Good morning everybody, how are you doing today? It is a pleasure to be here.

So many people ask why I'm doing this, and sometimes when I see the problems that we have. I kind of ask myself that same question, why are we doing this?

I'm a patriot. My whole family has been fighters.

And I moved to this state in 1973, driving a 63 VW bug and everything I owned in the backseat of the car. And I remember coming to the sign in California when I finally made it to California:

"Welcome to California, the Golden State."

I have watched our state for last 48 years go downhill.

I've watched 18,000 companies leave California, the middle class leaving California.

I've seen so many things over the years that I decided, you know what, I want to be an example to people right now that if you don't like what's going on, not only in the state but around the nation, stand up.

We have to break the cycle of what I call that political club that runs our state and  runs our nation.

We for the first time have more private citizens running for offices than we've ever had before, and that's what we need to do.

Because we don't fight now and tear the roots out of socialism in Sacramento this state will no longer be golden.

This tour that I'm doing today is actually the first stop.

And so I'm going to spend the next month going all around the state. I'm here today, tonight I'm in Orange County, tomorrow I'm at the border and then I work my way north, going around the state talking to people about the issues.

Today's issue, homelessness. This is kind of the epicenter of the homeless, what I call homeless industry in California. And it is an industry.

Gavin Newsom, who actually has never been to here in Venice in talking to some of the residents, he's never even been here. What does he do? He just throws money at things, and then kind of washes his hands of it.

We can't have that. We need boots on the ground, we need people that really want to make a difference. We can't just throw money at it. And when he throws money at it, he throws it at special interest groups, the nonprofit world.

If you look at the numbers of a nonprofit group—because they have to show their numbers—they may get $40 million. You see where that goes. 90% of it goes to the nonprofit to run the organization, and maybe 10% actually goes to helping the homelessness. What does the special interest do? They kick some money back to Gavin, so he can stay reelected. It is just a machine, and that has to stop.

Today we'll here about this homeless issue.

Venice—since I've lived in Malibu for the last 45 years, I used to come to Venice all the time. What a great community. It's the number two tourist destination behind Disneyland.

And it has gone so bad with the homeless issue that you don't even want to walk down the street and nobody wants to come here. This has to change.

We have to make a difference here.

We have to have somebody in office that is actually going to be boots on the ground and we have to solve this issue because it's a very, very complicated issue.

This issue you have kind of what the new homeless might be, you have veterans, you have the mentally ill, you have drug addiction. We have so many issues to try to solve this problem and it's not going to be easy. I have to commend our Sheriff's Department for their commitment here in Venice with their HOST program [Homeless Outreach Services Team].

You know I talk about the millions of dollars that Gavin Newsom is spending with the special interest groups, and what I want is the California taxpayer to get a good return on their investment.

And when they spend billions of dollars on an investment that just keeps getting worse—because the homeless issue has continued to get worse, until just recently they're trying to make some headway. But, Alex Villanueva and the sheriff's department in their HOST program with Jeff Dietrich, when you talk about bang for your buck on a tax dollar. He has put one sergeant, one lieutenant and four deputies down here on the streets of Venice to try to clean it up. They've been doing a great job and they're doing in a compassionate way. They have not arrested anybody; they're trying to do what's right with their boots on the ground because probably the first contact that a homeless person is going to have is with law enforcement.

We have to reclaim our public space. We have to regulate our public space, and those laws have to be followed. It's the only way we're going to get there.

Now this [inaud.] on the homeless down here in Venice has been going on for a while. There has been citizens that I've seen have stood up and done a wonderful job. I would like to invite some of them up right now, just to take a minute to explain what they're doing and how they feel. I'd like to start with Soledad, and then we'll get to the other ones, and then I'll come back for questions.


SOLEDAD URSUA:  Thank you so much. My name is Soledad Ursua. I'm on the Venice Neighborhood Council. I live around the block. I'm an everyday citizen and I'm just thoroughly disgusted by our elected officials. They have all abdicated their responsibilities and failed us. Our mayor, has anybody seen the mayor? You know he's leaving for India, he's left us. Our council members or supervisors; they are the ones that really put us in a situation. And I'm really thankful that someone's listening, I can't believe that you're here. You know most of our elected officials just ignore us. So I feel optimistic. I'm glad that you guys are all here to to listen to us, and to just walk around with us, to live a day in our shoes and what we go through. And I'd like to introduce Chie Lunn, she is also on the public health and safety committee with me and she's a mom...


