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By Jessyka Heredia
February 25, 2024 (East County) –East County Magazine spoke with Dr. LaShae Sharp-Collins about her campaign for the 79th State Assembly seat. She is currently the County Office of Education’s community engagement specialist and an adjunct professor at San Diego State University, as well as one of three candidate--all Democrats, vying for the Assembly seat being vacated by Dr. Akilah Weber, who is running for State Senate and has endorsed Sharp-Collins..
Before we got to questions, Sharp-Collins wanted to let our readers know that her website has real time information and resources for flood victims. Sharp-Collins family has also been impacted and she says she knows the struggles residents are going through.
We then asked about her goals and accomplishments, as well as issues that matter to district 79.
Accomplishments
We asked Sharp-Collins to tell us about her biggest accomplishments that got her to where she is today.
Sharp-Collins told us that she has experience in the 79th district, having served as “district director for Dr. Shirley Weber who was currently Secretary of State. I served for her for nine years and while I was serving for her in the Assembly, this actual experience of working for her has 100% prepared me for this particular moment.”
Sharpe-Collins stated that the California Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood California Faculty Association, the Legislative Black Caucus, United Domestic Workers and Smart Justice California and a whole host of other democratic leaders and also community organizations and state organizations have “100% endorsed me.”
Sharp-Collins said, “When it comes down to why I am doing this, in all honesty me running for this particular seat is because I want to make sure our constituents have a real strong seat at the table. I think that is very important for our community, all of our communities to be heard, for all our communities to be respected.”
Sharp-Collins explained she will “continue to do the work that she has been doing for a very long time.” She talked about how working for Dr. Weber all those years that she really has a grasp on the job and all that comes with it. Sharp-Collins stated, she did “constituent services but also listening to our community, working on landmark legislation over the years. Having the ability to address the education concerns, I would continue to do that work and work on collaborating with all of our levels of government.”
Storm Drains
Asked about storm drain funding to maintain and possibly improve the storm drain systems in district 79, Sharp-Collins explained, “In all honesty, it really boils down to accountability and transparency. As the Assembly member, it would be my duty to ensure that I am communicating with our city officials and also with our county officials, in regards to how the funding is actually being used.”
Sharp-Collins told ECM, “I was on the California OES (Office of Emergency Services) call, and on that call they clearly 100% stated that we’ve always been prepared for the wildfires, so in the budget there is money allocated for wildfires. There is stuff allocated for the landslides, but never have we been prepared for actual flooding because we live in Southern California. Even though things have happened over the years, it hasn’t been something that has been consistent.”
She continued, “When I am the Assembly member, as I’ve done already while working in this particular office, I will continue to advocate for adequate funding and to do the work of holding each and every one of us accountable for how the funding is being spent.”
Sharp-Collins said she would make sure that money is allocated into the budget moving forward, so that we are prepared for flooding in the future.
Affordable Housing
ECM asked Sharp-Collins about the rising costs of rents while a lot of luxury apartments are being built and the impact that causes to older rentals that would have been the more affordable rentals before the housing crisis. Some of those older rentals are now raising rents to rates unaffordable for many renters. ECM asked: what she could do at the State Assembly to help bridge the gap with more low income and moderate-income housing?
Sharp-Collins responded, “This goes to, of course, the housing and also homeless issue. You have a lot of people who are being incomed out, ,meaning that they can no longer afford the rents. I believe that it is time we reimagine our approach to housing. and also homelessness within the state. We have tried many methods that do not seem to work but it’s time for us to come up with some fresh new ideas. We’ll begin by shifting towards home ownership and also addressing generational wealth. How can we shift towards homeownership and generational wealth has to deal with ...we have a lot of state land--we need to start building housing on some of our state property. Also turning some of the commercial buildings into housing.
Sharp-Collins said that there are higher education facilities and churches that own a lot of land. According to Sharp-Collins the state treasures office did a study and found that these “institutions can actually build property on their land. They can house the population for which they are currently serving.
Other ideas that Sharp-Collins suggested were using decommissioned ships with services and housing, and credit repair programs for no cost to help people get into housing.
Sharp-Collins shared, “We need to strengthen the HCV (Housing Choice Vouchers) for California. That is for the homeownership program. Funding and implementation needs to still happen.” Sharp-Collins said grants and down payment assistance is needed.
Sharp-Collins explained the importance of getting people off of section 8 and transition into the HCV program to help support generational wealth. She also said this program is currently not in all cities of San Diego.
