David Lozano

What is your connection to the San Gabriel Valley?

I was born here and grew up in Alhambra. My father is from Mexico City, and my mother is from Indiana and met in Los Angeles. I grew up on Cordova street, and my mother still lives there.

I was a paperboy for the Alhambra Post Advocate for five years.
 

Did you have to go collect for the newspaper?

I sure did. Every Saturday, I had to go door to door to collect and hopefully get a tip. I actually won a trip to Catalina Island because I won the contest for the most new subscribers.
 

Where does your journey go from there?

After being a paperboy, I had several jobs in the San Gabriel Valley area. I worked for Sir George’s as a busboy before they tore it down. Then I worked at Arby’s and then became a box boy at Alpha Beta, and my son is following in his father’s footsteps and is a box boy now, too.

After being a box boy, I was a grocery clerk, unloaded the trucks, and was in Union 770. I did everything there.

I put myself through Cal State LA and joined the fraternity there. I know fraternities have a bad rep right now, but the media has given a horrible impression about sororities and fraternities.

They have a beautiful side to them. They do a lot of community service and have many historical traditions that many people don’t know about. There is a party side to fraternities, but there is a lot of tradition and history.

One of our requirements, when you pledge the fraternity, is to contact two alums and talk to them about the fraternity, and then they’ll sign off on your pledge badge.

I was interested in politics and contacted the number one pin for our fraternity, Mike Antonovich, who was the LA County Supervisor.

We spoke for hours. He told me about the Republican Party and wanted to know what my career goal was, which was to be a police officer, and he said to me that you couldn’t be a police officer until you’re 21, but you could be a reserve police officer at 18. Mike was a reserve police officer for Glendale.

Mike told me that one of our fraternity brothers was a reserve police officer for Monterey Park PD and told me to go check it out. I did, and that’s how I became a reserve police officer for Monterey Park.

Because I became a reserve police officer, which made my entry into the LA County Sheriff’s Department much easier, and I had more credibility because I had been a reserve officer.

I became president of the fraternity, which was great to be elected by my fellow brothers. I was also elected to the student council for Cal State LA and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.

After graduation, I became an LA County Deputy Sheriff and worked in the jails for a few years. After that, I worked in South Central LA with the special crime units.

After this, I wanted to work all over the world. I wanted something different. I wanted something more, which led me to bring this to the show.
 

What did you bring with you?

I brought a pushcart. As an LA County Sheriff, you’re surrounded by a bunch of guys, and we were all adventurous.

We went skydiving, mountain climbing, and rappelled. One of the things I did was scuba diving. I became a Scuba Diver Instructor, which was an intensive process. We spent three months from dawn until dusk changing air tanks and going in the water. We practiced underwater diving, rescue diving, and night dives.

I ended up becoming dear friends with John, who was taking the Scuba Instructor’s class with me.

He ended up becoming a CIA Agent, and I became a Secret Service Agent. We both became lawyers and ended up becoming Law Partners.
 

You were a Secret Service Agent?

I applied for the Secret Service when I returned from my international job. I worked in Egypt, Turkey, Australia, and Greece.
 

Have you gone diving lately?

I haven’t because I’ve been on the campaign trail. My biggest platform has been homelessness, mental illness, and affordable housing. I’ve been so involved with these that I have had to put diving on the back burner.

The last time I got to dive was with my sons in Belize, and we dove the Blue Hole. The one in Belize is the most famous because it is so big.

The most dangerous Blue Hole Dahab in Sinai in Egypt. I dove that in 1986. The only way to get to that dive back then is by a 7-hour camel ride.

CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR PLATFORM?

There are many things going on in California now, but homelessness is at the top of the list. My solution for homelessness is called New Hope, and with this solution, I can eliminate homelessness in California in two years or less. The solution is derived from Finland, where they have a program called Housing First that almost eliminated homelessness.

I took the best parts from their program and reformatted it because Finland is a socialist country, so we had to change the program for it to work here. Our country actually tried it in 2016, and it didn’t work.

I reworked it specifically for California. My plan if I am elected governor is to create three residential cities: one in Northern, one in Central, and one in Southern California. In these areas, we’ll be able to house, care for, and rehabilitate 50,000 homeless people in each city. Then, we will plan on helping them come back into society.

Another key point is that we’ll have an area for those who don’t want to come back into society.
 

Would these be new cities?

Yes. There would be three major locations that would be self-sustaining cities. But their focus would always be to keep an eye on the homeless.
 

Where can people find out more about this plan?

They can find it on my website at lozanoforcalifornia.com.
 

How can people get a hold of you?

You can reach me at my website at lozanoforcalifornia.com.