Karen Bass Sworn In As New Mayor Of Los Angeles

“Making history with each of you today is a monumental moment in my life and in Los Angeles,” said Bass on Sunday. “If we are going to bring Angelenos inside and move our city in a new direction, we must have a single strategy to unite our city and county and engage the state, the federal government, the private sector and every other stakeholder. My emergency declaration will recognize the severity of our crisis and break new ground to maximize our ability to urgently move people inside, and to do so for good

“We just cannot continue to overcrowd neighborhoods that are already overcrowded. I was elected to lead, and lead I will do. But I am also asking you … to join me in moving our city forward.”

However, Bass also backtracked a bit on her public safety promises, saying that she would launch an Office of Community Safety to see what residents want in terms of safety instead of putting more into law enforcement.

“What neighborhoods are asking for and what they need for safety is as diverse as our city,” added Bass.

On her official Twitter page on Sunday, she also noted that “A new day has come to our city. Thank you Los Angeles! Let’s get to work.”

On Monday, she followed through on her homeless state of emergency promise, declaring a state of emergency in LA to help battle the problem in the city, with the homeless currently numbering over 69,000 in the city.

“When life is this hard for some Angelenos, it affects all Angelenos. That is why tomorrow morning, I will start my first day as mayor at our city’s Emergency Operations Center, where my first act as mayor will be to declare a state of emergency on homelessness,” Bass said Sunday. “My emergency declaration will recognize the severity of our crisis and break new ground to maximize our ability to urgently move people inside and do so for good.”

Concern over Bass

However, despite Bass following through on her first promise on Monday, she has received much criticism for not weighing in on the City Council situation. Specifically, beyond calling for his resignation while still a Mayoral candidate in October, Bass has said anything on the ongoing controversy with de Leon, which includes using racial slurs against African-Americans, working to realign the city’s Council districts to the detriment of neighboring black and white districts, refusing to resign despite a mass number of protestors and lawmakers calling for him too, and, most recently, getting into a fight with a protestor in front of dozens of people including children.

“Bass is in now and, love her or hate her, she did keep that first promise on the state of emergency declaration,” Felipe Calderon, a community organizer and neighborhood issue advisor in LA, told the Globe on Monday. “I mean, Garcetti pretty much had one going in all but name anyway, and this declaration is pretty toothless when you look at it closely, but it is a strong signal that she is going to get into it.”

“There’s a lot of other issues in the city, including worry about what she is going to do about crime, but the big elephant in the room right now is de Leon. She is not talking about where she stands on him right now. She has in the past, but not as Mayor or Mayor-elect. We need to know right away what she wants to do there. We know she is worried about Latino support, especially since so many voted for Caruso and how many still support de Leon, but that cannot be in the way. We want to know where she stands, and right now it’s looing like she isn’t going to address it. That’s not a good leader.”

“So, right now, many are excited for the first black female mayor. That’s cool. But when the honeymoon is over, and it will die down soon, she has to realize that there are many real problems in the city, including a man who has called citizens of this city racial slurs, who has physically fought them, and yet is still in office. She said she wants to do a lot, and already went through with one thing. But it is still very open if she even cares at all. She needs to prove otherwise.”

More announcements from the new Mayor Bass are expected throughout the week.

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