Karen Bass Sworn In As First Woman Mayor Of Los Angeles, Says She Will Declare State Of Emergency On Homelessness

12.12.2022 - 02:21 / deadline.com

Karen Bass was sworn in as mayor of Los Angeles on Sunday, becoming the first woman and second Black person to lead the city.

At a large ceremony at Microsoft Theater, against a backdrop of City Hall, Bass took the oath administered by Vice President Kamala Harris, and planned to talk about how Los Angeles was at an “inflection point” as it faces problems of homelessness and housing.

She plans to declare a state of emergency on homelessness on Monday as her first act as mayor that 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.”

The move will “create the structure necessary for us to have a true, unified and citywide strategy to set us on the path to solve homelessness,” she said.

“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,” she said.

She said that she has started discussions with the county and other cities to work on a unified approach.

Bass also plans to call for the creation of an Office of Community Safety, focused on “addressing the social, the health, and the economic conditions that compromise a safe environment.”

“Some neighborhoods have asked for additional officers, and we will deliver…but what neighborhoods are asking for and what they need is as diverse as our city,” Bass said. The office, she said, is meant to meet “with neighbors, store clerks, dog walkers, and teenagers who know what’s actually going on behind the statistics — we want to have block by block information on how to truly keep each neighborhood safe – is it more