Bass Touts First-Year Accomplishments; Critics Give Mixed Reviews

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Tuesday that she had accomplished much of what she set out to do during her first year in office, an occasion she marked with a short speech in Venice.

She delivered her remarks at the site where a longtime homeless encampment had been removed as part of her Inside Safe Initiative to get people who are unhoused off the streets.

Bass focused many of her comments on the homelessness crisis, saying the city and L.A. County provided shelter for more than 21,000 people during her first year — up from 17,000 in the year before she took office.

“We’re using motels, hotels, tiny homes, whatever it takes to bring people inside immediately,” she said. “Angelinos who were suffering are now living inside, out of danger, with access to healthcare and food, and a path to permanent housing.”

After the mayor’s speech, critics agreed Bass had made progress on addressing the homelessness crisis, but said she had done too little on other key issues, including transportation and police reform.

Addressing homelessness

Nearly 2,000 people were housed as part of Inside Safe, according to Bass’ administration, although only a fraction has been moved into permanent housing. The mayor also said the program has cleared “dozens and dozens” of encampments throughout the city.

Her focus on removing encampments was important in her first year because that’s “the eye test” that voters use to measure progress, said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, a group that supports social science research on L.A.

“I think she has made enough headway to buy herself some time to make her program really work,” he said.

Bass has acknowledged there is much more work to be done — especially to find more permanent affordable housing and options that include supportive services like drug and mental health treatment.

In her speech, the mayor touted that she had made it easier for developers to build housing by cutting red tape and fast tracking permits. She said her Executive Directive 1 has cut city approval times by up to 85%. Critics, however, say it has fallen short.

Bass also said she was proud to have fostered a more collaborative spirit among city and county governments and agencies fighting homelessness.

“I said I would lead a city where we locked arms across government and with each other,” she said. “We are finally building that truly regional strategy.”

“I said we would create change and do things differently, and we have,” Bass added.

The mayor spoke of “record investments” in homelessness, but she said she’ll be looking outside of government for more help.

“As we move into the next year, I will be calling on the private sector and the philanthropic sector to step up in a big way,” she said, without offering details.

Sara Sadhwani, a professor of politics at Pomona College, credited Bass with changing the tone of the debate around homelessness. “The temperature of the debate has gone down,” she said. “We don't see the level of vitriol on homelessness.“

Sonenshein agreed: “She's able to generate a certain amount of trust and confidence in her steadiness and sincerity that goes a long way.”

The mayor also talked about her work with the state to get the 10 Freeway reopened after it was forced to close for nearly two weeks due to a fire last month, as well as efforts to make L.A. more business friendly. She pointed to the recent decision by Banc of California to relocate its headquarters to the city.

'A mixed bag'

Melina Abdullah, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter L.A., called Bass’s first year in office a “mixed bag.”

“I would give the mayor an A in terms of accessibility and communication,” said Abdullah, noting Bass attended the group’s presentation of an alternative “People's Budget.”

“The mayor has been really, really open,” she said.

Former Mayor Eric Garcetti refused to meet with BLM amid intense protests following the murder of George Floyd.

But Abdullah said her group was disappointed the mayor approved a budget that gave more money to the Los Angeles Police Department and in her decision to reappoint Chief Michel Moore to a second, five-year term. Abdullah said she believes Moore hasn't done enough to reduce the use of force against communities of color.

Abdullah also criticized Bass’s support of a police contract, which was signed in August, that gives unprecedented raises to officers “at a time when other workers around the city are struggling for a livable wage.”

Bass said she was proud of “historic” investments in public safety. She said something needed to be done to address a dramatic drop in the number of officers — to less than 9,000 from 10,000 three years ago — adding that the pay raises and signing bonuses in the contract have attracted “a record number of applications to the police academy after years of record lows.”

Bass also said she was proud of the expansion of CIRCLE teams, which provide mental health clinicians and outreach workers to respond to non-emergency LAPD calls involving unhoused people.

“This frees up officers to tackle and focus on violent crime,” she said.

Michael Schneider, CEO of Streets For All, said he understands and appreciates that the mayor needed to focus on homelessness in her first year in office. But, he said, he would have liked to see her pay more attention to transportation and climate change issues, too.

“I just think she has been focused elsewhere on higher priorities,” he said. “I hope now that she already is on a role with that stuff that she can start to prioritize things like multimodal transportation and Vision Zero.”

The Vision Zero initiative was created with a goal of eliminating traffic-related deaths by 2025. Last year, there were 312 traffic fatalities, breaking the 300 mark for the first time in more than 20 years, according to Schneider.

“Frankly, just her talking about it would be really meaningful,” he said. “Her words have a lot of impact.”