Former Los Angeles Times journalist and longtime resident of Santa Monica, Janet McLaughlin, has announced her intention to run for a seat on City Council.

“I’ve been a lifelong journalist, including helping start the iconic KTLA Morning News and as such I’ve been the eyes and ears of the city for my entire professional life. I’ve been able to provide a platform for anyone who wants to speak, for the victims of crime or for anyone who needs to reach out and feel helped,” McLaughlin said, adding, “And that’s what I will do on Santa Monica City Council. I will be the voice of those who feel they have not been heard.”

Growing up in Central California, McLaughlin fell in love with Santa Monica from a young age. “The first time I laid eyes on Santa Monica Beach, at least my earliest memory, was pure joy. The feel of the sand, the warm sun and breeze against my face, the sound of the seagulls and the waves, it was all magic to me. And it felt like home,” she says.

McLaughlin says that she had two goals growing up, one was to work for the Los Angeles Times and the other was to move to Santa Monica as soon as was humanly possible. “I accomplished both soon after high school,” she said, adding, “Then enrolled at USC where I graduated with a journalism degree.” Her reporting has taken her to Turkey to report on the genocide of the Kurds and all over Mexico to report on the drug cartels.

“During that period of my career, when I was younger and taking some very serious risks, dreaming of making Santa Monica my home was what kept me going. It was my North Star, so to speak,” she said.

“Now is my time to make things better in a political role. There are some candidates who mention crime as an afterthought, but this has been my life for the last several years. I want to give back to my cherished city, a city which has given me so much,” said McLaughlin.

“As JFK famously said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’ and in this case, I will amend ‘country’ to ‘city.’ I know there are several challenges we face right now, but the most pressing is crime. If every time you walk out the door to go to the grocery store, or gas station, or bus stop, or just for a walk, and your head is on constant swivel, it is impossible to focus on anything else.”

McLaughlin worked for KTLA where she helped format the Morning News segment. She also worked with Hal Fishman on the News at 10. “I wrote a weekly show for them on successful minority entrepreneurs, called ‘Making It,’” she says.

She has always lived in the 90405 neighborhood and her three children attended Will Rogers, JAMS, John Muir, St. Monica’s and SMC. McLaughlin also started Santa Monicans Against Crime to document and discuss all the crimes we see and experience. “It has also become a place where victims of crime, all random, can reach out and feel helped and listened to,” she says.

“If every time you go to the grocery store, or gas station, or bus stop, or just for a walk, it’s very hard to focus on anything else. If someone is screaming at you, or threatening you, or chasing you, at that moment nothing else matters. We can’t find solutions to other problems, including things like overdevelopment, until we fix this safety crisis,” McLaughlin said.

“And that includes the people who live in the streets being harmed by both drugs and violent predators. We have to come together as citizens, and elected officials. I have friends on both sides of the fence, and I genuinely like people on both sides of the fence. Because I listen and because I truly care,” she said.

McLaughlin’s campaign website can be found at votejanetforcouncil.com