BREAKING: Feud ERUPTS in top 2026 race

I'm joined now by the mayor of Los. Angeles, Karen Bass. Thanks for joining. me. >> Thanks for having me on. >> So, I want to ask first and foremost, because this has gotten a lot of. national attention, about Spencer. Pratt's rise in this race. There are many folks on the left who say. that his rise mirrors Donald Trump's. rise in 2016 because of the way that. he's been able to kind of game the. media, garner attention, be politically. incorrect. Can you speak about your. reaction to Spencer Pratt's rise in this.

race, and what do you attribute it to? >> Uh sure. Well, I attribute it to social. media and all of the artificial. intelligence that has gone in. I mean, I. think he has done a blitzkrieg on social. media. But, I also attribute it to him. tapping into the anger that we see going. on nationally. Of course, tapping into. the his own personal anger and the. tragedy of the Palisades. I absolutely. do not want to minimize that, but. obviously his anger about the Palisades.

has gone national because I think he's. tapping into national anger and. frustration with politics, period. And I. think it's sad because when those kind. of things happen, it discourages people. from participating, from believing in. their government, and also from voting. >> You know, Spencer has been very. outspoken about this idea that you and. California Democrats current leadership. are responsible. basically for the tragedy that that.

befell him. And so, what would your. reaction to that be? >> Well, you know, what I have felt about. Spencer all along because I've watched. this very closely in the Palisades, is I. understand obviously his personal. tragedy and all of that, but I think. that it is really, really sad to play on. people's grief and to create an. atmosphere of nothing is happening and. hostility. There were absolutely. mistakes. The city uh really was not prepared for.

uh a disaster of that magnitude with a. weather event that we had never. experienced before. And so, hindsight is. is everything. But, this also was not. just the city of Los Angeles, the county. as well. And when I talked to the uh. fire department afterwards, uh their. response was, "We are very used to Santa. Ana winds, but we have never had. anything like this." Uh and so, I think. that the lesson uh for me and for.

Angelenos is is that now, given climate. change, we have to expect things. I. mean, I'm born and raised here. So, this. is the climate I know. And we now have. to expect things that we would have. never imagined. But, that's just one. I. mean, I can go down a list of uh. problems that happened. But, uh but it's. time to help inspire people to get back. home. And we've issued over 2,600. permits for about 1,100 properties. 400. homes are currently under construction.

now, and people are slowly uh preparing. to move back home. >> You know, in terms of the list of issues in Los. Angeles, um. is it is it not fair to say that that is. a referendum on on. in part the fact that you have been. mayor for the last several years? And. so, when somebody like Spencer Pratt. comes forward and taps into the anger. that people might feel about the issues. that are presenting themselves in Los. Angeles, how would you respond to people. saying, "Well, this is a referendum on.

you?". >> Well, I mean, I can understand people. saying that, but I also think that. Angelenos in general will look at the. overall progress that has happened in my. administration. The first time we've had. a reduction of homelessness, period. 17. and 1/2% while it's going up nationally. Crime that is down to 1960 levels, 42,000 homes that. are been fast-tracked.

with for affordable housing, 43,000. that are potential with adaptive reuse. as a policy I made now citywide, which. means you can change office buildings. into housing. So, I think that there. have been tremendous accomplishments, but you know uh pretty well I am sure is. that a lot of the problems that we face. in Los Angeles are 30, 40-year-old. problems. So, if the charge is is that. in 3 and 1/2 years I've not changed 30.

to 40-year problems, that's correct, but. we have made headway in some very. significant ways, and I would hate to. leave now before I am able to finish my. job. And there's a lot of areas where I. think we have made a difference, are. definitely put the policies in place to. make a difference, and now it's a. question of pushing them and evaluating. them along the way. >> Okay, so I want to dig into a few of. those issues, and these are the same.

issues that I spoke with Nithya Raman a. couple of days ago about and those. issues are homelessness, housing, and. Hollywood. So, in terms of in terms of. homelessness Yeah, that's right. In. terms of homelessness here, you said. that there has been a 17% reduction. I. think. Nithya Raman mentioned that the spending. in the last year has been if I'm not. mistaken 700 million dollars on. homelessness, is that correct? >> Yeah, yeah, more or less. That's. correct. That is not different than.

