“I have a lot to offer, especially with homelessness, which is the most pressing social issue of our generation right now,” former Anaheim City Councilwoman Lorri Galloway, who is running for mayor in the Nov. 8 election, told The Epoch Times
In 1983, Galloway founded The Eli Home—a faith-based organization that shelters abused homeless children and mothers. She and the organization have since helped 43,000 children and families to find shelter and bring life together, she said.
“A group of us decided we were going to volunteer at the Orange County Shelter for Abused Children. … Little did I know that it would become a passion for the rest of my life,” she said.
She said that back then, people were not looking at the root causes when dealing with abused children, and that was what inspired her to start her own organization.
Oftentimes, the agencies would only tell the parents or guardian to stop the violence and return the child to the family without any mandatory counseling or proper guidance, she said.
“There were big holes missing,” she said.
Her experience in the past few decades also translated to her unique understanding of how the city should fix today’s homeless issues, she said.
According to Galloway, over 90 percent of the homeless mothers who seek shelter in their program have addiction problems, and children are the main victims of this situation.
“We have a whole generation of children who are raising themselves because their parents are not able to,” she said.
Rather than just shelter, what people need is a safe environment for drug detoxing, and a place to keep their children safe while they go through the detox, especially for mothers, she said.
“If politicians are going to do something about it, it has to be a complete shift,” she said.
Galloway said that she would be the best candidate to deal with the homeless issues in the city because she has hands-on experience with the issue.
“I have decades of experience knowing about it. Who better than somebody like me to take that issue and talk about it from a seat so that I can do something about it?” she said.
Anaheim has the highest homeless population in Orange County with over 1,000 living predominately in the city, according to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, a component of the U.S. Department of Justice.
Also in the running for mayor are businesswoman Ashleigh Aitken, water systems operator Dick Lopez, and Anaheim Mayor Pro Tem Trevor O'Neil.
O’Neil assumed duties as acting mayor after former Mayor Harry Sidhu resigned in May following the emergence of an FBI affidavit that alleged Sidhu was involved in corruption related to the sale of the Angel Stadium.
“That was a bad deal. Absolutely. It was a bad deal for the people of Anaheim,” Galloway said of the Angel Stadium deal.
She also said that it is important to get professional people to negotiate with national sports teams and it should not be directly done by anyone on the city council.
“There needs to be a fair, open, and transparent appraisal of that property. And it needs to be known by everybody,” she said.
Galloway grew up in Monterey County and moved to Anaheim at 17 with her husband, who has also been her friend since fourth grade.
She had served on Anaheim’s city council from 2004 to 2012 and served as Mayor Pro Tem during her last year in office.
She said that one of her biggest achievements during those years was helping create the Anaheim Family Justice Center, which is now called the Orange County Family Justice Center.
The agency is a one-stop service where victims of domestic crime can get access to various agencies like family courts, counselors, police, social services, and judges all under one roof.
“It streamlines [the process] and you have less of a problem with people falling through the cracks,” she said.
During her time in office, she also helped write the Anaheim Affordable Housing Strategic Plan, which resulted in adding about 2,000 affordable housing units in the city.
Galloway said she believes that Anaheim needs someone who understands how the city works, including managing a $2 billion budget, 3,000 employees, and which has over 25 million annual visitors.
“I knew that there was nobody better than me, in this place, space, and time for what is going on,” she said. “I have more experience than any candidate; and I will hit the ground running, doing things that I know how to do,” she said.
