EXCLUSIVE: Karen Bass is about to make some history, again.
The first woman elected Mayor of Los Angeles, the former Congresswoman is in Paris for Sunday’s Olympics Closing Ceremony and the handover to the City of Angels for the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad. In that handover from Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Mayor Bass will be the first Black woman mayor to receive the Olympic flag in what will be the first female mayor to female mayor transfer.
“I hope that it sends a message to girls in general around the world, but especially Black girls in the United States,” declares the first term mayor from the streets of the City of Light ahead of tomorrow’s closing ceremony in the 80,000-capacty Stade de France. Of course, in this year of a distinctly unpredictable election in the United States, a smart retail politician like Bass is in Paris to suss out what can be learned from the past two weeks of competition and culture for the next summer Olympics here in Los Angeles.
In that context, the Mayor chatted with me about Paris 2024 and the closing ceremony, plus LA 2028. Mayor Bass also spoke about her efforts to help jump start the film and TV industry in Los Angeles after a hard past few years that have seen a pandemic, strikes, cuts galore and more belt tightening by the studios and streamers. And then there’s that matter of a certain history making Vice President and a certain convicted felon.
DEADLINE: In taking the Olympic flag from Mayor Hidalgo in Sunday’s closing ceremony,, you will be the first black woman mayor ever to receive the flag. What does that mean to you as both the mayor of LA and as an individual?
MAYOR KAREN BASS: Well, first of all, it is an incredible source. of pride.
I am very excited about it and humbled by it. I hope that it sends a message to girls in general around the world, but especially Black girls in the United States. I mean, we’re on the verge of a Black female president. So, I think it’s just an exciting time. I’m always interested in young people feeling as though that they can do anything. But if I can make a small contribution to a young person feeling that way, then I will be very satisfied.
DEADLINE: On the topic of the closing ceremony, there are a lot of rumors about what we are going to see from LA near the end. We reported on Tom Cruise swooping down. There’s talk of the likes of Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and others performing, and a big Hollywood production from LA 2028. Besides your own flag handover role, what else are we going to see?
MAYOR BASS: (laughs) Very seriously, I don’t know.
DEADLINE: C’mon …
MAYOR BASS: I’m serious, I don’t know.
DEADLINE: Okay, we’ll take your word for that, but staying on LA 2028 and the end of Paris 2024, looking at what we’ve seen over the past two weeks, what are the pros and cons for you looking forward four years from now?
MAYOR BASS: Well, I think what we could learn from them pro is how to have a wonderful event that involves everybody, how to have a guarantee set aside for small businesses. And then I think on the con, I don’t know what is the con you know.
DEADLINE: Really?
MAYOR BASS: Perhaps how they did their opening ceremony. I think we would focus more on the athletes. I don’t think it’s a con or a criticism, just something we would choose to do.
DEADLINE: The 2028 Olympics will occur halfway what through would be your second term, which means you will not only have a great deal of influence on the Games, but will be literally the host and the one handing over the flag to the Mayor of Brisbane . How will you use that influence?
MAYOR BASS: I view it as a target date in which we need to address a number of challenges in our city. And I will tell you that I want to see the game take place and benefit the entire city. So, one of the things I’ve loved about being here is that even in neighborhoods where the games are not actually being played, there’s complete participation still with cultural events and fan festivals..
DEADLINE: How so?
MAYOR BASS: I was in front of City Hall earlier this week and there were thousands of people out there watching one of the games on a big screen, I would like to see that same type of thing happen for or games. I want all of Los Angeles cooking, electric and involved.
DEADLINE: Inside and outside the venues then?
MAYOR BASS: Yes, because we’re so fortunate in LA to have so many venues. So, the Griffith Observatory could be one place for people. You know one of the things in terms of communities, I want to see us use the Greek Theatre, I want to see us use the Hollywood Bowl. We have the BMO Stadium. We have Exposition Park. Oh, my goodness, we are so fortunate.
DEADLINE: I get those locations but I wonder what you feel about the sometimes overlooked parts of our city – South LA and some of the satellite cities that don’t get recognized as much or over in amazing Boyle Heights and East LA. We have the Watts Tower, a national landmark, that I know many people in LA have never seen in person. How do we bring those parts of the city in to play, so to speak, for 2028 to show the full, rich picture of LA?
