LOS ANGELES, CA – Mayor Karen Bass delivered an upbeat State of the City address on Monday, including a call for “the luckiest Angelenos” to participate in a capital campaign to accelerate the creation of affordable housing for people homeless.

LA4LA is seeking “personal, private sector and philanthropic funds to help us acquire more properties, reduce the cost of capital and accelerate housing,” Bass said in the afternoon speech in the City Council Chambers.

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“We have united the public sector and now we must prevail over the humanity and generosity of the private sector,” Bass said.

“LA4LA can be a game changer for Los Angeles: an unprecedented partnership to confront this emergency, an example of how to disrupt the status quo to build a new system that saves lives.”

Bass also reiterated his goal of hiring additional police officers despite the budget shortfall.

Bass said she remained committed to her goal of increasing the size of the Los Angeles Police Department to 9,500 officers. The latest figures for sworn officers are below 8,900.

“Supporting our sworn staff is deeply important to me. And the status quo simply cannot protect Angelenos, which is why we are acting to change it,” Bass said.

“As a result, we are attracting a record number of applicants to the police academy, and my budget for next year maintains our LAPD staffing goals.”

Bass said he remained optimistic for the future because of how far the relationship between city and county officials and the city of Los Angeles has come in just “a short year.”

The mayor must address the City Council annually prior to the publication of the proposed city budget. Bass’s proposed spending plan for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which begins July 1, will be released later this month before being sent to the City Council for review.

Bass received applause as he touted past accomplishments, along with charting a path forward to address the city’s projected $467 million budget deficit, an ongoing homelessness crisis, rising crime and explained how the eight games played out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. and the 2028 Olympic Games can benefit the city.

On a personal note, Bass also revealed that his family welcomed his third grandson, Oliver.

“While I have spoken tonight about the 4 million Angelenos I work for every day, a big part of my heart goes out to him and my other grandchildren right now,” Bass said.

“I know City Hall can do big, bold things for Los Angeles… for today and for the future that my grandchildren will inherit.”

He added: “I will never accept that we have to settle for the way things have always been… and if we continue to challenge the status quo – through the budget and across the board – we will ensure that Los Angeles is a great city. that puts people’s businesses first… that puts results first… and that builds a new Los Angeles that we can all be proud of.”

The mayor acknowledged that her Inside Safe program, the cornerstone of her effort to reduce homelessness, was part of a “rescue phase” to address the emergency, and that aspect “always turns out to be expensive.”

“There’s no way around it: Motel rooms rented by the night are expensive, but it’s much, much more expensive to leave people homeless on our streets,” Bass said.

The program has resulted in more than 2,500 people formerly living in encampments receiving temporary housing, mostly in motels, since shortly after she took office in December 2022, according to figures provided by the Homeless Services Authority of the Angels.

Inside Safe and the city’s overall approach to ending homelessness are “evolving and will continue to evolve,” he added.

The city is searching for a new permanent police chief following the retirement of Michel Moore in February. A national search is underway. Bass reiterated that the process will not be a conversation “behind closed doors.”

While Bass didn’t hint at what his 2024-25 budget proposal will look like, he said his goal is to “change the way Los Angeles budgets.” The city’s budget for fiscal year 2023-24 was approximately $13 billion.

According to city administrative officer Matt Szabo, the overall shortfall of $467 million represents a combination of $289 million in unexpected expenses, primarily in the police and fire departments and liability claims, and a shortfall of $187 million in expected revenues.

The LAPD element of the unexpected expense comes primarily from overtime, due to what Bass has acknowledged is a significant staffing shortage of sworn officers.

All those red numbers could affect the city’s hiring in the next year. Last week, the council’s Personnel, Audits and Hiring Committee voted to consider a plan to eliminate nearly 2,000 vacant positions in a variety of departments, a move that could save $155.6 million to the general fund and about $7, 3 million to other special funds. according to Szabo.

The city had previously implemented a “critical hiring prioritization” plan, freezing most vacant positions unless they were considered high-need. In total, the city has around 3,600 vacant positions, representing between 280 and 300 million dollars.

“Going forward, we will use the elimination of these vacancies to lay the foundation for future budgets to be based on actual service delivery,” Bass said.

“We will begin preparing for next year’s budget immediately after this year’s budget is signed, so we are taking advantage of these difficult times to determine how departments can operate more efficiently and effectively.”

With the Olympics in the next four years, Bass assured that Los Angeles will be ready.

“The Games will mean more than 5 million visitors will pump billions of dollars into our economy: staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants, visiting our museums and exploring our neighborhoods,” he said.

“And my administration will create a focused initiative to ensure that the Games mean hundreds of small businesses win contracts and hire Angelenos.”

Bass also announced the creation of a new climate cabinet and climate plans that will move city departments toward the goal of moving away from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy, such as solar and wind, by 2035.

By JOSÉ HERRERA, City News Service