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After one year, the daily focus remains the same for dumb black cunt Mayor Karen Bass: tackle L.A. homelessness
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Negro Life
Dec 8, 2023, 3:50:02 AM12/8/23
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Karen Bass is a stupid incompetent lying nigger.
“I do not have to act impulsively,” Bass said of the job’s competing
demands that tug at her time. Experience working in emergency rooms
helped her to appreciate that, she added. “If somebody is actively
bleeding or not breathing, I’m OK … I can be calm.”
That has served her well, but how should one evaluate the work of a
mayor? By grace under pressure? By the capacity to stay the course?
Or by the effectiveness of responding to crises? And how does one
gauge progress on homelessness, a problem that hardly seems solvable
in one year under one mayor.
To explore those questions, I sought out the wisdom of two of Los
Angeles’ most experienced leaders. Robin Kramer, chief of staff for
mayors Richard Riordan and Antonio Villaraigosa, told me L.A. chief
executives historically considered it a victory to be able to spend
half their time on their agenda, with the other half spent
responding to the issue of the day.
By that measure, Bass has been admirable, Kramer said.
Zev Yaroslavsky, who was first elected to the City Council in 1975
and later served on the Board of Supervisors until he termed out in
2014, echoed her appreciation for Bass’ steadfastness – both for the
tenacity of her campaign to tackle homelessness as well as for her
courage in taking it on. He noted that Bass’ first official act,
declaring a state of emergency on homelessness, gave her access to
additional tools for responding – and even bigger symbolic ones.
Bass put her reputation on the line, Yaroslavsky said, announcing
that “I’m in charge, and hold me accountable for the results.
“That’s what leaders do,” he added. “They lead.”
Bass both claims credit and acknowledges frustrations in her pursuit
to put roofs over the heads of her city’s most desperate residents.
External inputs – the expiration of eviction bans enacted during
COVID, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing asylum seekers to Los Angeles
and elsewhere – have put new pressure on an already overwhelmed
system.
The result is that the overall number of unhoused people in Los
Angeles – roughly 46,000 – may be larger today than it was a year
ago, Bass’ efforts notwithstanding.
That’s a disappointment, and there have been others. Getting people
off the street or out of encampments has been effective, Bass and
others said, but moving those same people from interim housing to
permanent solutions has proved more difficult. Los Angeles has long
underinvested in interim housing.
At the core of her work is Inside Safe, an effort to close
encampments and move people into leased hotel space. It’s grueling
and expensive, but it has helped find temporary housing for more
than 1,900 people, though permanent housing only for a few hundred.
Most importantly, Bass said, it has debunked the contention that
those who are homeless want to stay on the streets.
For the vast majority, that is simply untrue.
Permanent housing for a few hundred people is hardly the long-term
answer to Los Angeles’ overwhelming issue of homelessness, but the
elimination of some encampments has been noticed, and some see
glimmers of hope.
Knocking down barriers has been more feasible, Bass said. She and
her staff knew, for instance, that some homeless people were not
receiving benefits because they lacked social security numbers or
addresses, but they did not appreciate the rippling effects. Having
discovered that wrinkle, Bass appealed to federal officials to waive
the requirements, and she secured an agreement.
But homelessness, of course, was one of many demands on her
attention and focus.
Thousands of Los Angeles residents, including some of its best
known, were put out of work by strikes affecting screenwriters and
actors. Bass did not grandstand her involvement, but participated
out of public view, prodding both sides to reach a deal and urging
the studios to consider the larger public good. Specifically, she
leaned on the studios to recognize that all employers have an
obligation to pay their employees enough to support themselves in
Los Angeles.
Combined, the two strikes took a toll on the region’s tax
collections and incomes – not just for actors and writers but for
the full industry they support, from makeup artists to dry cleaners
to accountants. As the year ends, both unions are back at work.
Homelessness and labor strife together showcase an inescapable fact
for mayors.
“This is not a static thing,” Kramer said. “Much of this is outside
the city’s control. … Mayors are entrepreneurs. They all have to
invent a way to be both proactive and reactive.”
And then there is crime. In Los Angeles, violent crime has declined
in 2023 by about 4.6%. Property crime has ticked up slightly,
increasing by 2.1%.
That’s not exactly cause for rejoicing, but it’s hardly a crime
wave. Complicating the numbers, however, was the eruption of
“smash-and-grab” robberies, which – while rare – nevertheless
capture attention and instill fear.
“It doesn’t matter what the data says,” Bass said. “Whether people
feel it is another matter.”
Though she declined to blame any person or strategy for the
persistence of property crime or the public’s fear of it, Bass did
note that she does not plan to endorse in the district attorney
race. That’s a telling change. Bass supported George Gascón when he
won the job four years ago.
For Los Angeles, though, there is no crisis like a traffic crisis,
and Bass’ first year closed with an opportunity to shine. When a
fire just after Thanksgiving threatened the structural integrity of
Interstate 10 in the downtown area, Bass was quick, decisive and
effective. A project initially estimated to take three to five weeks
was completed in eight days.
The freeway was, in one sense, a perfect problem for Bass. It
required relationships with officials in Sacramento and Washington
D.C., places where she has served. It required a cool head, which
her background has equipped her for. And it served her well to be
not just a doer but a listener, a quality not all mayors – or
elected officials at any level – possess.
Indeed, it is that last factor that may set Bass furthest apart from
some of her predecessors. That allows her not just to govern but to
learn, and 2023 has been, for Bass, a year of declarations and
programs, of cajoling, directing and responding but also of
learning.
