Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Talks Public Transit

Summary

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Bloomberg Talks – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Talks Public Transit

Date: March 27, 2026
Host: Bloomberg
Guest: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass

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Episode Overview

This episode of Bloomberg Talks features an in-depth interview with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, focusing on public transit developments in LA, rising gas prices, housing affordability, Hollywood job impacts, preparations for global sporting events, economic insights relative to other major cities, and Mayor Bass’s vision for LA’s future—particularly homelessness, public safety, and core city services.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Gas Prices and Public Transit (00:37–01:45)

• Context: California’s average gas price is around $6 per gallon; LA is a car-centric city.
• Mayor Bass’s Response:
  • LA has invested decades in expanding its public transit, encouraging its use alongside carpooling.
  • The high gas prices are complicated by both local environmental taxes and global uncertainty.
  • Quote:

    "Affordability is the number one issue we're dealing with here, period."
    — Karen Bass (01:28)

2. Housing Affordability and New Construction (01:45–02:41)

• Trend: Permit numbers for new construction have declined since 2022.
• Actions Taken:
  • Fast-tracked building approvals, especially for housing, via executive directive early in her term.
  • Currently, 40,000 units are in process, with thousands actively under construction.
  • Lessons in cutting red tape for housing now applied to commercial and residential projects generally.
  • Macro-economic pressures remain a challenge.
• Quote:

  "Making it easier to build...I signed an executive directive to fast track the building, especially of housing."
  — Karen Bass (02:00)

3. Hollywood, Industry Consolidation, and Job Impacts (02:41–04:28)

• Recent News: Paramount and Warner Bros. consolidation could mean job cuts in LA.
• Mayor Bass’s Approach:
  • Long-term engagement with the entertainment industry, including creating and advocating for state film tax credits.
  • Regular meetings with industry stakeholders, adopting their suggestions to streamline filming permissions.
  • Positive results: Over 119 new film projects in LA since the introduction of tax credits and other initiatives.
• Quote:

  “We do have filming increasing in our city. Of course, I'm concerned about the merger. I think what a lot of people don't think about are all of the jobs that are associated either directly or indirectly.”
  — Karen Bass (03:38)

4. Preparing for Major Sporting Events: World Cup and Olympics (04:28–06:50)

• World Cup 2026:
  • LA anticipates significant economic benefits, even though matches are hosted in Inglewood.
  • Expecting tens of thousands of visitors, hosting over 100 citywide events.
  • Federal security reimbursements are expected, as event classified as a national security event.
  • Quote:

    “We anticipate having 100 different events...We’re really seeing it as an economic boom to our area.”
    — Karen Bass (05:06)

• Olympics (LA28):

  • Recent controversy over LA28 chair Casey Wasserman’s past ties; Bass called for his ouster but will continue to collaborate professionally.

  • Established an Office of Major Events to coordinate city readiness.

  • Emphasizes collaboration with LA28 despite differences:

    "My role is to make sure that the city of Los Angeles is ready to welcome thousands, tens of thousands of visitors from around the world..."
    — Karen Bass (06:32)

5. Peer Cities, Innovation, and Transferable Leadership (06:50–08:03)

• Comparison with San Francisco:
  • Observes how SF’s mayors, London Breed and Dan Lurie, focused on AI and reversing economic decline.
  • LA differs by size and industry diversity; no single dominant driver.
  • Bass highlights collaborative relationships among major city mayors.

6. Accomplishments & Future Vision: Mayoral Re-election Pitch (08:03–10:08)

• LA’s Progress Since 2022:
  • Homelessness: LA reversed the national trend, boasting an 18% decrease in street homelessness vs a national increase.
  • Crime: Reduced to levels not seen since the 1960s.
  • City Services: Upgrades to street lighting, moving from copper (prone to theft) to solar, with a program to replace 60,000 lights underway.
  • The mayor frames her approach as focused on “basic quality of life” improvements.
• Quote:

  “What I hope to accomplish by the end of my second term is establishing and creating a functional system that we get people off the street...we have to keep them off the street permanently and we have to prevent more people from falling into homelessness.”
  — Karen Bass (08:57)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On affordability and transit:

  "Affordability is the number one issue we're dealing with here, period."
  — Karen Bass (01:28)

• On Hollywood jobs and production:

  “We do have filming increasing in our city...we have over 119 new projects that have started in L.A since the tax credits and these other initiatives have been put into place.”
  — Karen Bass (04:19)

• On Olympic partnership despite controversy:

  "The decision whether Casey Wasserman stays was up to the board. They've made their decision. My role is to make sure that the city of Los Angeles is ready..."
  — Karen Bass (06:32)

• On homelessness progress:

  "We've had the exact opposite in Los Angeles, where we've had a decrease in street homelessness of 18%."
  — Karen Bass (08:35)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Gas prices & public transit solutions: 00:37–01:45
• Housing construction trends and reforms: 01:45–02:41
• Hollywood job concerns & city intervention: 02:41–04:28
• World Cup/Olympics preparations & security: 04:28–06:50
• Comparisons with San Francisco leadership: 06:50–08:03
• State of LA & re-election goals: 08:03–10:08

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Summary

In a wide-ranging discussion, Mayor Karen Bass described the city’s multi-pronged efforts to address affordability, stimulate housing construction, retain and grow local industry, prepare for international events, and enhance city services. She touted material decreases in homelessness and crime as evidence of her administration’s effectiveness and outlined a vision through a potential second term that centers on infrastructure, safety, and a functional system to keep residents housed. Her tone was pragmatic, optimistic, and focused on both immediate and long-term solutions while acknowledging the scale and complexity of LA’s unique challenges.

