About Linda
Name:
Linda Piera-Avila
Occupation:
Home Health Physical Therapist
Degrees:
B.S. in Medical Technology from California Lutheran University, 1978
Graduate of Saint John’s School of Medical Technology, 1979
Graduate of Massage School of Santa Monica, 1990
B.S. in Physical Therapy from Cal State Long Beach, 1998
Memberships:
Santa Monica YWCA
Santa Monica Greens
Los Angeles Greens
St. Anne’s Church and Shrine
Treesavers
South Central Farmers Support Committee
Pico Neighborhood Association
Contact
Endorsements
Treesavers
Santa Monica Greens
Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution (C.R.A.A.P.)
Michael Feinstein, Santa Monica City Councilmember (1996-2004)
Oscar de la Torre, president of the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District Board of Education (for i.d. purposes only)
Maria Loya, Pico Neighborhood Assn. board member (for identification purposes only)
Kelly Hayes-Raitt, former commissioner, SM Commission on the Status of Women (for id purposes only)
Los Angeles Greens
South Central Farm Action Fund
Bio
Linda Piera-Avila has been a Santa Monica resident for the past 28 years. She lives in the north side of the Pico Neighborhood of Santa Monica. Linda is lucky to also work in Santa Monica, serving seniors as a home health physical therapist.
For 3 decades, Linda has been a passionate environmental, social justice, electoral reform and peace activist.
She participated in the movement to protect California’s old growth redwood forests, collecting signatures and lobbying in Sacramento, joining with activists such as Julia Butterfly Hill; worked to save the Ballona Wetlands, and supported protecting sacred sites and resisting the relocation of native people at Big Mountain.
Linda also strongly supports workers’ rights to a living wage and fair working conditions. She joined the picket line in front of Vons on Lincoln Blvd. in solidarity with the striking grocery store workers. She has repeatedly participated in actions to support hotel workers near LAX. This is a personal issue for Linda as her grandfather was a cook at the Miramar here in Santa Monica many years ago.
In recent years, Linda joined the fight to save the South Central Farm, a community garden that the City of Los Angeles set aside for such purpose on an undeveloped parcel of land in the poorest part of urban Los Angeles. The Farm, sold out from under the Farmers by the city to a Brentwood developer, was eventually razed, but has still not been developed. Efforts continue to reclaim the Farm. That experience taught Linda about the power of community building, which she will bring to her service on the Santa Monica City Council.
Linda has spoken before the Santa Monica City Council about issues that matter to her, like “clean money,” also known as public financing of campaigns; ranked choice voting, where voters rank their choice of candidate, thus facilitating more representative elections, and resisting the adjacent mega development known as Playa Vista and speaking out for indigenous peoples’ rights.
As a renter, and a longtime member of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, Linda understands the needs of tenants and will continue to protect rent control.
She also is concerned about youth violence in our city and supports community-based youth intervention programs with grants from the Community Development Grants Fund.
Linda has worked on or supported numerous campaigns over the years, including the Forests Forever initiative in 1990, Mike Feinstein’s City Council campaigns in 1996, 2000 and 2004, Ralph Nader’s 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns, the Campaign for Old Growth from 2002 to 2004, and Kelly Hayes-Raitt’s run for Assembly in 2006.
Linda has been an active member of the Green Party since she registered Green in 1990. Linda serves as a member of the Green Party of Los Angeles County Council and also as a national delegate from California to the Green Party of the United States. She supports the Green Party nominee for President, Cynthia McKinney.
Linda is married to Tony Avila, a retired pediatric nurse. They enjoy the company of their cat Tenaya.
Some organizations Linda has been involved with over the years:
Green Party of Los Angeles County Council (Elected Member, 2008-current)
Santa Monica Greens, Westside Greens and Los Angeles Greens
Campaign For Old Growth
West Bluffs Conservancy
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
Green Party of California
Green National Committee, GP-US, (2007-current; Delegate to Green Party National Convention)
Big Mountain Support Group
Save Puvungna Coalition (sacred site on the campus of Cal State Long Beach)
Program director, WODOC, an environmental education organization in the Santa Monica Mountains
Linda with husband Tony and stepson Louis
Historic Fig tree at the Fairmont Miramar
Paid for by Friends of Linda Piera-Avila for City Council