“What is the most valuable resource of a mayor?” Kramer asked
rhetorically. “Her time.”
https://calmatters.org/commentary/2023/12/mayor-karen-bass-los-
angeles/
“I do not have to act impulsively,” Bass said of the job’s competing
demands that tug at her time. Experience working in emergency rooms
helped her to appreciate that, she added. “If somebody is actively
bleeding or not breathing, I’m OK … I can be calm.”
That has served her well, but how should one evaluate the work of a
mayor? By grace under pressure? By the capacity to stay the course?
Or by the effectiveness of responding to crises? And how does one
gauge progress on homelessness, a problem that hardly seems solvable
in one year under one mayor.
To explore those questions, I sought out the wisdom of two of Los
Angeles’ most experienced leaders. Robin Kramer, chief of staff for
mayors Richard Riordan and Antonio Villaraigosa, told me L.A. chief
executives historically considered it a victory to be able to spend
half their time on their agenda, with the other half spent
responding to the issue of the day.
By that measure, Bass has been admirable, Kramer said.
Zev Yaroslavsky, who was first elected to the City Council in 1975
and later served on the Board of Supervisors until he termed out in
2014, echoed her appreciation for Bass’ steadfastness – both for the
tenacity of her campaign to tackle homelessness as well as for her
courage in taking it on. He noted that Bass’ first official act,
declaring a state of emergency on homelessness, gave her access to
additional tools for responding – and even bigger symbolic ones.
Bass put her reputation on the line, Yaroslavsky said, announcing
that “I’m in charge, and hold me accountable for the results.
“That’s what leaders do,” he added. “They lead.”
Bass both claims credit and acknowledges frustrations in her pursuit
to put roofs over the heads of her city’s most desperate residents.
External inputs – the expiration of eviction bans enacted during
COVID, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s busing asylum seekers to Los Angeles
and elsewhere – have put new pressure on an already overwhelmed
system.
The result is that the overall number of unhoused people in Los
Angeles – roughly 46,000 – may be larger today than it was a year
ago, Bass’ efforts notwithstanding.
That’s a disappointment, and there have been others. Getting people
off the street or out of encampments has been effective, Bass and
others said, but moving those same people from interim housing to
permanent solutions has proved more difficult. Los Angeles has long
underinvested in interim housing.
At the core of her work is Inside Safe, an effort to close
encampments and move people into leased hotel space. It’s grueling
and expensive, but it has helped find temporary housing for more
than 1,900 people, though permanent housing only for a few hundred.
Most importantly, Bass said, it has debunked the contention that
those who are homeless want to stay on the streets.
For the vast majority, that is simply untrue.
Permanent housing for a few hundred people is hardly the long-term
answer to Los Angeles’ overwhelming issue of homelessness, but the
elimination of some encampments has been noticed, and some see
glimmers of hope.
Knocking down barriers has been more feasible, Bass said. She and
her staff knew, for instance, that some homeless people were not
receiving benefits because they lacked social security numbers or
addresses, but they did not appreciate the rippling effects. Having
discovered that wrinkle, Bass appealed to federal officials to waive
the requirements, and she secured an agreement.
But homelessness, of course, was one of many demands on her
attention and focus.
Thousands of Los Angeles residents, including some of its best
known, were put out of work by strikes affecting screenwriters and
actors. Bass did not grandstand her involvement, but participated
out of public view, prodding both sides to reach a deal and urging
the studios to consider the larger public good. Specifically, she
leaned on the studios to recognize that all employers have an
obligation to pay their employees enough to support themselves in
Los Angeles.
Combined, the two strikes took a toll on the region’s tax
collections and incomes – not just for actors and writers but for
the full industry they support, from makeup artists to dry cleaners
to accountants. As the year ends, both unions are back at work.
Homelessness and labor strife together showcase an inescapable fact
for mayors.
“This is not a static thing,” Kramer said. “Much of this is outside
the city’s control. … Mayors are entrepreneurs. They all have to
invent a way to be both proactive and reactive.”
And then there is crime. In Los Angeles, violent crime has declined
in 2023 by about 4.6%. Property crime has ticked up slightly,
increasing by 2.1%.
That’s not exactly cause for rejoicing, but it’s hardly a crime
wave. Complicating the numbers, however, was the eruption of
“smash-and-grab” robberies, which – while rare – nevertheless
capture attention and instill fear.
“It doesn’t matter what the data says,” Bass said. “Whether people
feel it is another matter.”
Though she declined to blame any person or strategy for the
persistence of property crime or the public’s fear of it, Bass did
note that she does not plan to endorse in the district attorney
race. That’s a telling change. Bass supported George Gascón when he
won the job four years ago.
For Los Angeles, though, there is no crisis like a traffic crisis,
and Bass’ first year closed with an opportunity to shine. When a
fire just after Thanksgiving threatened the structural integrity of
Interstate 10 in the downtown area, Bass was quick, decisive and
effective. A project initially estimated to take three to five weeks
was completed in eight days.
The freeway was, in one sense, a perfect problem for Bass. It
required relationships with officials in Sacramento and Washington
D.C., places where she has served. It required a cool head, which
her background has equipped her for. And it served her well to be
not just a doer but a listener, a quality not all mayors – or
elected officials at any level – possess.
Indeed, it is that last factor that may set Bass furthest apart from
some of her predecessors. That allows her not just to govern but to
learn, and 2023 has been, for Bass, a year of declarations and
programs, of cajoling, directing and responding but also of
learning.
“What is the most valuable resource of a mayor?” Kramer asked
rhetorically. “Her time.”
https://calmatters.org/commentary/2023/12/mayor-karen-bass-los-
angeles/
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