Native Angelino Nancy Narba is a first generation Latina, urban environmentalist, advocate for equity, wife and mother. She’s also a former member of the Culver City Planning Commission and founder of Culver City for More Homes where she organized and advocated for more housing, renters’ protections and rights, and the end of segregation in Culver City. She’s on the ballot for City Council in November, and she told the News why.
What accomplishments and experiences make you a great candidate for City Council?
My service on the Culver City Planning Commissioner, the Culver City Finance Advisory Committee, and my background as a climate professional make me uniquely qualified to serve on our city council. I have worked on solutions for homelessness, advocated for zoning reform, and championed care-centered budgeting. As the founder of Culver City for More Homes, I’ve led efforts to increase affordable housing, eliminate exclusive zoning, and strengthen tenant protections.
In my professional life, I am a director at a consulting firm specializing in energy efficiency and decarbonization, which will allow me to bring expertise in climate resilience and sustainability to the Culver City Council. I serve as an elected executive committee member of the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter and have consistently advocated for environmental justice, progressive city planning, and equitable transportation policies. My vision for Culver City is one that is walkable, bikeable, and accessible to everyone, and I fully support the “15-Minute City” model, which will improve mobility and bring services closer to all of our neighborhoods.
My lived experience is at the heart of my leadership in our community, and a key reason for my decision to run for city council. I was born and raised in South Central LA. My grandparents came to the U.S. via the bracero program to work on farms across the country, while my single mother worked as a sample maker in the fashion district of Downtown LA. Thanks to the sacrifices my family made, I was able to participate in the LAUSD integration services program that required riding the bus to school in Sherman Oaks for an hour each way. This allowed me exposure to what was possible and planted the seeds that made me the equity advocate I am today.
My campaign reflects my dedication to inclusivity, social equity, and commitment to positive and future-oriented change. With my background in city service, grassroots organizing and professional environmental work, I am well-prepared to address the diverse needs of Culver City residents and work toward a more sustainable and just future for all. If elected, I will not only be the first Latina to serve Culver City in this capacity, but I will be a data-informed policy maker and public servant with the vision and passion to ensure that our city becomes a model of thriving and vitality in the region.
Please see my campaign website nancybarba.com for more info about what makes me a great candidate, and for the growing number of endorsements which I am honored to have received.
What do you believe has been your greatest achievement?
I’m grateful to have had some wonderful role models and mentors; this has helped me personally, professionally, as a community leader, and as a candidate. One of the things that I’ve learned is that meaningful progress is built in community. We rise with integrity and grace by uplifting others and it’s so important to pull up those on the proverbial ladder behind us, rather than pulling up that ladder. I’m glad that I haven’t become deeply jaded, even though I have experienced a great deal of adversity and seen far too many people harmed by racism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, ableism, and anti-LGBTQ hate. Instead, I’ve taken the opportunities presented to me to mentor young women of color who are interested in activism and becoming Sierra Club leaders.
As a mentor with Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE), I have connected and coached women, providing resources, professional connections, and opportunities to three women. Additionally, I’ve mentored women through the Community College Mentoring Program, supporting them in overcoming the unique challenges of balancing community college with work and family responsibilities. I have been an active member of the Sierra Club Angeles Chapter Latino Conservation Week committee, recognized as a Latino Business Professionals awardee, and participated in the Latino Community College Mentoring Program, the Latino Leadership Academy, and the Emerging Leaders Program. Through all of these engagements I have been able to mentor and coach women and share access to leadership opportunities.
I have hired and coached dozens of women professionals at the consulting firm where I serve as a director of energy efficiency and decarbonization programs. I am also proud to be mentoring two young women who are volunteering as campaign fellows on my team; one is a UC Berkeley undergraduate focused on environmental policy and justice, and the other is a graduate student at UCLA concentrating on equity and the intersection of urban planning, housing affordability, and civic engagement.
What issues are you running on?
1) Address Housing/Homelessness Effectively: prioritize permanent housing and wraparound services for unhoused residents in Culver City; reverse years of non-investment by building affordable housing; create smoothly functioning and rapid city planning processes for housing development
2) Lead Care-Centered Budgeting for Our City: reverse budget shortfalls by implementing bottom-up financial planning with community-informed priorities; explore additional revenue sources by adding grant writers and a grant coordinator to make us more competitive; expand our unarmed Mobile Crisis Team so that it is in operation 24/7; implement a “Care First, Jail Last” approach for a healthier community and to work towards achieving racial justice
3) Reduce Traffic & Respond to Climate Change: close the Inglewood Oilfield located in Culver City and restore the land; promote transportation equity with a connected network of bus and bike lanes and pedestrian safety improvements on major corridors and citywide; support the Better Overland and Safer Fox Hills projects; collaborate with large employers and CCUSD to improve transit; prepare now to mitigate increased traffic and keep everyone safer during the upcoming 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles when there will be many new visitors and folks passing through our community.
My campaign, Barba for City Council 2024, does not accept contributions from law enforcement, tobacco, fossil fuel, or real estate development companies or organizations.
