During his years as a community organizer in South L.A., Los Angeles City Council Member Marquise Harris-Dawson witnessed the devastation caused by the crack cocaine epidemic and the economic decline that followed the 1992 L.A. riots.
Working in South L.A., where he lived as a child, inspired him to become a politician. It was also where he met another progressive organizer, Karen Bass.
Now, Harris-Dawson, 54, will lead the City Council as the next president, and Bass, her close ally, will be mayor.
Harris-Dawson’s two decades at the nonprofit Community Coalition, co-founded by Bass, will shape her agenda. Homelessness, which disproportionately affects Black and Latino populations, and housing affordability will be her top issues, she said Friday at her first council meeting as chair.
“When we have a situation where thousands of people are living on the streets, it really puts everybody’s public safety at risk,” he said in the presence of his family members.
“First of all, people living on the street are subject to all kinds of untold oppression,” he said. “There are also other dangers that result from this disorder – fires, you name it.”
Harris-Dawson, first elected to the council in 2015, has pushed for more housing in her district and to stop sex trafficking on Figueroa Street.
He represents a South Los Angeles district, which includes all or parts of West Adams, View Heights, Hyde Park, Van Ness, Baldwin Hills, and Adams-Normandie.
Dermot Givens, a political consultant who has followed Harris-Dawson’s career, described her as a relationship-builder. Givens said the council member garnered enough votes to become president without a public fight with a colleague.
“He’s a very good guy, and he’ll continue the work of consensus-building as council president,” Givens said.
council May voted 14 to 0 Harris-Dawson has been selected to replace Council Member Paul Krekorian, who has held the position since October 2022, following the audio leak scandal that led to the resignation of Council President Nury Martinez. Krekorian is leaving the council in a few months due to term limits.
As council president, Harris-Dawson will have to manage relationships with some colleagues she has publicly criticized.
Harris-Dawson, who is Black, was among those urging Council Member Kevin de León, who participated in a leaked conversation that contained racist and derogatory comments, to resign.
He told the Times that he had largely restored his relationship with de León, who, along with the rest of the council, had supported his bid for the council presidency.
“A couple of things hit a mark,” Harris-Dawson said of the comments made this week. Secretly recorded conversations that included derogatory comments about black people and others“Those scars are still there, but I think we’ve gotten to a point where we can really work on behalf of the people of the city of L.A.”
At Friday’s meeting, Harris-Dawson’s colleagues, including De Leon, congratulated her. Some praised the efforts the new council president made to work with them behind the scenes.
Council member John Lee said he felt “alone” after joining the council in 2019 because he was seen as the lone conservative on the Democratic-majority council. Lee said Harris-Dawson reached out and the two are now friends.
“You don’t focus on the things we necessarily disagree on,” Lee told Harris-Dawson. “You focus on the things we agree on.”
Harris-Dawson grew up in South L.A. until gang violence forced his family to move to the foothill communities of Altadena and Arcadia. He would visit his grandfather in Baldwin Hills on weekends.
He studied political science and mathematics at Morehouse College.
At the Community Coalition she worked on education and employment initiatives.
“They’re focused on some of the same issues,” Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State Los Angeles, said of Harris-Dawson and Bass. “The mayor’s policy concerns are similar to Marquis’.”
As chairwoman, Harris-Dawson can choose which council members will serve on committees dealing with the budget, public safety, homelessness and other key issues. She will also schedule items for votes.
In an interview, he said he would form a new committee focused on “unarmed response” that would look at, among other issues, how police officers handle traffic stops.
The council already is studying the cost and feasibility of creating unarmed civilian squads to respond to some traffic issues, as well as eliminating some traffic stops for minor violations and limiting traffic fines in poor neighborhoods.
Advocates cite racial disparities in stops and frisks carried out by the LAPD in South L.A., arguing that the crime-fighting strategy has alienated generations of black and brown Angelenos.
Harris-Dawson said she has been stopped by police while driving, including after joining the City Council, and said she was afraid an armed police officer might approach her car.
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