previous years. >> And and how many people has that. impacted? How many people were were. taken off the street off of that 700. million dollars? >> Well, there's thousands of people that. were taken off the street, but let me. just say that there are 46,000 people. that are unhoused within our city. And. so, do we have the resources to clear. all of those. individuals and put them into housing? You know, New York City made a different. decision about 20 years ago, which is.

why they don't have the level of street. homelessness that that we do. Our decision here was we were going to. build housing, and until we built. housing, we were going to leave people. on the street. So, we could have removed. far more people than that, but I have. been in battle again with a system that. has been in existence for over 30 years. that has been dysfunctional from day. one. And my mission in coming in was to. get people off the streets. That was my.

mission. That was my focus. I didn't. want to spend a year studying the. system. I wanted to act while looking at. it at the same time, building the plane. while flying it. But but we have much. much more work to do. But again, this is. a system that has been dysfunctional for. a very very long time. >> And so, what does the next 4 years look like. recognizing that you've got you've got. one term under your belt already? And. and the reason that I asked this more.

broadly is, you know, if we've spent $700 million. to tackle homelessness in just the last. year, and yes, thousands of people have. been taken off the streets, and and that. is objectively a good thing. But if you. look at the amount of money that's spent. per per person, I mean, that's that's. what upsets people, I think, in large. part when you look at when when when you. when you divide the total number of. spending by the amount of people who. have been who have been impacted here. And so, what does what does success look. like over the next 4 years if you're. reelected? What is the the plan to take.

it from 17% to a a 50 or 100% reduction? >> Right. Right. Right. Well, first of all, you know, we started coming up with. models to reduce the cost. of of housing and to reduce the cost of. interim housing. And we have been moving. forward with that. We need to catapult. that. The other thing is is that, you. know, we're in this situation with the. county right now, and that needs to be. resolved. But what I have found is is.

that it is easy to get people off the. street. When we get them off the street, we turn them over to a community-based. organization, but they're not provided. with adequate services. So when you ask. me what does it look like in a second. term, now I know from acting and. studying, I'm very clear about what. needs to happen to change this entire. situation. But one of the keys that. people consistently do not address is. the needs of the individual. You know, I.

used to work in the emergency room. My. patients were unhoused. And I have found. over the years that people have a lot of. academic and theoretical knowledge about. this problem, but they have very and they're also. experts in housing, but they have very. little knowledge about the people. The. people, why somebody winds up homeless, how to improve their lives so that they. become stable. That's why when LA made. that decision 20, 25 years ago not to.

focus on getting people off the street, just to focus on building, we have the. problem that we do now. So what I would. do in a next term is basically to end. all of the major encampments that you. see. At the end of four years, what I. want the city to look like on this. particular issue is that Angelenos would. see an individual tent here and there, but encampments would be a way of the. past, and it's very easy to resolve a. tent here or a tent there. It's much.

more difficult to resolve an entire. encampment because what we have done. different, which is the reason it has. worked, and the reason street. homelessness has gone down, is that we. get rid of the entire encampment by. housing everybody at once. What had been. done in the past, why it looked like. nothing ever changed, was they would. pluck a person here and a person there, and the encampments never went away. So, we do absolutely still have encampments, that's for sure, but we have far fewer.

encampments than we did 3 and 1/2 years. ago. >> Last question on this point. What. happens if there are people within the. encampment that don't want to be housed? >> So, you know, that we that is a very, very rare experience for us, but usually. those are two types of folks. One who. are immersed in the criminal element, and that exists, and they should be. dealt with. The other are people who are. so profoundly ill that half the time. they're not even sure that they're.

homeless. So, there's good news on that. front that I'm very excited about, because this is more consistent with who. I am. We are finally be building and. getting ready to open up mental health. facilities. The next thing that needs to. happen, though, is state policy that. allows for involuntary hospitalization. And I'm a big proponent of that, and I. realize a lot of people think that's a. civil liberties abuse, but the same. people who might feel that that's a. civil liberties abuse don't seem to. object to incarcerating people, because.

