Karen Bass, promising to pursue unity, takes oath as L.A.’s mayor

At a time when U.S. cities have been torn apart by crushing housing costs, contentious battles over police and crime, and the ever-widening divide between haves and have-nots, Karen Bass embraced unity Sunday night as she sets out to lead Los Angeles.

The former L.A. congresswoman was inaugurated as the city’s 43rd mayor Sunday night amid fanfare that included a swearing in by Vice President Kamala Harris and performances by Stevie Wonder and Las Cafeteras, a Chicano band from East L.A. that fuses Afro-Mexican sounds, roots music, and migrant narratives.

Bass is tasked with patching fissures in the social contract in a city rocked by racist remarks uttered by a few City Council members and witnessed by a labor leader in a secret recording revealed in October. All have resigned except Kevin De León who, under pressure to vacate his seat, got into a physical confrontation with an activist Thursday that is now under police investigation.

The city’s homeless crisis, both an incubator for street crime and a corollary to skyrocketing housing costs, touches almost every facet of life in L.A., even when it’s just a backdrop.

Bass vowed Sunday to attack it head on by declaring a citywide state of emergency, though the idea had been circulating through City Hall since at least 2015.

The problem, fueled by out-of-reach housing costs caused in part by flipping, speculating and absentee real estate investors, is bigger than L.A. Squalid encampments can be found from the U.S.-Mexico border north to Sacramento and in every other big city across America.

But Bass, at least, has quickly zeroed in on where it hurts. One of the hurdles for L.A. and other cities is a homeowner and merchant class that often wants nothing to do with a clear solution, more housing, seen by many as a threat to home values and a magnet for newcomers and crime.

“We know our mission,” Bass said. “We must build housing in every neighborhood.”

On Sunday, she became the first woman to lead the city and the second Black American, after the 20-year tenure of Tom Bradley in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s, to do so.

In November, she beat developer Rick Caruso, known for his successful shopping centers, including the ultrapopular Grove, and his impeccable suits, in a runoff to replace outgoing Democrat Eric Garcetti. Caruso is a former Republican in a heavily Democratic and labor-friendly city. He spent $100 million of his own money on the run.

Bass on Sunday spoke of shared vision.

“If we come together and focus on solutions rather than jurisdiction and on linking arms rather than pointing fingers, we will save lives in our city,” the 69-year-old said in a video address after her inauguration.

“That is my mission as your mayor,” she said.

Predecessor Eric Garcetti, a white man with Mexican, Italian and Jewish heritage, tried to please the city’s self-important interest groups, which include Hollywood, homeowners’ associations, and organizations that represent L.A.’s impossibly vast ethnic enclaves.

In the end, as activists frothed righteously at City Council meetings and inspired police to ready their zip ties, it would have been hard for any leader to lead. The city’s factions long ago adapted a with-us-or-against-us posture.

Bass is promising a new day and inspiring L.A.’s guardians to forget about the bickering, at least for a moment.

“In our city’s 241-year history, we’ve never witnessed a day like today as Los Angeles came together to celebrate the swearing in of Mayor Karen Bass,” Mark Gonzalez, chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, said in a statement. 

Amanda Gorman, the country’s first National Youth Poet Laureate, explained the moment during Sunday’s ceremony and celebration.

Courtney Brogle and Erick Mendoza contributed.