How do you rate the current council?
Most of the votes taken by the Culver City Council are unanimous. But many of the most significant policy decisions votes reflect clear differences in priorities among the members of the council. I am most often aligned with the leadership provided by our Mayor Yasmine-Imani McMorrin and Councilmember Freddy Puza. The examples that come to mind are about fiscal responsibility and valuing essential workers, equity in the way that our small businesses are treated, or votes that the council has cast about addressing homelessness, tenant protections and affordable housing.
I was in favor of HERO pay for local hospital workers, which the current council majority voted to rescind only an hour or so after it had been passed by the previous council. I was disturbed that the emergency declaration on homelessness in Culver City included the proviso that unhoused residents could be stripped of all but a blanket and pillow if they were trying to shelter in a public area. I strongly supported revamping the business license tax structure since my very first meeting as a member of the Finance Advisory Committee in September 2018, when we heard a report on business tax rates in other cities.
I co-authored the Argument in Favor of Culver City’s 2022 Measure BL along with now Mayor Yasmine-Imani McMorrin and three other community members, who understood that updating the business license tax so that it was fair to smaller businesses was important, and long overdue (this new tax is progressive, so now larger businesses pay proportionately more than small businesses). This tax hadn’t been updated in nearly 60 years!
Supporting this critical revenue effort passed by voters with an approval rate of 60.9%, and proved to be vital to our city’s fiscal health. The FY 2023-2024 Culver City Adopted Budget, stated: “The new rates went into effect for new businesses on April 1, 2023. Existing businesses will pay taxes based on the new rates as part of the 2024 business license renewal process generating a projected additional $8 million in revenue.” And then even more recently, in the Culver City Proposed – Adopted 2024-2025 Budget, the city announced that because of Measure BL, “Projected revenues from fiscal year 2024-2025 are also forecast at $8 million. Three members of the current Culver City Council opposed Measure BL. Mayor McMorrin and Councilmember Puza supported it.
Because I am very concerned about displacement, I also stand with Mayor McMorrin and Councilmember Puza regarding policies that prioritize preventing people from becoming houseless, which include robust tenant protections and building more 100 percent affordable housing with wraparound services. The current majority on the city council has not demonstrated a commitment to renters (who make up almost half of our residents), nor were they willing to direct staff to pursue new funding opportunities to build additional housing like Project Homekey.
Should you win, what will you be focusing on in your first year?
My three priorities for the first year would be the following.
Addressing our housing and homelessness crisis:
- More permanent housing facilities like Project Homekey
- Support extremely, low, very low and low-income housing to address years of non-investment
- Ensure smooth and quick affordable housing development processes
- Provide wrap-around services for unhoused individuals
- Expand funding for unarmed response teams like the Mobile Crisis Team
- Decriminalize homelessness and adjust the budget to focus on community care
Furthering our mobility and transportation goals:
- Build out a robust network of dedicated bus lanes, protected bike lanes, improved pedestrian amenities
- Preserve the “first-last mile” connection to the Culver City E-line Metro station
- Address mobility needs in densely populated areas like Fox Hills
- Seek funding to transform major corridors like Sepulveda/Jefferson with dedicated bus and bike facilities
- Collaborate with School District and large employers to address mobility needs
- Prepare for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games to mitigate traffic and ensure safety
Fostering a care-centered budget:
- Advocate for care-centered budgeting to prioritize community well-being over criminalization
- Address over-policing and racial profiling by reallocating funds from police to unarmed responses
- Implement Care First, Jail Last strategies for health and racial justice
- Expand access to the mobile crisis response team to weekends and evenings
These are divided political times for all sorts of reasons, local, national, and international. What is your overall message to voters?
Voters in Culver City should elect representatives who celebrate and build upon what is good and working well in our city, county, state, and nation. In the U.S., because we don’t have 100% publicly financed campaigns, those with the most money and support from independent political committees (PACs), and those who spout the most negativity sometimes prevail. In order to have a healthy democracy, voters need to look critically at what they see and hear about the candidates and issues they support.
Many candidates know that they need to say certain things to appeal to Culver City’s generally forward-looking electorate. But just because someone says they believe in addressing homelessness, listening to all voices, prioritizing sustainability or use terms like “equity” because they understand it sounds good, doesn’t mean they have actually demonstrated a commitment to doing any of these things.
Actions speak louder than words! Fearmongering, misleading statements, and outright lies in negative mailers and ads are problematic–don’t fall for them! It’s fine to disagree, but it is wrong to make things up about one’s opponents, and sadly, this is all too common during elections now. Look at endorsements thoughtfully, too. Candidates who have no or few endorsements from environmental groups or labor organizations are not likely committed to their issues. Take some time to look at candidate’s websites and to learn who supports or opposes them. Finally, notice which candidates spend their time and resources in a positive way, informing the electorate and explaining what they want to do.
The City Council and Presidential election day is November 5. For all of the appropriate information, including how to register, visit lavote.gov. Visit nancybarba.com for more information about Barba’s campaign.