Web Desk:
According to the national media, after 241 years, the nation’s second-largest city Los Angeles has its first female mayor.
Karen Bass has been sworn in as the 43rd Mayor of Los Angeles in a historic inauguration at the Microsoft Theater. She was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris and becomes the first woman and second Black person to hold the city’s top job.
Bass focused her remarks Sunday on her plans to solve the city’s housing crisis, with some 40,000 people living on the streets.
Karen Bass said that “Today, too many Angelenos have no choice but to crowd multiple families into one home, and to work multiple jobs just to barely pay rent.”
She said her first act as mayor will be to declare a state of emergency on homelessness.
Bass’s plan calls for housing 15,000 people by the end of one year and ending tent encampments using existing funding. Bass has argued that her longtime relationships with state and national lawmakers would result in increased funding to Los Angeles to address the city’s housing crisis.
Bass has also promised to address concerns about crime, noting her proposal to bring police staffing back up at a time when the city has struggled to recruit new officers.
When Bass takes office, the four largest cities in the US will all have Black mayors – that includes Eric Adams of New York City, Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, and Sylvester Turner of Houston.
