Karen Bass and London Breed every made historical past after they had been elected, shattering glass ceilings of their respective cities as the primary feminine mayor of Los Angeles and first Black girl to guide San Francisco.
They share many different similarities as highly effective Democrats main California’s marquee cities: a promise to cut back homelessness; plans to mitigate an opioid overdose disaster; an voters involved about crime.
However the methods the 2 mayors are attacking these city issues reveal some stunning variations between them.
Breed, 49, has backed a tough-on-crime statewide poll initiative that Bass, 70, doesn’t assist. The San Francisco mayor has additionally labored to toughen felony penalties for fentanyl sellers and require drug screening and therapy for sure welfare recipients — points the Los Angeles mayor has not weighed in on with monetary help overseen by the county.
And they’re cut up over a high-profile Supreme Court docket case that would make it simpler for cities to clear homeless encampments: Breed has welcomed the excessive courtroom’s evaluation whereas Bass warned in opposition to a ruling that “may embolden those that want to criminalize unhoused Angelenos.”
“Homelessness is the rationale I ran,” Bass mentioned throughout a dialogue Monday on the civic engagement cafe Manny’s in San Francisco. “The principle factor is getting folks off the road ASAP as a result of persons are dying. However the issue in L.A. is the huge numbers.”
It was the primary time the 2 mayors got here collectively publicly for a one-on-one dialog. They mentioned the challenges they face main California’s most well-known and influential cities.
“Homelessness is the rationale I ran,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass mentioned.
(Josh Edelson / For The Occasions)
About 46,000 persons are homeless in Los Angeles, the place the inhabitants is about 3.8 million. An estimated 8,323 persons are homeless in San Francisco, a metropolis of about 808,000.
Breed mentioned the issue in San Francisco is “a little bit bit totally different.”
Although the town has elevated shelter capability and helped 15,000 folks exit homelessness, Breed mentioned, the town faces a conundrum: The quantity of people that refuse housing or shelter is rising.
“The most important drawback is fentanyl, is medicine,” she mentioned. “That has been the largest problem we’ve needed to get folks off the streets.”
Political variations in L.A. and S.F.
Breed and Bass are at totally different factors of their mayorships, which can clarify a few of their divergence on coverage. After six years main San Francisco, Breed is up for reelection this 12 months in a tricky race in opposition to 4 severe challengers.
In distinction, Bass, who referred to herself as a “rookie” Monday, continues to be in a honeymoon section after profitable the election in November 2022.
“There appears to be this type of doomy narrative in San Francisco that I don’t really feel is sort of as entrance of thoughts for Angelenos,” mentioned Jason Ward, an economist at Rand Corp. in Santa Monica.
Mayor London Breed has supported some tough-on-crime methods to handle road homelessness and open-air drug use in San Francisco.
(Josh Edelson / For The Occasions)
As Breed’s political challenges have mounted within the final two years, she has turned to tough-on-crime methods to crack down on road homelessness, open-air drug use and different public questions of safety she as soon as described in a speech because the “bull— that destroyed our metropolis.”
Bass has sought a compassionate method to homelessness with out dropping the assist of the enterprise neighborhood, a method that’s drawn reward and criticism. She has not given an endorsement within the heated L.A. district lawyer race, which pits a so-called regulation and order candidate in opposition to the progressive incumbent.
In some situations, the 2 politicians are bringing the identical blueprint to fixing their cities’ issues.
Breed declared a state of emergency in December 2021 for the drug-infested Tenderloin district, with Bass following swimsuit a 12 months later along with her personal emergency declaration on homelessness. Each efforts aimed to make it simpler to get folks off the streets and enhance entry to sources.
Each mayors have rejected calls to roll again funding for police, even including cash for regulation enforcement of their metropolis budgets, regardless of objections from some left-leaning voters. And so they’ve every targeted a lot of the final 12 months on addressing homelessness through momentary shelter beds, whereas additionally placing cash towards dependancy and psychological well being companies.
But it surely’s their coverage variations that illustrate the numerous methods civic leaders try to unravel a few of California’s thorniest issues.
“That is the great factor about an increasing number of ladies stepping into elected life,” mentioned Elizabeth Ashford, a Democratic strategist and board member of California Girls Lead, a company that works to elect extra ladies. “Persons are going to should rise and fall primarily based on their very own deserves as leaders.”
As Black ladies, each mayors mentioned their identities form their experiences as politicians.
Bass mentioned L.A.’s Black inhabitants is “fairly small” at about 8%, and due to that she believes folks misjudge her.
