By William W. Funderburk, Jr.

Guest Columnist

Los Angeles is facing a reckoning — not just with infrastructure, but with memory.

On Oct. 14, I testified before the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Board of Commissioners alongside Rev. Mac Shorty and Aura Vasquez. We weren’t just speaking — we were reclaiming. Public water and public power are not abstractions. They are legacies. And they must be governed with transparency, not secrecy.

We honored the late Cindy Montañez, the former assistant general manager of the DWP whose leadership fused environmental justice with institutional courage. Cindy didn’t just advocate — she architected. Her legacy demands more than ceremony. It demands metrics.

Rev. Mac Shorty, a 57-year-old resident of Watts, testified from the heart. “We are

See Full Page