CHIE LUNN:  Hi, my name is Chie Lunn. I moved to Venice two years ago with my family so my children could have diversity. I lived in Santa Monica, which is only one mile away. But when I came to Venice, I felt like they would be able to see black home owners for generations here, Latino home owners, and that was a beautiful thing. As I also saw the encampments start to grow, I saw that these areas where our diverse community were able to take place and utilize, they were being inundated by people who are here lawlessly.

And so I'm here fighting for our seniors, for our children. I appreciate all of you guys here, I appreciate Caitlyn bringing attention to this, because we need to fight for our kids. There's no reason that our children should have RVs next to their schools, next to their parks blowing up, exploding. And for no one to think that that should not happen, I don't understand.

So I'm just here to fight for our kids and fight for our seniors to have a safe area, safe neighborhoods and for laws to be enforced. I think the only way for that to happen is for laws to be enforced all over. It can't be these pockets of cleaning up because what's happening is that, then encampments grow in other neighborhoods.

I have friends on Electric Way which is a residential street right off of Venice, they have kids who can't come out of their home. I have friends who are on Flower with four year-old kids, babies basically, who can't go out in their front yard and play because of the encampments and the fires that are on the sidewalks.

So while today we're visiting larger areas where businesses are blended in, I strongly suggest that you all go to certain little streets like Flower right here in Venice, to Electric Way where these are homes that are living like my house was within a couple of feet, basically from here to where you all are [the cameras] to encampments. And that's not okay; it's not okay for kids to live this way. My seven year old, she still won't sleep in her own bed. She's completely in fear of all the RVs that were exploding. We had three RVs blow up on our street; we had multiple tree fires in front of us. I live where there's a golf course, you know, and where this should never happen.

So anyone that comes here to bring attention and to let our constituents know that they support us having a clean area to live and raise our children, but also getting drug rehab and housing for the homeless. I'm supportive of that. Thank you.

And I'm also going to bring up Patrick, who's a business owner on the boardwalk.


PATRICK LIBERTY:  Hello, my name is Patrick liberty. I have a T shirt store on the Venice Boardwalk; I've been there for 35 years. I also reside in an apartment building on Ocean Front walk.

And we have had encampments in front of our building wall-to-wall tents for over a year and a half. And I had a total open shot at the encampments directly in front of my shop, basically from about twice as far as from here to where the cameras are.

And I've gotten to know these folks intimately and I think what the problem is is that those who are in charge of dealing with these people don't know who they are; they have no experience or contact with these folks, but I have. And I'll tell you one thing, you look at these tents, the tents we just walked by. A person who was sane and not mentally ill would not be able to sleep in there at night. Nobody here could sleep in one of those tents at night. You would do everything you possibly had to do not to have to sleep in a tent like that.

So for starters, you've got people's minds they're not quite firing on all cylinders. That's okay. That's I'm fine with that, that's as long as they're nice about it.

Secondly, the problem that no one wants to talk about the crazy aunt down in the basement, is the fact that one out of one of these folks is on drugs: methamphetamine, cocaine, crack, heroin, or the lighter weight ones are doing booze. But every single one of them is medicating their condition that they're having to live in this kind of squalor and depression, and trying to you know make a better way for themselves through drugs.

So those are two things that no one addresses. First, that the people are not right their minds. Second, the fact that they're using drugs. They need help.

You have not one homeless problem in Los Angeles, you have 60,000 homeless problems, and each one is a human being, and human beings are complicated. Human beings, it's not a one size fits all solution.

If I was running the rehab for the, for the safe encampments, I would have camps of 30 people. It's hard to stay on top of 30 people, it's hard for one person to mentor 30 people, and keep everybody in line, keep everybody thinking straight. Making sure nobody's making stupid stuff. I would have 30 people in a camp. You would have to have 2,000 camps, just to do the Los Angeles County. Not to mention, San Francisco, not to mention Portland, Oregon, not to mention Boston, Massachusetts.

This is a huge problem, people. Nobody, everybody's just kind of sweeping it under the rug. It's going to come back and bite us in the ass. You're going to see the fabric of society come apart at the seams, man. You're gonna see lawlessness, you're gonna see anarchy, you're gonna see things you never saw before. We've got to have a place for these folks, and we've got to have people that take care of them who understand them. And I feel that that's what severely lacking. They don't know who they're dealing with, they don't know how to deal with them.


CAITLYN JENNER:  As you can tell we need serious people for serious issues. Right now with Gavin Newsom not even coming down here, just throwing money down here is not the solution.

I am, I'm a results based person. I live for results. I mean, in my younger days I lived and died by the stopwatch. If I wasn't doing the right training and that the races weren't getting faster, I changed what I was doing because I need results.

