Spencer Pratt fires up the grill and his campaign in South LA

Spencer Pratt traded campaign speeches for barbecue smoke Wednesday, setting up in South Los Angeles as the mayoral hopeful made another food-fueled campaign stop centered on neighborhood concerns and conversation.

Roughly 100 people rotated through the event at any given time, a mix of local residents and supporters who drove across Los Angeles to see the former reality television personality turned mayoral candidate.

Guests were served pulled pork, street corn and barbecue baked beans before cooling off with ice cream from the Goodies Truck.

Rather than taking questions from media, Pratt spent much of his time moving through the crowd and listening as residents raised concerns about homelessness, public safety, cleanliness and frustration with City Hall.

Among those attending was Juan Naula, known across Los Angeles as the “Clean With Me” social media creator, who documents volunteer cleanups throughout the city.

Naula said he moved to California from Virginia about 16 months ago and was stunned by conditions he encountered.

“I was driving all around the city and saw so much trash,” Naula said. “When you live outside California, you don’t hear these things.”

Five weeks after arriving, Naula said he started organizing cleanups himself. Naula said meetings with city officials initially left him optimistic.

“They told me they were going to help and support me,” he said. “Then they disappeared. We’ve sent 40 or 50 emails.”

The event also drew Jonathan and Victoria Parker, founders of Starts With One Today, a nonprofit operating in South Los Angeles and Skid Row.

The organization began in December 2020 during the pandemic and now serves between 300 and 500 people during weekly Sunday outreach events while also operating one of the largest animal rescue programs in Skid Row.

Their work, she said, grew out of personal experience.

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“My dad spent most of his life on Skid Row,” Victoria said. “He had housing, he had harm reduction programs, and he still overdosed.”

That experience shaped her view of the city’s homelessness crisis.

“People think homelessness is just housing,” Parker said. “It’s not just housing. You’ve got to have treatment, programs and life skills.”

Parker said despite years of outreach work, Starts With One Today has never received city grants or financial support.

“Everyone thinks we’re government funded because they see all the work we do,” Parker said. “We’re not.”

Sara Barahman, who runs the Instagram account Persians4Pratt, traveled to the event to show support for Pratt’s campaign. Barahman said concerns over public safety and the direction of Los Angeles were among the reasons she became involved.

“We’re supporting Spencer Pratt because he’s the only sane choice,” Barahman said. “He’s our last choice to save Los Angeles.”

Barahman said she believes frustration with city leadership has become a driving force among some Pratt supporters, particularly around homelessness and quality-of-life issues.

“People are tired of hearing promises,” she said. “People want to actually see things change.”

Others attending Wednesday’s event included residents who said they had followed Pratt online before deciding to see him in person.

The event itself was hosted at one of approximately 70 properties owned by Adrian Mallard, who said his children attended school with Pratt and that he also lost his home in the Palisades fire.

“He’s a real person who cares about this city and I know he’ll bring change,”

The mayoral race now enters its final stretch before the June 2 primary election.