that's exactly what we do now. I'm sure. you know that, that Twin Towers is the. nation's most expensive mental health. institution, and it is a jail. And so, I want to see us. open up these facilities and begin to. house people, while I will be working on. the state policy. Being in this job, it. has served me tremendously that I served. in the state legislature and in. Congress. I know how those areas work, those institutions work. And by the way,

one of the things I've had to do on my. journey over these last 3 and 1/2 years, I've had to get federal policy changed. and I had to get state policy changed. Because I know those two institutions, I've been able to do that. >> Okay, so as we speak about the homeless. population and and creating housing, that does bring us to the next topic, which is housing more broadly in Los. Angeles. Something that obviously this city is. contending with. It's no secret that it. is difficult to build housing here. Even from an anecdotal perspective, I'm.

building a house. I can't put a shovel. in the ground for I think 18 months. because of the the sheer amount of. permits that I have to go through. And. there is a whole system built into that. process. I'm not I'm sure a lot of. people don't know this that like if you. want to expedite the process. to make it, you know, mildly reasonable, you can pay. But. that's that's 10 or 20 or 30 or 40 or. 50,000 dollars in additional cost that. you have to shoulder just so that the. system can work in in a reasonable.

amount of time. That's how the system. should work regardless. And so the. question more broadly is. what is being done to expedite. construction here in Los Angeles so that. this isn't one of the most expensive. cities in the country to build in. >> Yes, and let me just tell you something, you know, because I'm born and raised. here, I remember when the city was very. affordable. But that was one of the. problems I started tackling from day. one. I declared state of emergency to get. people off the street. And about a week. later, I did executive directive one,

which expedited building. It was focused. on just affordable housing, but we have. taken the lessons learned from that. We've actually applied a lot of those. lessons in the Palisades to expedite to. continue to further expedite. In the. Palisades, we are. learning with artificial intelligence. and. self-certification of architects so that. things could go faster. The DWP, which. is one of the biggest headaches that. everybody talks about, is beginning to.

establish a concierge service because. people were getting buildings finished. and they would have to wait a year with. an empty building waiting for the DWP. These kind of things make me crazy. Development process goes through all. these different hands and God forbid. somebody goes on vacation because then. they handle your hand your fire file. over to someone completely new who then. starts over. So all of that, all that I. described is in the midst of changing. I.

did another executive directive based on. these lessons and now we are beginning. to change the entire development process. so it's more centralized, it's more. transparent so that development can go. through. And by the way, the way I. believe in doing policy is I bring. together the people who are hands-on in. the field, not the professors, not the. academics, the people who are actually. doing the work and I've worked together. with them to troubleshoot what the.

problems are but to build policy around. changing those those problems. But once. again, these things take a while and so. this is about correcting or blowing up a. process that has been in existence for. many many years. You get resistance on. all levels. I've gotten a lot of. resistance from departments and I've had. to change the leadership cuz it's like. either you got to move past this stuff. or you have to move on.

But what I have not done is I'm not a. flashy person. I'm a workhorse, I'm not. a showhorse so I don't run and have. press conferences every time I ask. somebody to retire. I believe in letting. them retire with dignity. I have no. reason to destroy their reputation but. it does not mean that I have made. changes and I've made plenty of them and. more to come. >> In terms of the people who've pushed. back, uh who needed to be replaced, what. is the point of pushing back against the. reform of a process um that makes.

building easier and simpler in Los. Angeles, which is notoriously difficult. to build in? Like, why would somebody. take a position where where where they. don't want um the the process to be. expedited in some way? >> Well, you know what? After a while, I. call it a virus. But, after a while, you work in a. bureaucracy, and you begin to adopt a. lot of this. So, with me, they'll tell. me, "Well, we have to do it this way cuz. we've always done that." That's like. fingers on a chalkboard. >> Yeah. >> Then, it's like, "Well, the rules say we.

can't blah blah blah blah." Show me the. rule in writing. "Well, that's going to. take a while." Show me the rule in. writing. "Oh, I can't find it." There's. no rule? My line is, "Is it a felony?". If it's not a felony, get it done. But, I think the culture of City Hall is slow. and no. And most politicians come through, and. they don't really try that hard to make. the changes. Uh this is it for me. I. mean, I have viewed the positions I've. done over the years as, you know, I I'm.

