Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass recently joined the newest podcast from the Los Angeles Times, Making Los Angeles, for a wide-ranging conversation about her career, from the founder of the influential nonprofit Community Coalition, the first Black woman to serve as Speaker of the California Assembly, a Congresswoman, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and even a contender for Vice President under President Biden.
While the episode covers her personal story and career, one part of the conversation we want to highlight is when Mayor Bass talks about what surprised her when she became Mayor of Los Angeles. Mayor Bass says the vastness of the city of LA and the structural dysfunction both surprised her. She views the city of Los Angeles as similar to Sacramento in that term limits have become damaging to the city. “I am not advocating for term limits to go away, I’m not at all. But I do think that [governing] bodies can be damaged by that,” Bass says, “For example, why can’t we fix our infrastructure? Well, nobody is there long enough to do that.” Bass goes on to say that ultimately, it is hard to get stuff done in the city due to term limits on city officials. “We are in a new phase where we’re looking at reforming the charter. I don’t know the answer, but I do think we need to take the city’s infrastructure and move it away from politicians. I think it needs to be an independent authority that is responsible for the long-term planning and execution.”
Rebuild SoCal Partnership shares Mayor Bass’s view that long-term planning and consistent leadership are critical for delivering the infrastructure Los Angeles needs. Infrastructure projects remain essential for supporting the city’s growth, resilience, and quality of life across Southern California.
Listen to the new episode of Making Los Angeles featuring Mayor Karen Bass on the LA Times website.
You can now watch all episodes of our new video podcast, On The Ground in LA: Rebuilding After the Fires, on our website.
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