Mayors Karen Bass, Brandon Johnson, Barbara Lee, Brandon Scott, and Eric Adams are responding to President Donald Trump's suggestion that their cities — L.A., Chicago, Oakland, Baltimore, and New York — may need federal intervention like what he is doing in D.C.
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Mike Egerton/PA Images, Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu, Genaro Molina/LA Times, Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty Images, Peter K. Afriyie/AP
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Topline:
When President Donald Trump announced his plans to mobilize Washington, D.C.'s National Guard and take control of its local police force, he suggested that other liberal-leaning cities could be next. The mayors of those cities responded.
More details: The mayors of those cities — all of whom are Black and Democrats — have pushed back against Trump in recent days, pointing to data that shows crime is down in their communities. "I think it's very notable that each and every one of the cities called out by the president has a Black mayor, and most of those cities are seeing historic lows in violent crime," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN. "The president could learn from us instead of throwing things at us."
Why it matters: Civil rights groups warn that Trump's long-running threats to federalize D.C. could have implications far beyond the nation's capital, even if the administration's playbook varies between states.
Read on... for more on the Mayors' responses to Trump.
When President Donald Trump announced his plans to mobilize Washington, D.C.'s National Guard and take control of its local police force, he suggested other liberal-leaning cities could be next.
"You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is," Trump said Monday. "We have other cities that are very bad. New York has a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don't even mention that anymore, they're so far gone. … We're not going to lose our cities over this, and this will go further."
The mayors of those cities — all of whom are Black and Democrats — have pushed back against Trump in recent days, pointing to data that show crime is down in their communities.
"I think it's very notable that each and every one of the cities called out by the president has a Black mayor, and most of those cities are seeing historic lows in violent crime," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN. "The president could learn from us instead of throwing things at us."
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and New York City Mayor Eric Adams have declared they will not allow federal law enforcement to take over their cities.
"We're not going to allow a military occupation of the city," Lee told ABC7. "This is part of [Trump's] effort to dismantle democracy, to militarize cities where people live which he does not recognize, understand, or see."
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says Trump doesn't have the authority to federalize local law enforcement in the first place.
"He is provoking on sending federal troops, the National Guard, into cities to plunder them, though those entities do not have policing power," Johnson said. "They can't even do the very thing that he claims that he wants them to do."
Legal experts agree. Rick Hills, a professor of law at NYU Law School, told NPR that Trump "cannot repeat what he's doing in any other cities" — but talking about it scores political points for both sides.
"Just as Trump, for public relations reasons, likes to make a big noise about taking over cities, so too, mayors in blue cities like to make a big noise about resisting Trump," Hills says. "Both are vote-getters for their respective constituencies."
White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers told NPR over email that all of the cities Trump mentioned "are considered to be some of the most dangerous cities in America."
"So, instead of criticizing the president's actions to Make DC Safe Again, Democrat-run cities plagued by violent crime should focus on cleaning up their own streets," Rogers wrote. "This is why Democrats continue to be so unpopular among everyday Americans — they think the president of the United States cracking down on crime in our nation's capital is a bad thing."
While most elected officials in D.C. have been publicly critical of Trump's law enforcement takeover of their city, there are some leaders and locals who have embraced it or been more restrained in their criticism.
While D.C. is unique, civil rights groups warn of a broader threat
California National Guard soldiers — deployed by Trump — and police stand outside of a federal building as protesters rallied in Los Angeles in June.
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Trump has a lot more power over D.C. than he does over other cities.
That's because D.C. is a "federally created and controlled city," Hills explains. The 1973 Home Rule Act gave D.C. its limited form of self-governance while retaining certain powers for Congress and the president.
Among them, the president controls D.C.'s National Guard and can use the D.C. police force for "federal purposes" if he determines there are "special conditions of an emergency nature," though he needs authorization from Congress to do so for more than 30 days.
That's not the case anywhere else in the country, Hills says.
"Other cities are the creatures of state law, and there's a longstanding constitutional doctrine of state autonomy that bars the commandeering of state enforcement personnel for federal purposes," he said.
For instance, governors have control over their state guards. But presidents can federalize state guards in an emergency, as Trump did when he deployed the National Guard to respond to immigration protests in Los Angeles in June — a controversial move whose legality is now being tested in federal court.
