Los Angeles resident, just like Spencer,” Yamashita said.
Pratt was trailed by reporters and TV cameras throughout the afternoon, joined by others looking to post images on their social media pages.
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