Saving lives by confronting the crisis on our streets

On my first day in office, I declared a state of emergency on homelessness – reaching across every level of government to save lives. Since then, tents have come down, Angelenos have moved indoors and barriers have been removed to create an easier path to permanent housing.

More than 21,000 Angelenos have moved indoors. Part of our comprehensive plan includes Inside Safe – which has led the efforts to reach some of Los Angeles’ most entrenched encampments. Read more here.

Keeping Los Angeles Safe 

Our commitment to public safety was kept this year with record numbers of Angelenos applying for our police academy over the summer. Metro ridership has increased with trains operating frequently, in a cleaner and safer way with hundreds of Metro ambassadors added to help users navigate Metro and keep Angelenos safe.

Compared to last year, violent crime and homicides are down. My office of Community Safety was formed this year with key goals to outreach neighborhoods and redefine what safety means in their communities – all while integrating crime and violence prevention into the city's public safety approach. 

We have also made investments with community based organizations by increasing deployment of our Gang Reduction and Youth Development resources in high need areas and expanding our CIRCLE program which responds to non-emergency LAPD calls involving individuals with mental health clinicians and outreach workers. This frees up officers to tackle and focus on violent crime. Read more here.

Opening Los Angeles to Businesses 

Thousands of businesses have opened across the city this year, and this month I was proud to announce that Banc of California will be relocating their headquarters to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is open for business. Read more here.

Climate and Sustainability 

This past year, hundreds of millions of dollars have been secured by locking arms with state and federal partners as Los Angeles continues to urgently lead on climate.

Some strides made in 2023:

• 48.2 billion gallons of rainwater have been captured.
• The FIRST 100% electric full-size street sweeper in the United States was launched.
• Our Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) added 26 electric DASH buses and is now up to 56.
• The first Trans-Pacific Green Shipping Corridor for both the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was launched to accelerate emissions reductions in the busiest shipping container routes. 

Preserving our Streets and Infrastructure

To keep Los Angeles moving, a record number of potholes have been fixed, and bulky items have been removed from curbs through our 311 services. 

These basic everyday city services are the backbone of strong neighborhoods and a strong economy – more than 100,000 service calls have been responded to this year. With my new Executive Directive, we are moving into the new year with developments to make the 311 system faster, and better customer service for all Angelenos. Read more here.

Karen Bass
Mayor