Karen Bass and London Breed made history by being elected, and achieved success in their respective cities as the first female mayor of Los Angeles and the first Black woman to lead San Francisco.
The powerful Democrats leading California’s major cities have many other commonalities: promises to reduce homelessness; plans to ease the opioid overdose crisis; voters concerned about crime.
But the way the two mayors are attacking urban problems reveals some surprising differences between them.
Breed, 49, Supported tough on crime statewide ballot initiative Bass, 70, does not support it. The San Francisco mayor has also worked to toughen criminal penalties for fentanyl dealers and Require drug screening and treatment for some welfare recipients – Issues that the Los Angeles mayor has not considered with financial assistance from the county.
And they’re divided over a high-profile Supreme Court case that could make it easier for cities Clear homeless campsBreed welcomed the high court’s review, while Bass warned against a ruling that could “embolden those who seek to criminalize homeless Angelenos.”
“Homelessness is the reason I ran,” Bass said during a discussion Monday at Manny’s, a civic engagement cafe in San Francisco. “The main thing is to get people off the street as quickly as possible because people are dying. But the problem in L.A. is there are too many people.”
This was the first time the two mayors came together for a public face-to-face conversation. They discussed the challenges they face in leading one of California’s most famous and influential cities.
“Homelessness is why I ran for office,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.
(Josh Edelson/for The Times)
About 46,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles, which has a population of about 3.8 million. An estimated 8,323 people are homeless in San Francisco, a city with a population of about 808,000.
Breed said the problem in San Francisco is “a little different.”
Though the city has increased shelter capacity and helped 15,000 people escape homelessness, Breed said the city faces a problem: The number of people refusing housing or shelter is rising.
“The biggest problem is fentanyl and drugs,” he said. “Getting people off the streets has been our biggest challenge.”
Political differences in LA and SF
Breed and Bass are at different stages of their mayoral terms, which may explain their differences on policy issues. After six years of leading San Francisco, Breed is up for re-election this year in a tight race against four serious opponents.
In contrast, Bass, who on Monday called himself a “rookie,” is still in the honeymoon phase after winning the election in November 2022.
“There’s this kind of horror story going on in San Francisco that I don’t think is that important to Angelenos,” said Jason Ward, an economist at the Rand Corp. in Santa Monica.
Mayor London Breed has championed some tough-on-crime strategies to tackle homelessness and open drug use on the streets in San Francisco.
(Josh Edelson/for The Times)
As Breed’s political challenges have mounted over the past two years, she has pursued a tough-on-crime strategy to crack down on street homelessness, open drug use and other public safety issues, which she once described in a speech as “The Bull – Who Destroyed Our Town,
Bass has sought a compassionate approach to the homeless without losing the support of the business community, a strategy that has drawn both praise and criticism. He has not made an endorsement in the L.A. district attorney’s race, in which a so-called law and order candidate is pitted against a progressive incumbent.
In some cases, the two politicians are coming up with the same blueprint to solve the problems of their cities.
Breed declared emergency situation Bass did the same to the drug-infested Tenderloin district in December 2021, a year later Emergency declaration on homelessnessBoth efforts were aimed at making it easier to get people off the streets and increase their access to resources.
Both mayors have rejected calls to defund the police, even Adding Money For Law enforcement Both have put a lot more money into their city budgets, despite the objections of some left-wing voters. And over the past year both have focused more on solving the problem of homelessness through temporary shelter beds, as well as funding for addiction and mental health services.
But it’s precisely their policy differences that show that civic leaders are using different approaches to solve some of California’s complex problems.
“It’s a good thing that more and more women are coming into elected life,” said Elizabeth Ashford, a Democratic strategist and board member of California Women Lead, an organization that works to elect more women. “People have to rise and fall based on their merits as leaders.”
Both mayors said their identities as Black women shape their experiences as politicians.
Bass said L.A.’s black population is about 8% which is “pretty small,” and because of this, she believes people make false assumptions about them.
“I don’t mind being underestimated,” she said. “They won’t understand that!”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass discuss the challenges facing their cities at Manny’s Cafe in San Francisco.
