The new LA Mayor Karen Bass (69) presented a plan for the main status with a New Year’s greeting to the readers of The Korea Daily.
She took office on Dec. 12 after elected as the 43rd LA mayor, beating billionaire Rick Caruso in the November midterm elections last year.
In a written interview with The Korea Daily, Mayor Bass vowed to support minority small businesses in the jurisdiction, create safe streets in Los Angeles, and communicate with the Asia-Pacific community.
“We want to join hands with the Korean community to reduce the number of homeless people on the streets, provide public safety and further economic opportunities,” Mayor Bass said. “The best solution is to listen to the voices of the residents affected by the problem, and in that sense, we plan to listen to the opinions and demands of Koreans.” At the same time, she said, “Five of 40,000 homeless people in the jurisdiction die every day,” adding, “So on the first day of my inauguration, I started working at the ’emergency operation center’, not the city hall, and I have simplified all administrative processes to make temporary or permanent residential space construction quick and cheap.”
In fact, the city government declared a “homeless emergency” at the same time as the mayor took office on the 12th of last month, and also suggested that some city tax revenues through the ordinance ULA would be invested in collaboration with LA County.
Mayor Bass promised “all-out” help with support measures for Korean small business owners who are suffering the most from the Homeless issue.
“Small business is the backbone of the Los Angeles economy. So before taking office, I invited Isabella Guzman, director of the Federal Small Business Administration (SBA), to arrange meetings with local business leaders to take the lead in establishing support measures.”
In particular, Mayor Bass stressed that she would respond to racial hatred crimes suffered by Asians and Koreans in the jurisdiction with zero tolerance.
“Racism and discrimination crimes that have been on the rise since the pandemic are absolutely unacceptable,” she said, “In line with the mayor’s office and the LA Police Department’s active commitment to crime reduction, Koreans should also report the damage of related crimes.”
She also explained the lack of Asian participation in the formation of a communication channel with the Korean community and a market advisory committee, which had been relatively narrow before and after the election.
“We will do our best to better reflect the thoughts and opinions of Asian residents in the city government. At the same time, the mayor’s office sets ‘active communication with the Asian-Pacific community’ as one of the important policy directions. Of course, Asian experts will be appointed in the composition of the enforcement government. We are always ready to meet with all community members, and we plan to participate in community events as well as have time to talk with our leaders.”
Finally, Mayor Bass thanked us for our efforts to communicate with Koreans through interviews.
Choi In Seong