not I didn't have ambition to say, "Well, I'm doing this, and now I'm going. to do that." Uh I have been driven by. issues. Uh I certainly never planned to. leave Congress. I I didn't leave. Congress cuz I was tired of it. I left. Congress because I was terrified of what. was happening here, and because I had. worked so hard in the '90s against what. led what became mass incarceration, and. I was having flashbacks seeing it happen. all over again. Except for instead of. wanting to lock up every young black and.

brown uh young person, um this backlash was going to be against. people in the streets, and the push to. just round them up, and I don't know to. do what with them, but I didn't want to. see that happen. >> I want to switch over to the last topic. here, which is the entertainment. industry, Hollywood. This has been been a a personal focus of. mine. I moved here 15 years ago because. I love the entertainment industry. I'm. not in it anymore, but I still want to. see it thrive. All of my friends are. part of the entertainment industry, and.

and I've watched as people have left. this city and left this state. And and. in some cases, left the country to seek. work elsewhere where the industry has. thrived. And I'm talking, you know, the. UK, Canada, New Jersey, Atlanta, New. Orleans, I mean, New Mexico, you name. it. Um what is being done. Okay, let me let me ask this first. question. What would you like to see in. terms of a tax credit to revitalize the. industry here in LA? >> So, let me let me just say uh.

Well, let me I'll answer that, but I. also want to tell you my background. because this has been an issue that has. been near and dear to me for many, many, many years. Um so, we can't do a local. tax credit right now. I mean, we just. can't. We can't afford to do that. I'm a. big advocate for what happened at the. state level, but again, I established an. entertainment industry cabinet. I have. worked with them through my 3 and 1/2. years. They've helped me develop policy. that they feel will be helpful to the.

industry. And so, I've done that. They. wanted the permit fee They wanted the. permit fees reduced. They wanted um. the permits expedited. They wanted a. person, one or two individuals with deep. knowledge of the city to. work as our film czar. I even opened it. up to them and said, "Give me resumes of. who you want." And they grappled with it. and thought about it and argued about it. for a long time. And anyway, they.

decided they didn't want somebody from. the industry. They wanted somebody that. was immersed in the city and that could. expedite the city process. So, we have. two people that are dedicated to. providing concierge service. I reduced. the amount of money you have to pay to. film here. So, for example, at the. Griffith Park Observatory, it was. $100,000. to shoot. We've reduced it by 70%. It's. 30,000 now. We've opened up a lot of the. city's iconic buildings for filming like.

like our Central Library, which is. magnificent structure. And then also. reduce the number of staff that need to. be on location. All of those are things. that the. industry specifically requested. And. basically, that's now been in place for. maybe eight or nine months. But but I. don't believe in just doing policy and. then walking away. I want to know, let's. see if it's working. Let's see, is it.

helping? And then we evaluate it and. figure out what more we can do. But the. industry has been a near and dear to me. I'm third generation. My grandmother, who I never met cuz she died young, worked at what is now the Sony studios. She worked there in 1932. She That was. during segregation and she took care of. the black actors. She was an. entertainer, too, but you know, the. black the movies that black people were.

in were not the best movies. Those were. the Tarzan plantation scenes. My mother. was involved. My brothers. are also involved in ancillary. businesses. And uh years before I ever. thought of being an elected official, I. was on the board of an organization. where there was community representation. and studio representation. And we were. building out the below-the-line crafts, so young people, the next generation, could learn those crafts. I made a. commitment that if I ran if I was going.

to win in office because I started. running then, that I would work on tax. credits in Sacramento. It was fortunate. that in my last term I was speaker of. the house, so I was able to do the first. tax credit that the state of California. had when Arnold was governor. It was a. little tiny bit because we were in the. middle of a a recession, the worst. recession since the Great Depression, but the idea was that it was going to. increase over time. Those were back in. the days when people were just worried. about Toronto. And I watched the.

explosion of all of the states that you. mentioned and then the international. side. When I went on to Congress, I. served on the Judiciary Committee on the. intellectual property side, so I was. dealing with all of those issues, copyright and. and wage stuff and all that. >> And so what would you like to see on on. the state side in Sacramento? You know, we have obviously a gubernatorial race. happening right now. The candidates are. vying for support. For those like myself.

for whom the resurrection of the. entertainment industry is a major issue, what would you like them to to put. forward? >> Well, I well, one continue if not expand. the tax credits, no cap. Um I think that. there's other things, you know, that they could do statewide. What I. really want to see is federal. >> [laughter]. >> Yeah. >> It's federal tax credits. And that's. something that, you know, is potential. with him. That's what was potential with.