(Josh Edelson/for The Times)
Breed reiterated these same obstacles in San Francisco, where the Black population is less than 5%.
“I’ve had to have some very difficult conversations with a lot of privileged people in this city who feel comfortable talking to me like I’m beneath them,” Breed said.
“It’s different having African American women leading major cities. Everybody wants mayors to do a good job, but sometimes the challenges we face are different.”
Different approaches to fighting crime
Breeding earlier this year Endorsed GOP-backed measure The measure proposed for the November ballot aims to roll back parts of Proposition 47, a voter-approved initiative in 2014 that downgraded some theft and drug crimes to misdemeanors. The measure would increase penalties for fentanyl dealers and organized retail theft gangs, and provide mandatory treatment for drug users.
Bass said she does not support efforts to repeal Proposition 47.
He said in a statement to the Times that the law “has its strengths and weaknesses and should be evaluated in the same way the effects of any policy should be examined,” though his office did not elaborate on how he thought the policy should be analyzed.
The mayors’ approaches “could not be more different,” said Annie Irwin, director of Smart Justice California, a group that advocates for progressive changes to the criminal justice system.
Irvin said Bass has “learned the lessons of the tough-on-crime era and accepted the hard truth that it didn’t work.” He said Breed has reverted to “familiar political rhetoric” that pleases voters in the short term but fails public safety in the long term.
“That’s why I call it the easy, convenient response,” Irwin said. “But that’s not leadership.”
Though Irvine acknowledged that many San Franciscans wanted to see a tougher approach to public safety issues, he blamed an inconsistent and disorganized approach to solving those problems for Breed’s declining voter support.
“For the last several years, the people of San Francisco have watched Mayor Breed move from one viewpoint to the next depending on the loudest headlines of that week,” Irwin said.
Those outside the event protested budget cuts proposed by Mayor London Breed in San Francisco, including funding for child care programs and food banks.
(Josh Edelson/for The Times)
For Breed’s supporters, she is making tough decisions for the city she loves.
Breed grew up in the Western Addition, raised by her grandmother Difficult childhood Defined by poverty, gang violence and street crime.he shared The story of losing a sister She died nearly 20 years ago of a drug overdose, and her brother has been in prison for over 100 years. two decades in prison for armed robbery and other charges.
“London Breed has a lot of experience in this kind of life, and I think she has responded the way she should have responded to protect her citizens,” said former Mayor Willie Brown, who made history as San Francisco’s first black mayor and before that as speaker of the state Assembly. “And that’s what would be expected of a mayor.”
Bass has so far spent much of his term doing exactly what he promised on his campaign trail — focusing almost entirely on the homeless. Under Bass’s Inside Safe program, which places homeless people in hotels, motels and other types of shelters, 2,720 people have been moved out of street camps, according to officials.
He also issued an order that dramatically speeds up the approval process for housing projects that are considered 100% affordable in the city. In April, he said the city had more than 16,000 affordable housing units in the pipeline.
Bass was raised in the Venice–Fairfax area of Los Angeles, and grew up working as a volunteer. Presidential campaign of Senator Robert Kennedy Up to the age of 14 years.
She founded the Community Coalition, a nonprofit focused on tackling the structural racism that causes neglect in South L.A. A former emergency room physician assistant, she served in Congress for more than a decade before being elected mayor.
He has tried to walk a fine line between helping people find shelter and housing and responding to complaints from merchants and neighbors about tents and drug use.
She has mostly stayed away from the debate over a policy that gives council members the option to ban homeless camps within 500 feet of schools and parks. The law has been attacked by the most left-wing members of the City Council, who say it is a waste of police resources.
Bass has suggested in interviews that the law merely moves homeless camps around, but she said she would not try to repeal it.
Sam Tsemberis, chief executive of the Pathways Housing First Institute in Santa Monica, said the way both mayors are responding reflects the frustration in their respective cities.
“It depends on personal attitudes and values,” Tsemberis said. “And also for politicians, what will be good in terms of their chances of getting re-elected.”