Right now with the homeless issue, it's all about money and special interest but it's not about results. We need to give these people who are very knowledgeable and living into it, the resources that we need here in Venice and throughout the city and throughout this state, the right tools, the understanding. These are Americans. These are citizens. These are people in need. We need to help them in a compassionate way.

And we need to solve this issue. It is not going to be easy, but we need to solve this issue. And this has to be, the homeless issue has to be a priority. For Sacramento, for local organizations here, it has to be a priority, and right now is not.


QUESTION:  Caitlyn you just returned from Australia in the middle of the campaign. A lot of people have said that this was a vanity campaign. Can you reassure California voters that you haven't pursued any money making ventures related to this campaign—reality shows, books, etc..

CAITLYN JENNER:  I've never worked so hard for nothing in my life.

Yeah, it's— No I had a prior commitment in Australia that was before this campaign even started. And unlike most politicians actually honor my contracts.

Yes, and I do have a job. I think every candidate that is running on this recall has a job. You know Larry Elder's still on the radio. He's out there campaigning every, you know, every day.

And so yeah, I went down there; I stayed in touch with my campaign people. There was only one week where I was kind of out of touch because I was actually filming the show, and made sure I came back with five weeks to go.

Ballots go out, on I think its the 16th, you should receive your ballots. On the 4th of September, in person voting starts all the way up to the 14th of this month.

That's why I started this campaign right now, my first stop right here. As I said earlier this afternoon I'm in Orange County, tomorrow I'm at the border and I go on and on and on all the way up to the fires up in Northern California.

So I'm gonna be touring the state, very excited about it. I think it's really the fun part, not only meeting the media and getting your message out, but also meeting some of the great people that are fighting these great fights, right here in Venice when it comes to the homeless issue. So I'm very happy to see where my campaign is.

QUESTION:  Have you made any other deals?  Have you made any other deals?

QUESTION:  On the issue of vaccines mandates is there...

CAITLYN JENNER:  We're not talking about vaccines. We already talked earlier about vaccine mandates. Right today this press conference is about the homeless situation and I wish— that's the most important thing happening right now here in this city and that's why I'm here today.  So I'd like to keep the questions...

UNIDENTIFIED:  ...the homeless is pandemic.

CAITLYN JENNER:  Great point. The homeless is a pandemic; boy it certainly is.  And so let's try to keep it centered on what we're trying to do here. Yeah.

QUESTION:  LA City Council have recently passed an ordinance saying that homelessness would be, in public areas, would not be allowed within a certain number of feet of public areas. Would you agree that California should adopt such a measure, or would you think it should go farther?

CHIE LUNN:  Everyone should read part D of it, the lower part of it; isn't it D, Soledad. Where it basically unless everyone goes back to Joe Busciano's—Soledad is better at pronouncing names—but Joe Busciano original write up for it is the best way to go with it. And so when they voted well when Mike Bonin and [inaud.] voted against it, and they revised it, the new way actually does a disservice to places like Venice.  So right now..

SOLEDAD URSUA: And these were already laws that were in place. What happened is that the LA City Council is misusing CDC guidelines which say you should not break up an encampment, so that people can shelter in place. That's not happening. If you look at the boardwalk, no one is sheltering in place. So they are intentionally misusing CDC guidelines, and this is what has resulted. So these laws were already on the books.

We're in a state now we're we're begging to return to normal. And until you know the LA City Council determines that COVID is over, this is what we're stuck with.

CHIE LUNN:  And that normal is no fires on our sidewalks, no obstructions of sidewalks, tents down during the day no RVs near schools and public parks. So these are not extreme things. These are just basic laws that everyone should have in their city.

CAITLYIN JENNER:  We need to, we need to.  There are so many laws on the books in the state of California. And Gavin Newsom and Sacramento just kind of decides on what law they want to enforce and what laws they don't want to enforce.

We need to take back our public spaces. We need to regulate our public spaces. We need to enforce the laws in our public spaces. And that's extremely important. That's up to the Sheriff's Department, the local police forces. They have to enforce the laws that are out there, instead of just ignoring them, and that will help start to clean this mess up.

One thing I want to say, is in my candidacy, I'm an outsider. I come into this. I'm learning this, but I'm bringing a lot of political capital to this race. But I want to be an inspiration to people to stand up, to make a difference, to be in their communities, to run for city council, run for mayor, board of education. You see what's happening especially on YouTube with board of education meetings, it's unbelievable, its citizens standing up. I want to be part of that movement.

