Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass visited a senior center in Koreatown Oct. 20 as she campaigns for reelection, touting a reduction in homelessness during her first term and committing toward increasing Korean representation in L.A. government and the Los Angeles Police Department.
About 100 seniors welcomed Bass during their regular morning gathering, despite initial unease over the campaign posters and cameras.
“The mayor’s residence is right by, so I’m your neighbor,” Bass said at the start of her speech at the Koreatown Senior Center.
The Getty House, the official residence of the mayor, is an estimated five minute walk or 0.2 mile distance from the Koreatown Senior Center.
Bass told stories of her early years as a community organizer in the late 1980s and 1990s, where her grassroots campaigns intersected with Korean American business owners and residents.
During her speech, Bass also pointed to her appointment of Dominic Choi, the first Korean-American to hold the interim position as chief of the LAPD.
On addressing homelessness in City Council District 13, which includes Koreatown, Bass promised residents safety and security with her signature Inside Safe initiative.
CD 13 recorded three consecutive years of declining homelessness; unsheltered homelessness decreased by 21% since last year, and by 40% since Bass took office, according to the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority.
Speaking to the press after the event, she addressed managing the budget for Inside Safe considering recent cuts from the federal government and pauses on subsidies.
She called for city control over homelessness services, describing the current city–county joint powers agreement as “dysfunctional.”
“We need to be in control, so we can have a transparent and accountable system,” Bass said. “It’s very hard right now when you’re mixed between the city and the county. So that’s one fundamental change that needs to take place.”
Commenting on the recent reports of residents receiving L.A. Department of Water and Power bills that were significantly higher than normal due to a combination of record-breaking summer heat, Bass said she was “furious” about the rate increases and had contacted the department.
A few hours after the event she announced relief for LADWP customers facing high bills, allowing residents to pay what they can afford, pledging no residential shutoffs.
“Beginning next month, LADWP will provide every residential customer with information about their electricity and water usage, to improve awareness of how they use utilities and how they can conserve,” Bass said in the statement. “LADWP’s conservation programs can help permanently reduce usage and lower bills.”
Election Day is set for Nov. 3 and Bass is set to continue her ‘15 [council districts] in 15 [days]’ tour as she campaigns for reelection against City Councilmember Nithya Raman.