, Sheriff. I want to buy
Stetsons with you. Okay There
you go. Now we want to turn to
the mayoral race. Have you seen
these billboards around town?
Not that image. But there is one
in North Hollywood. It is for
candidate. There it is. Rama
Varma. He is an entrepreneur
running as an independent in the
race for L. A Mayor Varma.
Welcome to the show for the very
first time. Thanks for being on
. This is an opportunity to
voters who may not be that
familiar about your story. Can
you offer a real brief
introduction of who you are and
why you're doing this? Of
me on the show. Alex. I um You
know, my parents came here from
India in the sixties as as
immigrants. My father came here
to get his PhD in physics and
showed up in this country with
12 bucks in his pocket, and what
he taught us was that education
mattered hard work matter. You
need to really work hard and
you'll be able to do a great
things in this country. And I
learned that I moved to L. A in
2000 and two business school and
started a business. From scratch
. We did was called
bootstrapping, meaning we didn't
raise any capital. My partner
and I, and we built a really
nice business helping kids get
into college over the years, and
I sold it about a year ago. And
it was in that moment where I
started looking around the city
and saying, All right, you know,
there are things like I believe
this city has so much potential,
and it's failing to meet his
potential cause I think we're
sort of we're held were held
back right were built on a
blueprint for cars that was
built in the fifties or created
the fifties. And I think we need
leadership that's looking to the
future. Like what should this
city look like? 50 years from
now, 100 years from now, I have
three small Children, 57 and
nine years old and as much love
as I have for this city, I have
some fear for them in terms of
what the city is going to look
like over the course of the next
several years, And you know at
some point you have to stop
saying somebody's got to do
something about it. And you say,
Okay, you know, I'm going to do
something about it, and I'd like
capacity. We're just looking at
images from your launch event at
the Bank of California Stadium,
where Lfc plays. We've also got
some images of your Children
that we want to show as well.
Who are really your inspiration.
I'm sorry. I guess those images
aren't coming up, but we do want
to talk about the issue of
homelessness, which is the
question that I've asked all the
other candidates. What is one
thing you can do? L A mayor to
deal with home. How much is it
going to cost and do we need to
raise taxes? Do it. I'm gonna
answer a question in reverse,
And sadly, I think I'm not gonna
answer it The way a lot of other
folks have answered this
question, you know, I think
there's a lot of question about
plans and what's going to
happen. Look there are a few
things that we would do
immediately. The number one most
immediate thing we would do is
create tiny home villages and
focus on transitional housing.
That's the short answer. The
long answer to this question or
slightly longer is that this is
not a question of plants. Okay
We had a plan in 2016. We raised
$1.2 billion in tax revenue to
implement that plan, and the
city has completely failed. And
so I think that what we really
need to be asking and the
question we need to be asking
ourselves is who is going to be
able to actually implement a
plan in the city who is going to
be able to step on the toes that
they have to step on? Who's
going to be able to break
through? The red tape and
bureaucracy to actually get
something done. And from my
perspective, the only person who
has the ability to do that is a
real outsider. Somebody who's
had proven success as an
entrepreneur. I mean, the truth
is, you know, when I started my
business, everyone told me how
impossible it was. You know any
entrepreneurial tell you people
in your face. Tell you what a
wonderful idea you have behind
your back. They laugh. Okay
That's just that is just the
case, and the fact is What we
need is we need leadership that
is not worried about what people
think about them. I mean, just
look at me, Alex. I mean, you
know, we we've met before I I'm
not wearing a tie and a student
wanted black shirt. I have
earrings. I got a beard. I can
promise you every political
consultant told me Shave your
beard. Take out your hearings.
But that's not who I am. I'm
authentically myself and I and I
approach Problems with that same
level of authenticity, which is
, let's go. Just get the things
done and not worry what people
think about us. All right? Well,
you get to know Remi, check out
his earrings in person tomorrow
live at the North Hollywood
Recreation Center from 1 to 4
P.m. And if you want to support
here varma dot com Thank you so
much for coming on Best. Select
you on the campaign trail and
have fundament Appreciate it.