For those that know Lothian, \u201cnot trying hard enough\u201d would be abnormal.<\/p>\n
Lothian was born in Hammond, Louisiana and lived there for 12 years before moving to New England and then to Southern Californian when she was 20 years old.<\/p>\n
Her father was a physicist for NASA and her mother, a Guatemalan immigrant, was a real estate agent \u2014 a role Lothian would later step into herself, but not right away.<\/p>\n
Before launching her own real estate career, Lothian was a stay-at-home mom who with a degree in journalism who thought she would pursue her passion for writing and newspapers some day. But after a divorce at age 40, she decided to go into real estate where she discovered she had a talent for sales.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my first full year of real estate, I sold 101 houses, so I\u2019ve had a phenomenal career in real estate and I think it\u2019s helped me with a million other things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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Representing business<\/strong><\/p>\n Lothian is now hoping to take those million other things that her business experience helped her with and help La Mesa businesses get some \u201clove\u201d from City Council, which she said has stifled the local economy with too many rules and regulations. In her work as a realtor she said she witnessed how homeowners struggle with doing things like remodels because City Hall doesn\u2019t take a \u201ccustomer-friendly\u201d approach to permits.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s one problem,\u201d she said. \u201cThe other problem is all the businesses and the permits and the licenses and the regulations and the inspections. I think we forget that our businesses is what fund our schools, our fire and our police and our neighborhood parks and our infrastructure. I\u2019m going to be more about what we can do to make it easier for you open your doors and keep your doors open, instead of being constantly an obstacle.\u201d<\/p>\n Regulatory obstacles are especially intrusive right now, she said, because of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cThis COVID has magnified every thing that has been wrong for a long time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n As an example, Lothian described a recent outing walking down La Mesa Boulevard and seeing makeshift patios with seating full of customers \u2014 made possible because regulations stopping restaurants from using sidewalks for seating and rules that don\u2019t permit alcohol sales there have been temporarily revoked during the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, it was like seeing the moment the government says, \u2018Hey let\u2019s loosen up the rules and regulations,\u2019 business is born,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause of COVID, which is an emergency, you\u2019ve had governments saying maybe we shouldn\u2019t be so draconian and let\u2019s lighten up a bit and businesses can breathe and its been a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Lothian said she would like to see the outdoor seating, and other loosened restrictions, remain in place after the emergency is over.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Regulations and riots<\/strong><\/p>\n In addition to seeing burdensome regulations hampering business, Lothian also points to their effect on personal liberties \u2014 and she sees a correlation between recent rules passed by City Council and the protests and riots of May 30. Specifically, she pointed to an ordinance passed unanimously by the council in January of this year to ban smoking in the city.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like the City Council was in search of a problem,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a huge smoking problem in La Mesa.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the ordinance was passed, Lothian said, there weren\u2019t many people smoking cigarettes out in public spaces, except for the occasional worker taking a smoke break out back. But once passed, the ordinance then created a way for police to hassle people for smoking.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, what makes hostility between the community and the police department, is when they hassle people,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you got cops showing up because of an assault or a robbery or vandalism or arson, they are heroes. But when they\u2019re going around harassing people because they\u2019re smoking a cigarette next to a trolley, there\u2019s where your conflict happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Many observers point out that that Black Lives Matter protests in La Mesa on May 30 that devolved into riots were brought to the city\u2019s doorstep because of video showing a La Mesa Police officer pushing and then arresting a Black man at the trolley station. Although charges against the man were later dropped, the police officer said his initial reason for approaching the man was because he was smoking.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to see our police be more about protecting and serving and less about hassling,\u201d Lothian said. \u201cAnd the way for them to become less of a hassler is for them not to have stupid ordinances that they have to enforce. To me, this whole debacle that happened in La Mesa was because of an overreach by the government to create an ordinance about no smoking anywhere in La Mesa.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked what the city should look for in a new police chief following the retirement of Chief Walt Vasquez, Lothian replied, \u201cThe new chief should be looking at what the City Council is going to be like.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Farmers market<\/strong><\/p>\n Lothian also has criticism for the City Council\u2019s handling of the Friday Night Farmers Market. Lothian was on the board of the La Mesa Village Association (LMVA) that spearheaded the effort to bring the market to the Village.<\/p>\n \u201cThe plan was to use farmers market to bring people to the doorsteps of businesses in the Village and to use money raised to promote La Mesa and hold other events,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Although widely popular among residents, the businesses in the Village itself were sharply divided on their support for the move. In deciding its fate, the City Council eventually voted to keep the market in the Village but to take control of it away from the LMVA.<\/p>\n \u201cWe created all these enemies and the one thing we promised to deliver was we were going to be able to spend thousands and thousands promoting Downtown and we lost all of it. It was the worst of all worlds,\u201d Lothian said. \u201cThe locals that could have used those proceeds were robbed.\u201d<\/p>\n As a Council member, she said she would continue to seek a compromise that keeps the market going but is less intrusive to the businesses who have issues with it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Budget woes<\/strong><\/p>\n If she is elected to the City Council in November, Lothian said she will take a conservative approach to the city\u2019s budget, which will be facing steep cuts because of the COVID crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that every person in this country gets hit with budget shortfalls in their lives \u2013 money dries up. And what you do is say, \u2018OK, gotta say goodbye to cable.\u2019 And all the things that are nonessential or luxury have to be back-burners,\u201d she said. \u201cSo if you get right back down to the basics of government, our government is meant to be safety and infrastructure. The focus to me has to be safety, security, infrastructure. And everything outside of that has to be on a priority basis.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information about the Laura Lothian campaign for City Council, visit www.LauraForLaMesa.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Lothian](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/jump-lothian-video-copy.jpg\")
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