Los Angeles

Mayor Karen Bass Reflects on First Year in Office

Issue: 
Mayor Karen Bass

This week, Mayor Karen Bass held a press conference to reflect on her first year in office as the City of Los Angeles' Mayor. VX News here shares a transcript to the Mayor’s full address and comments. In her address, the Mayor offered a progress report on her many initiatives: the Inside Safe program, her office’s executive directives “streamlining” affordable housing development, the commitments being made to building a green economy, as well as her many public safety initiatives.

LA28: Looking Forward Towards LA in Five Years

Issue: 
Nancy Sutley

At a panel at CoMotionLA’s recent convening in Los Angeles, featured panelists discussed just what their ideal next five years for the city might look like. VX News provides an excerpt of the panelist’s comments, including those offered by: Nancy Sutley, LA’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Hilary Norton, Commissioner of the California Transport Commission, Nik Karalis, CEO of Woods Bagot, and John Rossant, CEO of CoMotion. Amongst the topics discussed are sustainability and housing policy challenges; the future of mobility; public safety; and an Olympics 2028 wish-list.

U.S. Mayors Convene in Los Angeles to Address Nationwide Homelessness

Issue: 
Mayor Karen Bass

As homelessness numbers in the United States rise, no state has escaped untouched by the crisis. In an effort to unify problem solving in the face of such a widespread issue, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, founded in 1932, privately convened recently in Los Angeles to open more collaboration and data sharing on their respective methods for combating the issue. VX News presents this excerpt from a public press conference on the meeting, featuring comments from the Mayors of Reno, Houston, Los Angeles, and Riverside. In the press conference, the mayor’s shared their hopefulness on the utility of the meeting, as well as answered questions from the press on California’s new CARE Courts and the future of Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe program.

L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park on Fixing the Broken System

Issue: 
Traci Park

Though all of Los Angeles was impacted by COVID, Council District 11, which includes Venice, Brentwood, LAX and much of the Westside coast, felt the loss of retail and tourism revenue particularly strongly. As the district recovers and deals with post-covid and economic pains, among those increased homelessness and greater housing density, constituents are demanding a return to normal. VX News spoke with the district’s new council member, Traci Park, on what’s being done to address these challenges to livability. In the conversation, Park talks about LA’s Sensitive Location Resolution 41.18, the usurpation by the State of local planning, and the need for civic engagement and political transparency.

Investing In Place’s Jessica Meaney: LA’s Broken System = Broken Sidewalks and Streets

Issue: 
Jessica Meaney

As the process to begin pulling together the City of LA’s yearly budget moves forward this fall, LA’s City Council is also beginning efforts to seriously explore a Capital Infrastructure Plan (CIP), a document that provides a long-term, unified direction for investment in a city’s infrastructure. VerdeXchange News spoke with Investing in Place’ Executive Director, Jessica Meaney, on how the city’s budgeting could better address the needs of the city, improve equity and be more transparent. Meaney opines that the current way of doing things is failing to serve residents and why her organization’s work to push for a Capital Infrastructure Plan for the City of Los Angeles has been so important.

Bob Hertzberg on Political Lessons for the Next Generation of Leaders

Issue: 

In this exclusive interview with VX News, former CA Senate Majority Leader and former Speaker of the State Assembly, Bob Hertzberg lays out five pieces of advice that he has learned throughout his impressive political career for a future generation of decision-makers, based on some of the mos

Mono Lake Committee Leadership Assert: A Balance Is Needed Between Urban Water Need and CA Ecological Preservation

Issue: 
Headshot of Martha Davis

This Mono Lake team of water experts argue that the State Water Resources Control Board needs to update its rules that are supposed to raise Mono Lake to the mandated ecological protection level while enabling LADWP to obtain future water from Mono Lake.

AJC’s Ira Yellin Leadership Award Honors Mia and Michael Lehrer for Inclusively Greening Los Angeles

Issue: 
Andy Lipkis

TreePeople President Andy Lipkis links the architectural and civic contributions of Mia and Michael Lehrer to the adaptation and investment challenges Los Angeles must address given our “new abnormal” climate.