The Los Angeles City Council unanimously confirmed Mayor Karen Bass’s three appointees to the harbor commission on Tuesday, May 2.
The new commissioners, who will be seated at the board’s May 11 meeting, are former U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, Michael Muñoz and Lee Williams.
They will replace Commissioners Jaime Lee, Lucia Moreno-Linares and Anthony Pirozzi.
The appointments will also put Bass’s imprint on the five-member Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners, a panel that oversees the management and operation of the mammoth Port of Los Angeles.
Remaining on the board currently are Commissioners Diane Middleton, who is expected to stay, and Ed Renwick.
Commissioners, who are considered volunteers, serve five-year terms.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, 15th District representative Tim McOsker praised the nominations for reflecting a “diverse, expert and talented, local and regional set of appointments.”
McOsker early on made it clear he wanted to see local residents reflected in the mix and, in the end, the panel now has two — Middleton and Williams, both San Pedro residents.
With With Moreno-Linares being replaced, however, Wilmington lost its commission representative.
The three new appointees, meanwhile, appeared at the council meeting and made brief statements.
Muñoz, the research director for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, spoke about his upbringing in an immigrant family in East Los Angeles.
He was born in the U.S., but his older brothers and sisters were born in Mexico before the family came north.
His early years were spent living the Aliso Village housing project, which was demolished in 1999.
Muñoz recalled watching his father work until a disability made that impossible; Muñoz was still in middle school.
“That had a deep impact on my life,” Muñoz said. “It made me want to work for justice, especially for the poor and working class people. Every position in my life was to try to make lives better.”
Muñoz is a community and labor advocate, having served as an organizer for the Teamsters/Warehouse Worker Resource Center at the Port of Los Angeles and previously working as a field coordinator for the National Immigration Law Center.
His work on behalf of truck drivers gave him insight on how the port operates, Muñoz said, and “in how to balance the importance of attaining zero emissions while maintaining good jobs.”
Williams, a Realtor who moved to San Pedro 15 years ago, has worked in real estate, investments and banking since 1988. He owns and operates the Lee Williams Real Estate Group, primarily serving the South Bay. He also has a technology sales background and worked at IBM.
He has become active in the community as well: he has served on the board for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor and was past board chair of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce. He has also worked on homeless issues through the Harbor Area Neighborhood Relief Fund, Harbor Connects and the San Pedro Education Foundation.
“We need to continue the momentum,” Williams said, “for a cleaner environment, better jobs and opportunities for all those in Los Angeles.”
Roybal-Allard, a Boyle Heights native, served in the U.S. House of Representatives for three decades and was the first Mexican American woman elected to Congress.
As a member of the House Appropriations Committee and chairperson of the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, she led the effort to secure $57 million to dredge the Port of Los Angeles’s Main Channel and advocated for numerous port-related security grants.
She also served in the California State Assembly from 1987 to 92, during which she was an advocate for women’s rights and environmental issues.
During her years serving in government, Roybal-Allard said Tuesday, she “gained a tremendous appreciation for how important the Port of Los Angeles is, not only to L.A. and the state, but to the entire country.”
It’s important to enhance the port, she said, and also to “protect the workers of the port and their families so they can enjoy clean air and a good quality of life.”
The Port of Los Angeles is a major economic driver for the city, but it also poses some issues for the neighborhoods that surround it, McOsker said in his remarks about the appointees.
Traffic and air quality are among the biggest issues, the councilmember said, stressing that he wanted local residents to continue serving as part of the commission.
“But I also believe we need a well-rounded commission,” McOsker said, with panelists experienced in labor, the environment and economic issues.
Bass, in a prepared statement, thanked the outgoing commissioners and praised the new appointees for having “deep expertise and a longstanding commitment to the City of Los Angeles.”