Arnold cuz Arnold was an actor. Arnold. just didn't want to do it himself. because he said if he did it, it would. look self-serving. So he wanted us to do. it, so we did it like at 2:00 in the. morning, we slipped it in. But but I. focus on the industry and a promotion of. the industry in the state. The challenge. that we had with tax credits the first. time, again, we got it done, but most of. the state does not know about the. industry. They think it's all Brad Pitt. and it's all LA. And they don't realize.

that every single city in this in the. Well, maybe not every city, but every. county in the state has entertainment. industry business going on that they. never even knew was happening. So, back. when I was there, we spent a lot of time. educating the legislators. So, if we. have a a governor who champions it from. day one, that will go a long way in. getting the cooperation of of the. legislators. But, what I do know from. working up there is that whenever you do.

a big bill, it's always messy. It's like. a Christmas tree. After it's passed and. signed, then you spend the next three or. four years cleaning up, correcting. mistakes, or knowledge that you didn't. have. that you didn't have. >> Is an uncapped tax credit something that. you would advocate for for the next. governor? >> Yeah. >> Okay. And and finally, the last question. here. What would you like to see different in. terms of. in terms of local reforms that hasn't.

been implemented yet? I know that you. mentioned you know, lowering some costs, but. lowering the amount of people who are. required to be on set, and that includes. police officers, for example. What does 4 years from now, what does. success look like in terms of what. you've been able to do? And I ask this. because. I want to stress that it's not just you. know, kind of tinkering around the edges. that's going to take this industry back. from other cities who are offering, you. know, the sun and the moon. I mean, when.

when Atlanta had a better tax credit. than Los Angeles, the whole industry. moved there. And even the UK offered. something that was more attractive than. Atlanta was offering, and so Marvel, for. example, moves from Atlanta over to the. UK. And so, you know, there are there. are not only other states, but entire. countries who are vying. for this business because it's. lucrative, it's sexy, and so. with that in mind, like it's going to. take not just some, you know, incremental changes. It's going to take.

some pretty sweeping changes to to to. grab that industry back from entire. countries that are advocating for it. >> Well, again, you know, everything that. that I have been doing and will continue. to do is with the industry. So, the industry is guiding it. Now, I. think that what it would be very helpful. is expanding that in terms of making. sure that all parts of the industry are. represented. But, but I do believe and.

and when I say the industry, I'm talking. about people at all level. >> Yeah. >> In terms of the unions, I'm talking. about individual producers. I am talking. about major studios, too. So, I'm not. talking about one side. You know, I do. think though that the way our city. functions and the way our budget is, there are a lot of constraints on that. And I have to make sure that the city. continues to provide basic city. services.

And so, I that is absolutely essential. So, again, what we have done so far has. been guided by the industry. I intended. to continue taking their guidance. But, when you look at states like Georgia, you also have to look at how they. provide services because they don't. And a lot of what we do here is because. we're a liberal state that focuses on a. social safety net, needs to do it much, much more, but it's a trade-off. And I.

know in the state of Georgia, in the. southern states, their concern about. their people is qualitatively different. than it is here. >> For those who are looking to help your. campaign, where can they go? >> Oh, they can go to karenbass.com. They. can go to karenbassformayor. By the way, we have a very vibrant youth. component of high school students and. college students, youth for Bass. We had. them We had a component of that 4 years. ago. Now they're grown up. Now this is. another wave of young people. So people. of all ages can come they can come down.

to the headquarters and do phone. banking. Of course you can do phone. banking virtually, but you know, it's. fun in a campaign to be physically in in. a location. We walk every weekend. We do. have people walking every day too. So. there's a lot of ways for people to. participate. >> And I would just remind everybody who's. watching and listening right now that. the. election here the primary election here. in in Los Angeles is going to be June. 2nd. So if you've gotten your ballot, please make sure to fill them out, send.

them in, or make sure to head to the. polls. on or before June 2nd. Mayor Bass, I. appreciate taking the time. >> Thank you. Thanks for having me on. again. >> [music].