Photo: Anthony Tilghman/The Washington Informer
By Stacy M. Brown
America’s history-making vice president plans to swear in Los Angeles’ history-making mayor during an inaugural ceremony scheduled for Sunday.
Kamala Harris, the United States’ first Black and first female vice president, will do the honors for Karen Bass, the first woman to serve as mayor in the city of angels.
Officials said holding the historic ceremony Sunday makes it more convenient for the public to participate while allowing Bass to devote her first day in office to attending to city business.
“Angelenos are so frustrated,” Bass said in a “CBS Mornings” interview this week. “There is so much pent-up urgency to see something happen immediately. Part of my job is to communicate exactly what I’m doing with Angelenos and the timeline, so I manage expectations. But at the same time, I plan to deliver.”
A spokesperson for Harris said Bass asked the vice president to administer the oath of office “as a nod to their status as two of California’s most powerful Black women.”
Harris and President Biden endorsed Bass in August aftershe won the June primary by seven percentage points over her rival, billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso, CBS News reported.
Former President Obama also threw his support behind Bass shortly before the November election.
Bass, 69, a six-term congresswoman and a finalist on President Joe Biden’s short list of potential running mates, drew more votes than any mayoral candidate in Los Angeles’ history.
The former Congressional Black Caucus chair has prioritized tackling the city’s homeless crisis.
She said she wants to work to eradicate the problem immediately.
“Los Angeles has become unaffordable,” Bass declared in a nationally televised interview late last month. “You have to have a comprehensive approach. There’s no magic bullet. So first and foremost, you have to prevent people from falling into homelessness. And clearly, affordability is key to that.
“But you know, people are on the streets for a variety of issues,” she said. “And you have to address why they’re there. Is it substance abuse? Is it mental illness? Is it just straight-up affordability? We have people who are in tents who actually work full-time.
“We have thousands of children who are in tents,” Bass continued. “Some with mothers who fled domestic violence, some who are teenagers who aged out of foster care. Some people who were formerly incarcerated because they were not able to find housing are in tents.”
The incoming mayor said taking a “comprehensive approach,” is key to addressing the dire challenges facing Los Angeles’ unhoused residents.
“But first and foremost, we have to get people off the streets,” she said. “People are literally dying on the streets in Los Angeles, and this has got to stop.”
