Marqueece Harris-Dawson assumed the Los Angeles City Council presidency today during the Council’s morning meeting.
As Council president, Harris-Dawson will have the power to appoint Council committees, set the agenda and act as Mayor when Karen Bass is not in the city.
In an interview with the Westside Current, Harris-Dawson said his two major priorities are homelessness and the cost of housing in the city. He expressed support for Bass’ encampment clearing and shelter program, Inside Safe.
“I think we have mostly good laws on the books,” Harris-Dawson said “But they are either not enforced at all or they are enforced one way on this block, another way on that block, and a third way on another block. So, I think we need consistency, and we need to deliver.”
In that interview, he also emphasized cost savings associated with reevaluating police stops and with the need to prepare L.A. for the 2028 Olympics.
First elected in 2015, Harris-Dawson was selected as president pro tempore in 2023 after Curren Price stepped down from the position amid allegations of conflicts of interest, perjury and embezzlement. In May, Harris-Dawson was chosen by his colleagues to succeed Paul Krekorian and will serve as Council president through December.
Harris-Dawson grew up in South L.A. and the San Gabriel Valley before attending Morehouse College in 1994. After college, Harris Dawson worked with Community Coalition — later succeeding Bass as CEO — and addressing issues of crime, addiction, violence and poverty in South L.A.
“Through that process you learned the power of including people in the process of governance even when governance was set up in a way to dissuade their participation,” Harris-Dawson said during Friday’s meeting.
During the Council’s meeting, councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez said officials from organizing backgrounds are working to build a better city and noted the historic elevation of Harris-Dawson.
“Of all the folks that have come from movement spaces, I don’t think any of them have ever become the president of the Council,” Soto-Martínez said. “That’s a demonstration of the willpower and the tenacity of so many people in this room, here, who are representative of where you come from.”
Harris-Dawson represents District 8 including parts of South L.A. adjacent to USC and Exposition Park.
At the swearing-in ceremony, councilmembers praised him for his assistance to colleagues, his grassroots leadership and consensus building. Krekorian highlighted Harris-Dawson’s ethics and knowledge of L.A. history before presenting a gavel and book of procedure rules to Harris-Dawson.
“Your experience in the community has demonstrated that you are a man of deep principles,” Krekorian said. “And at the same time you are a pragmatic leader that finds ways to come to solutions that are true to those principles.”
After being sworn in, Harris-Dawson described preparing L.A. for the future, inclusion and restoration of the city as additional priorities. He said the Council will create an ad-hoc committee on unarmed crisis responses and will conduct a performance audit on all departments addressing homelessness in L.A.
“We’ve built as much or more affordable housing and permanent supportive housing and temporary shelter than any other big city in the country,” he said. “But there’s more we can do and we can do it faster.”
Harris-Dawson also said he will work to examine worker and small business issues with regulatory issues and will continue to address climate change. He described a vision of the 2028 Olympics promoting meeting basic needs and diversity.
“When you go into the Olympic Village, you see a place where everybody’s basic needs are met,” Harris-Dawson said. “Everybody lives indoors in quality housing, has access to good food and has access to medical care. That can be the city of Los Angeles permanently.”