“I don’t thoughts being underestimated,” she mentioned. “They gained’t see it coming!”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass talk about their cities’ challenges at Manny’s cafe in San Francisco.
(Josh Edelson / For The Occasions)
Breed echoed those self same hurdles main San Francisco, the place the Black inhabitants is lower than 5%.
“I’ve needed to have some actually exhausting conversations with a number of very privileged folks on this metropolis who really feel comfy speaking to me as if I’m beneath them,” Breed mentioned.
“As African American ladies main main cities, it’s totally different. Everyone needs the mayor to do a great job, however typically the challenges we face are totally different.”
Completely different approaches to combating crime
Breed earlier this 12 months endorsed a GOP-backed measure proposed for the November poll that goals to roll again a part of Proposition 47, a 2014 voter-approved initiative that decreased sure theft and drug felonies to misdemeanors. The measure would enhance penalties for fentanyl sellers and arranged retail theft rings, and supply necessary therapy for drug customers.
Bass mentioned she doesn’t assist efforts to repeal Proposition 47.
She mentioned in a press release to The Occasions that the regulation “has its strengths and weaknesses and it ought to be evaluated in the identical manner that the impacts of any coverage ought to be examined,” although her workplace didn’t clarify how she thinks the coverage ought to be analyzed.
The mayors’ approaches “couldn’t be extra totally different,” mentioned Anne Irwin, director of Sensible Justice California, a bunch that advocates for progressive modifications to the felony justice system.
Bass has “taken the teachings from the tough-on-crime period and accepted the exhausting fact that it didn’t work,” Irwin mentioned. Breed, she mentioned, has reverted to a “acquainted political rhetoric” that appeases voters within the quick time period however fails public security within the lengthy haul.
“That’s why I name it a simple, expedient response,” Irwin mentioned. “However that’s not management.”
Whereas Irwin acknowledged that many San Franciscans wish to see a harder method on public questions of safety, she attributed waning voter assist for Breed to what she described as an inconsistent and chaotic method to fixing these issues.
“San Franciscans are watching Mayor Breed over these previous a number of years lurch from one method to a different primarily based on the loudest headlines that week,” Irwin mentioned.
Folks outdoors the occasion protest funds cuts Mayor London Breed has proposed in San Francisco, together with funds for child-care applications and meals banks.
(Josh Edelson / For The Occasions)
To Breed’s supporters, she is making powerful selections for a metropolis she loves.
Breed grew up within the Western Addition, raised by her grandmother in a powerful childhood outlined by poverty, gang violence and road crime. She has shared the story of dropping a sister to a drug overdose almost 20 years in the past, and her brother has served greater than 20 years in jail for armed theft and different prices.
“London Breed has a ton of expertise being uncovered to that sort of a life, and I’d assume that she has reacted in the way in which she ought to for the protection of her residents,” mentioned former Mayor Willie Brown, who made historical past himself as the primary Black mayor of San Francisco and, earlier than that, as speaker of the state Meeting. “And that’s what can be anticipated of a mayor.”
Bass has spent a lot of her time in workplace as far as she promised on the marketing campaign path — nearly completely targeted on homelessness. Below Bass’ Inside Secure program, which locations homeless folks in accommodations, motels and different types of shelter, 2,720 folks have been moved from road encampments, in accordance with officers.
She additionally issued an order that has dramatically sped up the town’s approval of residential initiatives deemed 100% inexpensive. In April, she mentioned that greater than 16,000 inexpensive housing models had entered the town’s pipeline.
Bass was raised within the Venice-Fairfax space of Los Angeles, and was volunteering for Sen. Robert Kennedy’s presidential marketing campaign by age 14.
She based Group Coalition, a nonprofit targeted on tackling the structural racism that led to neglect in South L.A. A former emergency room doctor assistant, she served greater than a decade in Congress earlier than being elected mayor.
She has sought to stroll a nice line between serving to folks get into shelters and housing and responding to complaints from companies and neighbors about tents and drug use.
She has largely stayed out of the talk over a coverage that provides council members the choice to bar homeless encampments inside 500 ft of colleges and parks. The regulation is attacked by probably the most left-leaning members of the Metropolis Council, who decry it as a waste of police sources.
Bass, in interviews, has instructed that the regulation merely shuffles homeless encampments round, however mentioned she gained’t search to repeal it.
The way in which the 2 mayors are responding displays the frustrations of their respective cities, mentioned Sam Tsemberis, chief govt of the Pathways Housing First Institute in Santa Monica.
“It comes down to private attitudes and values,” Tsemberis mentioned. “And likewise for the politicians, what is going to play effectively by way of the probability of their reelection.”
