In her first State of the City address since taking office four months ago, Mayor Karen Bass on Monday, April 17, reflected on key accomplishments by her administration and offered up a dose of sobering reality as she acknowledged the challenges that lie ahead for the City of Angels – while highlighting record investments to confront these challenges in her upcoming 2023-24 budget proposal.
“I am 127 days into my administration, and I cannot declare that the state of our city is where it needs to be,” Bass said. “But I am proud to report that together we have brought change to the city of Los Angeles.
Related: Complete text of Mayor Bass’ first State of the City address
“We have increased urgency at City Hall,” she continued. “And we have a clarity of purpose, and have focused our work on the people’s most pressing challenges.”
In a roughly 33-minute speech, during which the audience broke out in applause more than 35 times, Bass – known for her collaborative style of leadership – spoke three times of “locking arms” with other elected officials or government agencies, using a phrase that has become her administration’s motto.
From housing more than 1,000 homeless Angelenos through her Inside Safe initiative and working to make Los Angeles safer, to helping Los Angeles Unified School District officials and SEIU Local 99 — the union representing service workers — reach a contract following a three-day strike, and repairing potholes, Bass took stock of the work she and her administration have accomplished, delivering her speech in the City Council Chamber.
Her address, titled “A New L.A.,” also laid out her vision for moving the city forward, including plans to make “historic” investments to address the homeless crisis and to advance strategies for making L.A. safer, including new incentives to recruit more officers to join the police department.
The speech telegraphed her priorities one day before she is set to…
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