Karen Bass being inaugurated as Mayor of Los Angeles by Vice President Kamala Harris (Photo: Karen Bass official Twitter)
Karen Bass Sworn In As New Mayor Of Los Angeles
Bass declares homelessness state of emergency in city in first official act
By Evan Symon, December 12, 2022 1:00 pm
Former Congresswoman Karen Bass was sworn in as Mayor of Los Angeles during the weekend, becoming the first woman and second African-American to hold the position in the city’s history, and replacing former Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Born in Los Angeles in 1953, Bass began her career by volunteering for Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s run for President in 1968 at the age of 15. Bass quickly turned to more radical causes, such as becoming an organizer for a communist, pro-Cuban group in the 1970’s, as well as being a member of the Black Panther Party and being largely influenced by other communist activists, before receiving a Bachelor’s degree from California State University Dominguez Hills and a Master’s degree in social work from the University of Southern California. In the 1980’s, she worked in medicine for USC’s Keck School of Medicine and experienced the crack epidemic in South Central LA in the 1980’s. She quickly became a community organizer against the epidemic and soon became one of the main voices against it in the 1990’s.
In 2004, she turned to politics, being elected to the state Assembly for three terms. For her last terms, 2008 and 2010, Bass was Speaker of the Assembly. In 2010, former Congresswoman Diane Watson announced her retirement, recommending Bass run for her seat. Between 2011 and December 2022, Bass was in Congress in Washington, where she proved to be one of the most liberal members of the House. Among her highlights in Washington was voting against the repeal of Obamacare more than 60 times due to her support of universal healthcare, supporting stricter gun laws such as having an extensive background check for every gun bought, creating student loan reform legislation, and voting twice to impeach former President Donald Trump.
In September 2021, she shifted to a more regional position, announcing her candidacy for Mayor a full 14 months before election day. Bass was the heavy favorite in the race until late February of this year, when developer Rick Caruso entered the race. The two stayed close in the polls, with Bass edging out Caruso in the June primary, and both beating out Councilman Kevin de Leon, who finished a distant third.
While up in polls with double digits over the summer, Bass was the subject of numerous scandals and incidents in September, including bribery allegations over a degree at USC and public outrage over her support for Scientology. Combined with a surge for Caruso due to his advertising and local strategies, the 2022 race became the closest LA Mayoral race in decades. With both candidates in a dead heat on election day, Caruso wound up leading early on in the vote tallying, much like the primary election held earlier in June. The lead gradually tightened throughout the week, with Bass finally taking the lead. On November 17th, Bass was finally declared the winner, coming away with just over 54% of the vote.
Bass Inaugurated
This led to her inauguration on Sunday at LA Live in Downtown Los Angeles, away from the usual inauguration location at City Hall due to the rain. On hand was Vice President Kamala Harris, who personally administered the oath of office, as well as poet Amanda Gorman and musician Stevie Wonder, who gave performances. Governor Gavin Newsom and several members of Congress also attended. In her inaugural speech, Bass promised to declare a state of emergency over homelessness in LA, as well as go after housing and cost-of-living issues for those in the city.
The rain gave way to a gorgeous afternoon in LA for the historic inauguration of Mayor @karenbassla, accompanied by the chamber choir of Hamilton HS. Our students performed alongside @TheAmandaGorman and @StevieWonder, and @VP Kamala Harris administered the oath of office. pic.twitter.com/xTNVkRQqGj
— Los Angeles Unified (@LASchools) December 11, 2022
“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.”
A new day has come to our city.
Thank you Los Angeles!
Let’s get to work. pic.twitter.com/16FQEgaTbh
— Karen Bass (@KarenBassLA) December 11, 2022
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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So newly installed Mayor Karen Bass has declared a state of emergency for homelessness saying that she plans to “urgently move people inside and do so for good.” Where is she going to move them to–maybe into concentration camps? Democrats have a history of forcing people into camps such as when Democrat President Roosevelt forced Jananese Americans along with some Italian and German Americans into internment camps during WWII. Many think Karen Bass will end up being the Beetlejuice of the West? Does anyone believe that LA’s Hispanic/Latino majority voted for her?
So…..like every other Democrat in the state she is going to declare a “Homelessness State of Emergency” without any plans or ideas on how this will actually address homelessness. Meanwhile, the homeless population continues to climb, and in turn the associated crimes, despite endless “emergency declarations” and billions of dollars thrown at it. Quite frankly, this is a problem that the Democrats don’t actually want solved as it gives them unlimited political clout as they will always promise to “do something” about it while at the same time diverting billions in taxpayer dollars to their favored cronies in the Homelessness Industrial Complex. And much of that money comes back to fund their political campaigns….they have quite the nice racket going on with this homelessness situation so why would they ever want to end the gravy train?
Mario and Otakuon both nailed it. At the very least this means full funding for the Homeless Industrial Complex —— and God only knows what else Karen Bass as Mayor of L.A. will mean for the city’s future.
Significant that Bass was sworn in by Worst V.P. Ever, Kamala Harris, and that in attendance was Worst Governor Ever, Gavin Newsom. Kamala broke out in a weird inappropriate celebratory cackle after swearing Bass in, then the two of them exulted with more inappropriate laughter after Bass gave a “shout-out” — weirdly reeling off their first names — to the “all-female L.A. County Board of Supervisors,” who have done nothing, as L.A.’s City Council has done nothing, but bring destruction and misery to the City and County of Los Angeles.
Heaven knows the funding is there to at least BEGIN to tackle the problems that are devastating the city and county, but slush funds and wealth redistribution as a means to keep eternal power are the only things that interest these people. Sorry, that’s just not going to do it. As you know.
It’s a very dark and depressing day for sensible residents of L.A. City and County, and for California too, as we fully expect, with good reason, to see the pressing problems that plague us continue to get worse and worse.
Sworn in on what? Rules for Radicals?
No kidding, CW — it was either that or “Satan Worship for Dummies.”
If it was the Bible she will be in deep doo doo. Swearing on the Bible is serious business.
Yes.
No CW it was not the Bible it was either the Communist Manifesto or Mao Tse Tung’s little Red Book of Communist Quotations.
Shades of Obama swearing in. Remember where they messed it up and did the actual swearing in in private?
Los Angeles was once a very beautiful city. No more. Illegal immigrants, criminals, and drugs have decimated it. Karen Bass doesn’t have a plan to fix any of it. In fact, she and her party promote illegal immigration, crime with no penalties, and drugs, and will continue to do so. The city will free fall in a downward spiral, and Bass and her Democrat cronies will blame it on everything but themselves. Check back in four years. You will see I’m right.
The City of El Lay has now officially been given last rites… it is now headed for another Democrat dystopian dumpster fire…
Caruso was a candidate in the mode of Richard Riordan, the last good mayor that Los Angeles had, so buckle up and hang on, folks, it’s gonna be a ROUGH, ROUGH ride….
SO glad I bailed on LA City and County many years ago ….
First order of business, export homeless to someone else’s backyard…. “Lancaster City Council Declares A
State of Emergency Against Los Angeles Mayor Bass’ Plan to Move Homeless to ‘a Village’ in the Antelope
Valley” (markets.businessinsider.com) Lancaster is right, L.A. deemed itself a sanctuary city and created
this hot mess. She makes it sound like moving cattle, not people, especially those with mental health and
addiction issues.