Rep. Karen Bass Message to the Jewish Community of Los Angeles

On Tuesday, an extended, prolific and costly race to be the subsequent mayor of Los Angeles can be determined between U.S. Representative Karen Bass and actual property developer Rick Caruso.

Rep. Bass took time to communicate with the Journal this week about the considerations of the Los Angeles Jewish neighborhood. She began with the prime of the listing: anti-Semitism.

“The rise of anti-Semitism, the constant threat, it seems like it’s almost every weekend with fliers being dropped around the neighborhood,” Bass advised the Journal.

Last week, which started with requires companies to drop their partnerships with Kanye West and anti-Semitic banners positioned over the 405 freeway, Bass issued a scathing rebuke.

“Whether it’s found in banners unfurled over the 405, distributed by those with millions of fans, or expressed in some other form, the rampant rise of anti-Semitism in our city is unacceptable, and as mayor, I will act to stamp it out.” that. and particularly to fight hate-inspired violence,” Bass mentioned in an Oct. 27 press launch. “I’ll strengthen hate crime enforcement and work with the Jewish neighborhood to share their historical past and the variety of their tradition as a result of training and inclusion are the antidote to hate and ignorance. I’m proud to have stood with Jewish Angelenos all through my life and honored to have the help of these neighborhood leaders.”

In her dialog with the Journal, Bass spoke about greater than only a stance, however about taking motion in opposition to crime and anti-Semitism.

“One of the issues I would like to take a look at is cameras—individuals rings and different video cameras as a result of it simply looks like we should always have the ability to monitor these individuals down. And if the cameras which are there usually are not satisfactory, then possibly there must be some neighborhood cameras. I do know that is one thing I’d like to do when these varieties of issues occur.”

The Bass marketing campaign mentioned it “called for increased enforcement and hate crime prevention by the LAPD” in addition to “additional state and federal funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to ensure local synagogues and community organizations are equipped to prevent hate-motivated violence.”

Bas is aware of the space properly, having grown up in the Venice and Fairfax neighborhoods. She went to Hancock Park Elementary School, Louis Pasteur High School at 18 and Fairfax (now the web site of the Center for Enriched Studies in Los Angeles), and graduated from Hamilton High School. She got here of age throughout the Civil Rights Movement, a time when Bass remembers alliances between African-American and Jewish civil rights advocates. But one specific second throughout this time that she by no means forgot was the first time she noticed the quantity tattoos on the arms of one of her associates’ dad and mom who have been Holocaust survivors.

“I’ve never forgotten it, it’s burned into your memory, it was very shocking,” Bass advised the Journal. These reminiscences caught along with her all through her quest to combat injustice and enhance the lives of these in her neighborhood: in Los Angeles as a doctor’s assistant and social employee, in Sacramento as a state legislator, and in Washington, DC as a member of Congress.

From 2004-2010, Bass represented Assembly District 47, which then ranged from Westwood to Hancock Park to Ladera Heights, together with the total Pico-Robertson neighborhood.

In the US House of Representatives, Bass represented California’s thirty third district, and from 2012 to the current, the thirty seventh district. She by no means acquired lower than 80% of the vote in a General Election when she ran for workplace to signify her ward.

As Speaker of the California State Legislature and as a US Representative, Bass visited Israel thrice. Each go to was totally different, however like all elected leaders who make official visits to Israel, Bass’s journeys to Israel included visits to Yad Vashem. Bass’ marketing campaign additionally spoke of her “efforts to advance US-Israel relations and combat the scourge of anti-Semitism.”

“In 2016, [Bass] led a bipartisan effort, signed by 394 members of the House of Representatives, calling on President Obama to veto unilateral initiatives at the United Nations that would be detrimental to achieving a two-state solution,” the assertion mentioned. assertion. “Earlier this year, she co-sponsored a House resolution condemning the horrific terrorist attack at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas.”

During our dialog, she used the phrases “act” a number of instances. Her willingness to accomplish that exhibits, as she elaborated on the relationships she fashioned in Israel and her fears for the booming tech trade.

“One of the things I talk about is Israel’s ability to conserve water, cycling and desalination,” Bass mentioned. “It’s extremely important in California.”

If elected mayor of Los Angeles, Southern California’s consuming water provide is bound to be a giant focus over the subsequent 4 years. Just final month, the Doheny Ocean Desalination Project in Orange County was permitted by the California Coastal Commission. However, there are not any desalination vegetation in mainland Los Angeles County (there may be one on Catalina Island). There’s little doubt that civic leaders in Los Angeles will look to Israel as a mannequin for the future of California’s consuming water sustainability.

The kinship between Los Angeles and Israel is robust – being mayor of Los Angeles additionally means main the major metropolis in the world’s fifth largest Jewish inhabitants middle (622,480). The solely metropolitan areas with a bigger Jewish inhabitants than the Los Angeles space are Haifa (710,600), Jerusalem (992,800), New York (2,109,300), and Tel Aviv (3,891,800).

And as mayor of the second-largest metropolis in the United States, there can be an enormous highlight on the winner of Tuesday’s election. Bass has already taken a highlight, profitable the help of President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama. Her marketing campaign additionally presents a listing of greater than 115 Jewish neighborhood leaders who’ve endorsed Bass for mayor.

Among them are Representative Brad Sherman, State Senator Henry Stern and City Council member Bob Blumenfeld. Bass joined these three Valley leaders on 818 Days (Aug. 18) to communicate with them and members at Art’s Delicatessen in Studio City to focus on enterprise neighborhood outreach and public security.

And then there may be the matter of homelessness. Bass is aware of that is the prime difficulty on the mayoral poll. Both Bass and Caruso have complicated plans to tackle the disaster, however have spent all of 2022 providing a simplified model to voters. In an Oct. 26 dialogue at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles (and sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League), Bass talked about utilizing religion leaders as a means to tackle homelessness.

“I’ve been speaking to religion leaders saying ‘if I win, I’ll come again to you as a result of now we have to have a
interfaith alliance that speaks for humanity and that opens individuals up. Because now individuals need to see the tents go, however ‘construct housing on my block? No no no construct it elsewhere!’ What it might imply if that occurred is that every one housing and reasonably priced housing for the homeless can be in lower-income areas that, frankly, are overpopulated with individuals residing in two- and three-family homes. unit now. And the inner-city low-income communities cannot take up 40,000 individuals and we will not cover them, so you recognize now we have to take a look at that, and so I see the metropolis merger as a means to to do that. But epically, homelessness is the primary difficulty, it truly is, as a result of how are we going to construct these alliances if individuals principally assume all people in workplace is corrupt?”

After all, Los Angeles voters may have the closing say on Tuesday, Nov. 8 in selecting the subsequent mayor to sort out anti-Semitism, crime, corruption and homelessness. She summed up her message to the Los Angeles Jewish neighborhood in her remarks at an ADL occasion final week:

“I’ve dedicated my life to the fight for social and economic justice, and part of that fight means always fighting anti-Semitism and recognizing what’s happening right now in our country,” Bass mentioned. “We’ve been experiencing this for a number of years now and I imagine the solely means to cope with it’s by coming collectively and being very aggressive. I’ve all the time been lucky to have broad help in the Jewish neighborhood and have over 100 leaders and the Jewish organizations which have supported me, which have labored with me for a few years. And so the Jewish neighborhood will all the time have entry to me and my administration if I’ve the honor of profitable your vote.”