Civil rights groups warn that Trump's long-running threats to federalize D.C. could have implications far beyond the nation's capital, even if the administration's playbook varies among states.
Maya Wiley, the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement that Trump's actions in D.C. are "another beta test for nationwide authoritarian control."
Monica Hopkins, the executive director of the ACLU of D.C., called it "a threat that should concern everyone across the country."
"Congress and the president target D.C. because they can sort of take a stand here," Hopkins told NPR just before Trump's Monday announcement. "But it really is a testing ground for what they might attempt in any other jurisdiction."
All of the mayors Trump targeted are Black
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at a press conference on Monday, after President Trump announced he would place D.C.'s local police force under federal control and deploy the National Guard.
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As in D.C., the mayors of Baltimore, New York, Oakland, Los Angeles, and Chicago are all Black, which Trump's critics see as no coincidence.
In her statement criticizing Trump's "hostile takeover" in D.C., Wiley accused the administration of "scapegoating Black and Brown people," noting that they make up a large share of the city's population.
Savannah, Ga., Mayor Van R. Johnson II, the president of the African American Mayors Association (AAMA), said in a statement that D.C. and other cities across the country have made progress in public safety, thanks to collaboration between mayors, police, and community members.
"While challenges remain, the portrayal of widespread unrest does not align with the reality on the ground and risks distracting from the real work being done to keep our neighborhoods safe," Johnson said.
Crime is down in the cities Trump mentioned
Military vehicles with the Washington, D.C. National Guard park near D.C.'s Washington Monument on Tuesday, after Trump mobilized the guard and took control of the local police.
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Trump cited "out of control" crime as the basis for his actions in D.C., even though violent crime reached a 30-year-low in 2024 and is down 26% from this time last year, according to data from D.C.'s Metropolitan Police.
"Now, if the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told MSNBC over the weekend. "But it won't be because there's a spike in crime."
The mayors of the other cities on Trump's list say their crime rates have dropped as well.
"When it comes to public safety in Baltimore, [Trump] should turn off the right-wing propaganda and look at the facts," Scott said. "Baltimore is the safest it's been in over 50 years."
In California, Lee said overall crime in Oakland is down 28% from last year, while a Los Angeles Police Department report released in July said the city is on pace for its lowest homicide total in nearly 60 years.
LA Mayor Karen Bass acknowledged that even though statistics show an improvement, it's also true that people may not feel safe all the time. But she added that sending in federal law enforcement is not the way to solve that.
"You do other things to help make them feel safe," she told CNN. "You don't use the military to help people feel better."
Mayors say they would welcome federal help with violence prevention
People rally against the Trump administration's federal takeover of D.C., outside of the AFL-CIO on Monday.
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While mayors are stressing that crime is under control, many of them say there is more the federal government can do to help — just not in the way Trump is suggesting.
In Chicago, where police data show that the crime rate has gone down by 15% compared to 2023, Johnson hailed the city's "historic progress," saying it drove down homicides by more than 30% in two years and reduced shootings by almost 40% in the past year.
At the same time, he said he learned last week that Trump cut $158 million in funding for violence prevention programs in cities including Chicago. He noted how earlier this year the Trump administration dismantled the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and terminated more than $800 million in grants for violence prevention programs across the country.
"If President Trump wants to help make Chicago safer, he can start by releasing the funds for anti-violence programs that have been critical to our work to drive down crime and violence," he wrote.
Adams in New York says what's needed is federal gun control legislation, not National Guard intervention. After telling reporters that homicides and shootings are down, as are "all the major crime categories" in the subway system, he acknowledged the city still is reeling from a shooting at a Midtown Manhattan office building that killed four people.
The shooter was legally able to buy and bring an automatic weapon across the country despite known mental health issues, Adams said, "so there is some assistance we can get from the federal government."
Johnson, the AAMA president, told CNN that mayors across the country want to partner with the federal government to address issues such as human, drug, and gun trafficking, including sharing best practices and funding. But that's not what's happening now, he said.
"This is certainly not a partnership as we would see it, this is something totally different," he added.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published May 2, 2026 5:00 AM
Elephant Hill in El Sereno.
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Topline:
A new trail across the beloved natural area of Elephant Hill in Northeast Los Angeles officially opens this weekend.
Why it matters: The route is years in the making, and it's a big milestone in the decades-long conservation efforts to preserve this local jewel in the community of El Sereno.