MAYOR BASS: Well, we are definitely going to do that because we’re going to have folks all over the place. So, the Watts Tower, absolutely, By then we will also have the open spaces of Destination Crenshaw We have the incredible murals of East L.A. and at the San Fernando Valley. I want to make sure that all of those neighborhoods are represented including our various ethnic neighborhoods like Little Ethiopia and Koreatown. Little Armenia, Little Bangladesh.
DEADLINE: Madame Mayor, that all sounds both ambitious and great, but one of the biggest challenges LA faces now and heading towards 2028 is homelessness, both for the unhoused themselves and the tension have so many people on the streets has created in the city …
MAYOR BASS: Yes..
DEADLINE: Governor Newsom recently signed a new order based on the Supreme Court’s ruling about homelessness and encampments. LA has made it pretty clear that they’re not going to take what some have called draconian measures, but I know that dealing with this crisis has been a major part of your administration. Talking to people, I hear a lot: “Oh, God, we can’t have an Olympics. There’s all these people on the street.”
What would you say to those people?
MAYOR BASS: First of all, Dominic you know I’m around for this, because that has been my focus, my passion, my concern, and I’ve worked on this night and day since even before I took office.
So, for the first time in many years, we’ve actually had a decline in street homelessness. Where I agree with the governor and have worked in very close partnership with him, is we have been clearing out encampments, we’re going to continue to do that. The difference is that for us that is clearing out an encampment for us is defined by getting people housed. What I don’t think works is just telling people to move along.
DEADLINE: On another local issue, you recently made moves to boost production here in the home of Hollywood, and put together an Entertainment Industry Cabinet, with the likes of MPA boss Charlie Rivkin, NBCU VP Yvette Estrada, ex-Film Czar Ken Ziffren, Netflix’s Amy Lemisch, and Jason Reitman in it.
MAYOR BASS: Yes..
DEADLINE: When you and I spoke at the Shirley premiere on March 19 you mentioned to me about you were trying to see if the governor would even enlarge the state’s $300 million annual film and TV tax credits. So, coming out of the pandemic coming out of last year’s strikes, what do you think needs to be done that can really help to get the industry back on its feet, get production back to where it used to be and get people back to work?
MAYOR BASS: First of all, on my end, as mayor, we can make filming much easier. We can make the development of soundstages much easier. We can expedite things. Then down the line when the economy is better I want us to consider A local tax credit.
DEADLINE: For real?
MAYOR BASS: Yes, and in Sacramento, and I do understand with the deficit this is not the year for it, but we have got to expand our tax credit. All these other states once again, are beating us and tits slowing our local industry.
DEADLINE: And, let’s be honest, the city has become too damn expensive for many. We see that with the working homeless. We see that with people who have seen the bank accounts decimated by a lack of work, and leaving for greener pastures …
MAYOR BASS: Absolutely, I agree. LA has become unaffordable. This is a problem for everyone. We want people to be able to live in LA, to work in the entertainment industry and to have a very fruitful life.
DEADLINE: On the subject of a fruitful life in LA, it’s not a secret that a lot of people have said they want to leave America if Donald Trump is back in the White House. You mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic bid for the White House at the top of this conversation, so from your perspective over in France right now, what is the feeling over there about the presidential election?
MAYOR BASS: Dominic, let me just say that the world is depending on us to get this election right. Also, I really want to see at the convention an incredible celebration of President Biden. He is going to have a legacy as President of accomplishments of monumental importance, like infrastructure, President Joe Biden came in and got it done.
And I can’t wait next January to be at the inauguration of the first woman, first black Asian woman as our next president. And by the way, let me just say a word about our incoming vice president, Tim Walz. I served with him in Congress for eight years. I think the Vice President made a wonderful selection. I can only imagine the chemistry between the two, but his history of service then leaving the house and becoming such a great governor of Minnesota, I think this is a real winning ticket.
DEADLINE: Gold medal winning?
MAYOR BASS: (laughs) Of course.