And I just want to congratulate all three here, who have been working on this issue, because they live here, and they work here. Aand they're standing up and doing an absolutely great job. And we need to support them and support the ideas that they have.

So, for me, it has been actually a great time being here. I appreciate it. You learn a lot every time you go through this, and we have to save California. That's all there is to it.

Yeah.

QUESTION:  Caitlyn, it's a multi layer problem as you pointed out. And recently the governor's announced he's going putting more money into developing state mental health care and addiction treatment. But he's basing that on...a one time windfall, a bonus for the state. How tough is it going to be to get the legislature to start to focus on things and  in the long term that we will again have dedicated mental health treatment in the state of California—first time in 70 years—and addiction treatment. Are those the first two things or is it a question of shelters themselves?

CAITLYN JENNER:  In the homeless situation, yes, drug addiction, mental illness, the biggest issue with so many people that are on the street.

You say what can you do? How do you, how can you do that with the legislature up there?

I look at it this way.

When I entered this race, three months, four months ago, \when I entered this race it made it a national campaign. Okay. I have gotten donations, small dollar donations from every state in the union. And it became a national campaign. What does that mean? Going to Sacramento that gives you political power.

Politics is all about power and money. I go there with a lot of equity, because I have the power to expose people. Making changes is going to be difficult, but, exposing them, and what's going on up there— The education that I have gotten over the last three or four months, what a scam this whole state is. It's run by public unions, it's run by kickbacks. Everybody's kicking everybody back to keep stay in power. It's run by a bunch of people that are not business people, they're not business oriented; they're politicians.

Gavin Newsom, a politician. You know Nancy Pelosi is in the family. You know, I talked to one CEO of a company whose company left, and he says he used to go to a restaurant in San Francisco years ago and Gavin Newsom was the maitre d at the restaurant.

They're political politicians. We need citizens to stand up, and I want to be that example to people to stand up and get in there and fight. And that's what we have to do and I commend the people behind me for doing that. They've been working on this issue for a long time. So I go to Sacramento with a lot of political power, the ability to expose people and expose what's going on, to tell without the people of California what's going on, and that will create more change.

QUESTION:  Caitlyn, on your visit here or past visits, have you ever spoken to anybody who is homeless?

CAITLYN JENNER:  I'm sorry, what now.

QUESTION:  Have you ever spoken to anybody who is homeless, heard their story, and what if the housing doesn't exist? What do you plan to do?  Two questions.

CAITLYN JENNER:  Two questions. Have I spoke to anybody? I certainly have.

[Patrick to begin with]. Yes yeah there we go, right there, Patrick.

PATRICK LIBERTY:  I was homeless for 10 years. 

CAITLYN JENNER:  Were you really?

PATRICK LIBERTY:  On the street with the clothes on my back.

CAITLYN JENNER:  I have talked to homeless people, I see what the issues are. Every issue is a different story. That's why I totally support the sheriff's department and what they're doing here, because they're doing it on an individual basis, they're looking at every story. Every story is different. There's not a one size fits all here.

I am in favor of, obviously we need to have facilities to be able to do this, if you have a drug problem, I'm in favor of mandatory drug sentences, of mandatory rehabilitation.

We cannot continue this cycle of just letting them go, and they go on to the next drug dealer, and we have the exact same problem again. I am all for mandatory rehabilitation.

And the second part of the question.

QUESTION:  If the housing doesn't exist?

CAITLYN JENNER:  Housing.  Gavin Newsom, his homeless crisis bill had like 30, I think it was 30, there was four things in there, it was like $3.2 billion to build housing, 43,000 units in the next, you know, year or two. That's never going to happen. Okay. Just CEQA, California Environmental Quality Act, it's going to shut that thing down so you can't build in California. We're down over three million units here in California. And we, we need housing.

But if I got a billion dollars, do you know how many RVs I could buy for a billion dollars? We could house half of Los Angeles.

QUESTION:  An RV isn't permanent housing.

CAITLYN:  We said housing. Of course it isn't. Anybody who's in the homeless situation, our job is to get them out of homeless. I don't want them in those RVs for the rest of their life, okay. I want them to get what they need. And I was thinking the other day, too, about these units. Let's say we go out and we build something. You can put containers together; you can fix up the inside of the container for a fraction of the cost. Let's have the people—I guarantee you there's a lot of people that are out here on the street right now that have the capability and want a job—why not give them the jobs of helping build these camps,working mentor programs, so they can learn a construction job, so they can go out and get other jobs out of the way. I mean, there's, you have to have creative thinking in these things. There's not a one size fits all. But we have to do something about it. Have to do something about it.

I'm moving on to Orange County.