This story is a part of our series of interviews with the candidates for Los Angeles City Council Districts 8 and 10.

On March 8th, voters in Council District 10 will vote for city council. Incumbent Herb Wesson, Jr. is facing challenges from Chris Brown, employment specialist; Austin Dragon, private business owner; Andrew “Andy” Kim, attorney; Luis Montoya, small business owner; and Althea Rae Shaw, victim advocate. Gavin Glynn is a write-in candidate.

Listen to an audio interview from Annenberg Radio News:

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Sarah Erickson: What made you decide to run for this position?

Gavin Glynn: I adopted five beautiful children from the Department of Children and Family Services and having to advocate for their rights through LAUSD, through the county, I got to learn to navigate city government and how things were being spent appropriately or inappropriately. Really, it’s to create a better life for my children, safer parks, safer streets to walk down. That’s how I got involved with my neighborhood Quality of Life Committee and the West Adams Avenue neighborhood meeting once a month.

Erickson: What is it you see as the foremost issue on this year’s ballot?

Glynn: The first thing is education. Our students and our community in district 10 are far behind other students within the city. Those are the kids who live in the neighborhood who attend local schools. A majority of parents farm their kids out, they go to other schools. It’s a huge issue for district 10. We have little community. We have to shop outside our community. We send our children to schools outside. We’re doing everything outside of our community. We’re not even nesting in our own community. District 10 has to take a very serious look about how we can attract business and development.

Erickson: If you were elected to be the representative for your district, how could you bring about improved schools, more funding for them, more local businesses? What is your plan once elected?

Glynn: The point I’m making is that I have to go to a PTA meeting over here, and then I have to go to a West Adams Avenue neighborhood meeting over here. They need to be in the same place. That’s what I want to do. I want to streamline.. see what the LAUSD is doing, what the city is doing, where the carry over is. We need to streamline. We shouldn’t be paying for satellite offices for the council person when we have public schools to use at night. Too often, everyone thinks that LAUSD is a separate entity from city government. They are budget wise but not voter wise. The voters are the same people and the recipients of quality education in the community.

Erickson: What is your plan for getting these priorities done?

Glynn: First and foremost is corporate responsibility. The unemployment rate in America is 9.5 percent. In district 10, it’s 16 percent. It’s almost double. However, we have the number one McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Starbucks. We have all these fast food places that are the number one performers in Southern California.

Read more interviews with City Council candidates.

map from lacity.org