Mayor Bass is expected to address critical issues like homelessness and crime. Today, USC students and faculty expressed their own versions of the state of the city.
USC Computer Science student Christian Glover is looking for solutions for LA’s complicated problems.
Christian Glover: One would always like to say homelessness, but I mean, that’s not just the problem. I think mental health for a lot of people needs to be more accessible. Fair housing needs to be more accessible. Access to food needs to be more accessible.”
Glover also names inflation as an issue.
Glover: “I don’t think I’ve actively eaten fast food as much as I used to back home because of how much fast food costs here. I probably only had ita good five times. And I’ve been in LA since last July.”
Says USC Assistant Professor of Anthropology Fiori Berhane:
Fiori Berhane: It’s not just homelessness, it’s housing unaffordability, which impacts everyone. I hope that she invests more in public transit and making the city much more kind of pedestrian friendly. These are kind of the issues that I think would be kind of universally important to the most, the largest number of constituents.”
And, of course, the address is in part an attempt to show voters that the city administration has things under control even when sometimes it seems like they’re not. USC Computer Science Games student Marina White is afraid to take buses and trains alone.
Marina White: “Especially as a woman, I guess the biggest example is when I take public transport, I never want to go by myself anywhere for the fear of like me being approached by somebody and my life being in danger.”
USC Anthropology’s Professor Berhane is from the same neighborhood as Mayor Bass.
Berhane: “But overall, I would say that I’m quite happy with her, I’m happy she was elected. I think that she’s a positive step forward for the city and that she represents the kind of progressive bent arc that city politics are trending towards.”
This evening, Mayor Bass is also expected to talk about the city’s actions on climate change, infrastructure, as well as plans for the 2028 Olympics.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Lily Wang.