What's next: The trail is part of a decades-long effort to preserve the entire 110 acres of Elephant Hill. Read on to learn more.
The route is years in the making, and it's a big milestone in the decades-long conservation efforts to preserve this local jewel in the community of El Sereno.
The hiking trail connects one side of Elephant Hill to the other — from the corner of Pullman Street and Harriman Avenue all the way across to Lathrop Street.
It's 0.75 miles in total, but packs a punch.
"It's a pretty straight shot, but because of the terrain — the trail is kind of twisty and curvy. There's switchbacks — and great views," Elva Yañez, board president of the nonprofitSave Elephant Hill, said.
People have always been able to access the 110-acre green space, but Yañez said the new trail provides a safe and easy way to navigate the steep hillsides.
The El Sereno nonprofit has been working for two decades to preserve the land. Illegal dumping and off-roading have damaged the open space over the years. And the majority of the 110 acres are privately owned by an estimated 200 individual owners.
Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) joined the efforts in 2018, spurred by a $700,000 grant from Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District, in part, to build the trail. The local agency received some $2 million in grants from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to add to the 10 acres of Elephant Hill it manages and conserves. This year, MCRA acquired an additional 12 parcels — or about 2.4 acres.
And the spiffy new footpath — with trail signage, information kiosks and landscape boulders — is not just a long-sought-for victory but a beginning in a sense.
"We know that it means a lot to the community," Sarah Kevorkian, who oversees the trail project for MRCA, said. "We're wrapping up the trail, but it really feels like the beginning of all that is to come."
A hint of that vision already exists — for hikers traversing the new route, courtesy ofTest Plot, the L.A.-based nonprofit that works to revitalize depleted lands.
"They're able to see at the end of the trail, at the 'test plot' — exactly what a restored Elephant Hill would look like," Yañez said.
The former Snapchat buildings on the Venice Boardwalk are now pop-up art spaces, free for all to visit.
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Topline:
A new art installation on the Venice Boardwalk features local and international artists, pop-up evening performances, and projects that explore the themes of childhood and home.
Why it matters: The Venice Boardwalk is usually a daytime playground, but a new art installation and performance pop up aims to breathe new life into the evening scene at the beach.
Why now: Two formerly vacant buildings with spaces facing the Boardwalk have been turned into free art installations after a new owner took over the former Snapchat-owned buildings.
The backstory: Stefan Ashkenazy, founder of the Bombay Beach Biennale, brings some of his favorite collaborators into a new space on the Venice Boardwalk, giving a chance for tourists and locals alike to check out projects from artists including William Attaway, James Ostrer, Greg Haberny, Robin Murez, and more.
Read on ... to find out how you can visit.
The Venice Boardwalk after sunset has generally been a no-go zone for tourists and locals alike, as the beachside bars and restaurants close on the early side and safety is often an issue. Now, a group of artists is out to bring some vibrancy to the creative neighborhood with a series of new installations that will include live evening performances – and even a “Venice Opera House.”
“Let's play with light and let's play with sound and give people a reason to come to the Boardwalk after sundown,” said artist and entrepreneur Stefan Ashkenazy, who is curating the project and owns the buildings housing them. “I mean, let's just be open 24 hours a day.”
The concept doesn’t have an official name yet, but he’s been calling it “See World.”
Artist James Ostrer's space looks out from a bed through the fence to the ocean at Venice Beach.
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William Attaway, a longtime Venice artist, created a gallery space filled with various paintings and sculptures.
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The pair of modern buildings on the Venice Boardwalk at Thornton Ave. – with their big balconies, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, and seven open garage-style retail spaces – have sat mostly empty since Snapchat vacated their beachside offices in 2019. Ashkenazy recently bought the building and recruited artists to fill those front-facing spaces with creative work until a full-time tenant comes in.
Over the past several weeks the installations have been created in real-time, in public.
Venice Boardwalk art pop-ups The installations are open now and can be seen from the Boardwalk for free 24/7. They will be up for several months and evening performances are ongoing.
All of the projects are loosely along the theme of “home,” with each artist claiming a “room” in the two buildings that stretch across a full block on the Boardwalk. Several local Venice artists are featured, including William Attaway, whose intricate mosaic work is recognizable on the Venice public restrooms along the beach. Attaway’s space features a floating larger-than-life-sized statue and various works in a mini-gallery. In the next room is Robin Murez’s pieces, featuring carved wooden seats from her beloved neighborhood Venice Flying Carousel.