Sharp-Collins stated, “We need to make eligibility requirements a little bit more equitable so that we are not only trying to address those that are at the bottom but do what we can to address everyone from all levels.”
Goals
ECM spoke to Sharp-Collins about Dr. Akilah Weber, the current Assemblymember now running for state Senate, championing funds for parks and recreation as well as events centered around families and community. We wanted to know what Sharp-Collins' funding goals would be if she is elected to State Assembly. Her response is that she plans on advocating for funding for those same things.
Sharp-Collins explained, “ It’s going to be community driven, so I would need to talk my constituents and see what type of additional funding they need from different programs and also services. For example, when I was in Weber’s office, we dedicated funds that helped with the Jackie Robinson YMCA. We were strong about advocating for the MLK promenade. It is important that we listen to our constituents and find out what their needs are.”
Sharp-Collins expanded, “ We need to see whether we have already have some of the funding actually being allocated to those areas. If not, what can we do to ensure that they are having a much better safe and vibrant community?”.
Sharp-Collins says these are the things constituent are asking for and that listening to them is what you are elected for.
Homelessness
When speaking to Sharp-Collins about affordable housing, she highlighted the connections to homelessness. ECM wanted to dive a little deeper into what a state Assembly member can do to help alleviate some of the problems we have with homelessness.
Sharp-Collins replied, “We need to address these socioeconomic factors, so there’s economic justice issues that we have to address. It boils down to us as the Assembly members seeking out the true collaboration between all of us from all levels of our government. It boils down to us asking for the funding and having the funding allocated down to the county and also to the cities.”
Sharp-Collins expressed the need to make sure that we are providing enough housing for our homeless population and addressing the homeless with “true sincere compassion.” Sharp-Collins understands that homelessness is not caused by one thing but that it is a multitude of factors that cause someone to be homeless and that there is a need to “think outside the box” in our approach.
Education
Dr. LaShae Sharp-Collins is an adjunct professor at San Diego State, so when the topic of education came up she was ready to talk about the high costs of college. ECM asked what she could do as a State Assemblymember to increase access to higher education and what she could do to help alleviate the high cost of college.
Sharp-Collins shared, “California is already working on that. Now you can go to community college for free. That was one step towards trying to make it affordable and also equitable. One of my legislative components I want to do moving forward is we need a cap on our tuition increases. Because as tuition continues to go up, we are incoming people out. The people who are getting hit the hardest are people from the BIPOC community.
Sharp-Collins said, “While I was still in Weber’s office, we definitely pushed and worked on our middle-class scholarship. Those of us that do not fall under the typical low-income threshold, you can apply for the middle-class scholarship.
Sharp-Collins says there is funding available for plenty of people to actually apply for, adding, “What can we do to alleviate some of the stress off of our parents? That is why we came up with the middle-class scholarship program.”
Sharp-Collins also says she would like to work with the California Department of education to require school districts to a lot more guaranteed admissions programs to seniors to go to San Diego State or other colleges. Currently these programs are only offered at certain high schools and colleges.
Sharp-Collins also expressed lowering the housing costs on college campuses as well.
Healthcare
ECM asked Sharp-Collins about how we could increase access to good affordable healthcare.
Sharp-Collins responded, “This issue is not new to me. Under Dr. Shirley Weber we were laying the groundwork by fighting for more funding for for actual medical. Even now as a former board member of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, I continue to fight for medical coverage and also for women’s reproductive rights, healthcare education, and insurance protections. When it comes down to healthcare, we have to continue to advocate for more money.”
Sharp-Collins told ECM,” This district has a cancer cluster; that is a major healthcare concern. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer everywhere else, but in San Diego its cancer. Amongst women there is cardiovascular disease as well.”
Sharp-Collins explained that women and the BIPOC communities need to feel comfortable to go to doctors for these types of issues and how important it is to see faces in these hospitals that look like you and are welcoming to everyone. Sharp-Collins said, “Your zip code and your income should not determine what kind of healthcare you receive.”
What separates you from your opponent?
Sharp-Collins stated, “I’m able to come in and just hit the ground running because this is the work that I’ve already been doing, and I continued to do the work while I served on the board of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific southwest. I’ve also continued to do the work as far as my overall community service and being able to provide support to the community. When it comes down to having nine years serving in this office, the people who have endorsed me, trust me. They trust me because they know in their hearts because I already have the experience coming in, that I’m able to address the most important issues facing the district and also the entire state of California.
Sharp-Collins concluded,” The only other factor is, I am you, and you are me. I am from the community. I share in the same struggles that my constituents have as well.”
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