Photo: FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP / Getty Images
Karen Bass was sworn in this Sunday as mayor number 43 of the City of Los Angeles at an inauguration in the presence of the Vice President from the United States, Kamala Harris.
Bass becomes the first female and second African-American person to serve as mayor of Los Angeles in the 799 years of the history of the city.
The swearing-in ceremony was scheduled to take place outside City Hall, but given the forecasts of rain, it was decided to change the venue to inside the Microsoft Theater of LA Live, in the center of the city.
Harris, a former senator from California and the first black woman to serve as vice president of the country, took Bass’s oath of office.
Bass will take the problem of the homeless as one of his priorities, and for this Monday, on her first day as mayor, she will visit the Emergency Operations Center to declare a state of emergency for the homeless.
“My declaration of law The emergency response will recognize the severity of the crisis and break new ground to maximize our ability to urgently move people inside and do it for good,” Bass said.
Last week, Bass appointed Mercedes Marquez as Head of Housing and Homeless Solutions. Márquez worked in the offices of previous mayors, the city’s housing department, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The ceremony this Sunday represented the first inauguration of a mayor in Los Angeles in almost a decade, with the departure of Eric Garcetti from the position, which he held since 2010.
In the November 8 election, Bass defeated developer Rick Caruso.
Bass assumes the mayor’s office of a city that faced in recent months a scandal in the Los Angeles City Council that led to the resignation of the president, Nury Martínez, and a labor representative of the County of Los Angeles, Ron Herrera, for disclosure of a recorded conversation in October of 2021 with racist remarks and attempts to manipulate redistricting.
East Friday, one of the councilors involved, Kevin de León, who has declared that he will not resign his seat, was involved in a fight with an activist who confronted him during a public event to deliver gifts to children in the community, in Lincoln Heights.
“Los Angeles residents sent a clear message: it is time for change and it is urgent,” Bass declared during his speech after confirm her victory in the mayoral election.
The new mayoress made it clear that in her administration she will not tolerate corruption or cronyism.
Karen Bass, 43 years old, grew up amid the movement of civil rights with three brothers in the Venice and Fairfax neighborhoods, and in 2004 she volunteered for the Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, when he was 14 years.
Her career as an organizer began in 2004 by founding the Community Coalition, a South Los Angeles social justice group in response to the crack and cocaine crisis.
In 2004, Bass was the only African-American woman in the California Legislature when she was elected to the Assembly. Four years later, she became the first black woman to direct the camera.
Bass was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2013 and chaired the Congressional Black Caucus in 2021 and 2021.
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