Ashkenazy is no stranger to wild (and wildly successful) art ideas. He’s the owner of the Petit Ermitage hotel in West Hollywood, a longtime haven for visiting artists, and the founder of the decade-old Bombay Beach Biennale, where artists install all kinds of work in an annual event near the Salton Sea. Many of the artists from that community are featured at the Venice project.
A "Venice Opera House" will host pop-up music events throughout the summer.
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New York-based artist Greg Haberny's paintings on the wall of his Venice space.
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New York-based artist Greg Haberny and London-based artist James Ostrer have brought some of their work in the Bombay Beach Biennale to the Venice project. Their windows on the Boardwalk both speak to a child-like sense of wonder and creativity.
“I think it's just kind of exploring and playing a little bit, to have the freedom to be able to do that,” Haberny says of his imagined child’s bedroom space, which includes a fort made out of puffy cheese balls. “It's a big space, too. It's beautiful.”
Ostrer is experimenting with a performance art idea where he sits in bed amongst a room full of his own artwork, which he describes as “happy art with an edge.” Looking out at the ocean from the bed, he’s invited passersby to sit and have chats with him about his work or anything else they want to talk about.
“It’s a very intimate space, so you have a different kind of conversation,” he said. “I use art to channel human creativity, and [talk about] dark things.”
While there are open fences that block off the spaces, they aren’t sealed up at night. Both Ashkenazy and the team of artists seemed open to the idea that anything could happen and that the installations are a conversation with the public – and with that comes some risk.
Greg Haberny (right) works with his assistants on an installation featuring kid-inspired graffiti art and a "cheesy puff" fort.
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“I don't really know if I [would] say worried, but I guess it's just the cost of doing business,” Haberny said. “I don't really make things to get damaged or broken, sure. But I have done [things like] burned all my paintings and then made paint out of ash.”
While he’s felt safe – and even slept overnight in the installation – Ostrer has been collaborating with a local female artist who performs in a pig mask in front of his installation some nights. Watching her perform, he said, has taught him about the vulnerability of women in public spaces like the Boardwalk. “I've started to, on a very fractional level, have seen how scary that is. Because I've sat in the bed behind her performing at the front here… the way in which men are approaching her and shrieking at her … it's shocking.”
Ashkenazy says he will keep the artists in the space, potentially rotating new ones in, until a fulltime tenant takes over.
“This is an experiment … and after acquiring the building, the intention wasn't, ‘let's open a bunch of public art spaces,’ he said. “It is kind of …what the building wanted and listening to what the Boardwalk needed. Let's play, let's have the artists that we love and appreciate have a space to play and engage and give the locals and the visitors to the Boardwalk something to experience.”
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Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published May 2, 2026 5:00 AM
Battery storage hubs are used to stabilize the energy grid but have led to lithium battery fires.
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Sandy Huffaker
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Topline:
San Gabriel Valley residents are rallying today against a battery storage project in the City of Industry. They warn it could bring environmental and health impacts and pave the way for more industrial development, like data centers.
The backstory: City leaders approved the 400-megawatt Marici battery facility in January. But residents in nearby communities say they were not adequately informed and are concerned about safety risks.
What's next: Some local activists have challenged the approval of the battery facility under the California Environmental Quality Act.
The rally: Protesters will be at the Peter F. Schabarum Regional Park in Rowland Heights from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
A coalition of residents from across the San Gabriel Valley are mobilizing over a battery storage project and possibly more industrial development in the City of Industry they say could pollute communities next door.
WHAT: Protest against battery storage facility in the city of Industry
WHERE: Peter F. Schabarum Regional Park in neighboring Rowland Heights
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Because of the City of Industry’s unusual, sprawling shape stretching along the 60 Freeway, it borders on more than a dozen communities, meaning what happens there can have far-reaching impact.
“Pollution does not end right at the border,” said Andrew Yip, an organizer with No Data Centers SGV Coalition. “Pollution travels.”
Beyond environmental concerns, locals have also been frustrated with how decisions are made by officials in the City of Industry, a municipality that’s almost entirely zoned for industrial use and has less than 300 residents.
Organizers say they’ve struggled to get direct responses from city officials whom they say have replaced regular meetings with special meetings, which under state law require less advance notice.
A city spokesperson has not responded to requests for comment.
Today’s protest is taking place at Peter F. Schabarum Regional Park in Rowland Heights across the street from the Puente Hills Mall, a largely vacant “dead” mall, which activists fear could be redeveloped into a data center and bring higher utility costs and greater air and noise pollution.
Yip pointed out that industrial developments make a lot of money for the City of Industry.
“But none of these surrounding communities receive any of those benefits,” Yip said. “Yet we have to put up with all the harmful effects and impacts from this city that does all this development without really reaching out.”
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
is an arts and general assignment reporter on LAist's Explore LA team.
Published May 2, 2026 5:00 AM
Steve Campos sits on a bench he calls the "LA Bench" that approriates the logo used by the Dodgers in a statement of civic pride.
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Topline:
LA welder-artist uses the well-loved "L.A." logo to create an “LA Bench” to spark civic pride. It may look like a tribute to the Dodgers, but it's more complicated.
Why it matters: Steve Campos is a second-generation welder born and raised in L.A. who is using his training and education to create work with more artistic designs.
Why now: The Dodgers’ success is making their logos ubiquitous. But the team's success, some Angelenos say, came at the cost of mass displacement after World War II of working class communities where Dodger Stadium how stands.
The backstory: The interlocking letters of the L.A. logo were used by the L.A. Angels minor league baseball team before the Dodgers moved to L.A. in 1958.
What's next: Campos is offering the LA Benches for sale and hopes he can get permission from the Dodgers to install a few at Dodger Stadium.
It’s about the size of a park bench and made of steel and wood. The bench’s arm rests are formed by the letters “L” and “A” in a design that’s unmistakable to any sports fan. But the welder-artist who created it says it’s not a Dodgers bench.
“This is about civic pride, L.A. pride. I made a design statement saying that it has nothing affiliated with the Dodgers,” said Steve Campos.
Campos grew up near Dodger Stadium, raised by parents who were die-hard Dodgers fans. So much, that they named him after Steve Garvey but that legacy doesn’t keep him from confronting how the Dodgers benefitted from the mass displacement of working-class people from Chavez Ravine after World War Two. That’s why he calls it an L.A. Bench, and not a Dodgers Bench.
The logo may be synonymous with the city's beloved baseball team, but the design of the interlocking letters was used by the L.A. Angels minor league baseball team before the Dodgers moved to L.A. in 1958.
“The monogram was here before the Dodgers,” Campos said.
A second-generation welder
Welding is the Campos family business. His father created gates and security bars for windows and doors for L.A. clients. That was the foundation for the work Campos has done for two decades since graduating from Lincoln High School, L.A. Trade Tech College, and enrolling in a summer program at Art Center in Pasadena.
The inspiration for the L.A. Bench came last year while he was playing around in his shop creating versions of the L.A. logo. A friend he hangs with at Echo Park Lake asked Campos to make him a piece of furniture.
“I was trying to figure out what my friend Curly wanted. He liked Dodgers and drinking and getting into fights, so I was like, 'Let me make something with the LA monogram,'” he said.
Welder-artist Steve Campos created whimsical steel sculptures with the LA logo.
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It didn’t design itself. He said he had to lengthen the legs on the “A” and lean the back of the “L” in order to make the bench functional. In the process, he’s made a piece of furniture with a ubiquitous logo that he’s embedded with his own L.A. pride, as well as city history past and present.
LA civic pride travels to Japan
Campos vacationed in Japan the last week of April and took advantage of the trip to reach out to people who may be interested in the L.A. Bench. He was caught off guard by people’s reaction when he showed them pictures of it.
“They look at it and they go, 'Oh, Ohtani bench,'” he said.
For them, it’s still a bench embedded with pride, he said, but centered around Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, an icon in his native Japan.
I would love to get a couple of them installed at Dodger Stadium.
— Steve Campos, welder-artist
Campos has made four L.A. benches and is selling them fully assembled, he said, for $2,500 each — taking into account his labor and how costly the raw materials have become. For now, he’s offering the metal parts as a package for $500, which requires the buyer to purchase the wood for the seat and the back — an easy process, he said.
While he has no plans to mass produce the L.A. Bench, he does have one goal in mind that shows how hard it is for him to separate L.A. civic pride and the Dodgers.
“I would love to get a couple of them installed at Dodger Stadium,” he said.