Transcript

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[Karen Bass]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts, radio news.

[Interviewer 1]

Mayor Bass, thank you so much for joining us. I do want to start with gas prices, obviously hot topic across the country. When I take a look at California, Triple A tells me right now that the average gas price is pushing about $6 per gallon. You think about Los Angeles, obviously it's a city that loves its cars. So what are you doing as mayor, if anything, to try and help reduce the impact of those higher gas prices?

[Karen Bass]

Well, let me just tell you that we are a city that loves our cars. However, we have spent the last three or four decades building out our public transportation system and so encouraging people to use public transit, encouraging people to carpool. We certainly hope that this ends soon enough because gas prices were already high here because we have chosen to tax ourselves to improve our environment. So adding on the international events and just the uncertainty from Washington, you can only imagine the concern that has when affordability is the number one issue we're dealing with here, period.

[Interviewer 2 (David Gura)]

Let me stick with affordability if I can. I know that permits for new construction have fallen every year since you took office back in 2022. Curious why that is. Also curious what you can do as mayor to reverse that trend in Los Angeles.

[Karen Bass]

Well, absolutely. Number one is making it easier to build. And so I did that within my first couple of weeks in office. I signed an executive directive to fast track the building, especially of housing. And we have 40,000 units that are currently going through that process now with several thousand actively under construction. But once we applied those lessons to affordable housing, then we began to apply those lessons in terms of cutting red tape to other types of building, whether it's commercial, residential, etc. And so that has helped. Now, of course, the other thing that is creating a lot of difficulty is just the larger macroeconomic issues.

[Interviewer 1]

Absolutely. And you're seeing that across the country. I do want to talk specifically though, about Hollywood, about the filmmaking industry. We learned earlier this year that we saw the consolidation of Paramount and Warner Brothers, a hard fought bidding war there on Paramount's part. The Consensus is that this is likely going to lead to thousands of job cuts. You think about the unemployment rate in L. A? It already stands at about 5.1%. That was at the end of 2025. That is higher than US and state averages. So with this wave of job cuts seen as likely, what are you doing to prepare?

[Karen Bass]

Well, let me just tell you even before that. The entertainment industry is one of our foundation industries. And so I have certainly been doing everything to make sure that filming doesn't continue to leave and, in fact, increases in our city. And so the first thing, of course, was the advocacy on the tax credits on the state level, which did finally pass and get signed. I was involved when I was speaker of the assembly many years ago in creating the first tax credits. But I meet with the industry regularly, and they came up with a variety of things that the city could do to make filming easier. I put all of those into policy, put them into action. And we do have filming increasing in our city. Of course, I'm concerned about the merger. I think what a lot of people don't think about are all of the jobs that are associated either directly or indirectly, with the industry and making sure that filming can be easier. We have over 119 new projects that have started in L. A since the tax credits and these other initiatives have been put into place.

[Interviewer 2 (David Gura)]

You're preparing for two big sporting events. Let's start with the first. That's the World Cup. And I'm curious if you could describe the amount of investment you're having to make in security and indeed, whose going to be footing the bill for all that?

[Karen Bass]

Sure. Well, we certainly are anticipating reimbursement from the federal government. You know, we were got the delegate, the. The consideration for a national security event very early on, and so that unleashes a lot of support. But what we're doing as a city, the game actually takes place in an adjacent city, Inglewood. But we are preparing for tens of thousands, if not more, of visitors traveling throughout our city. And we're planning festivals and watch parties all throughout our city. We anticipate having 100 different events. And, you know, the World cup lasts over 30 days. So we're really seeing it as an economic boom to our area.

[Interviewer 1]

It's a similar situation when you think about what's happening in New York. Of course, the actual games are happening in New Jersey, but of course, New York City is going to sort of see the benefit of that. I do want to talk about the Olympics. Of course. That is the other big sporting event you have called for the ouster of Casey Wasserman as the L. A 28 Olympic chair. You looked at his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein. He's staying put. So with that in mind, given that history, how do you anticipate working together now?

[Karen Bass]

Well, we'll continue to work together. I'm in conversation regularly. And LA28 is the independent nonprofit that is putting on the Games. It's located nearby City Hall. We collaborate on a daily basis. I set up an office of major events to handle all of the events. The culmination, of course, is the Olympics and the Paralympics, but we have the World cup, the U.S. open for golf for women, we have the Super Bowl. All of those things are happening before we get to the Olympics. And so we. We continue to work together. The decision whether Casey Wasserman stays was up to the board. They've made their decision. My role is to make sure that the city of Los Angeles is ready to welcome thousands, tens of thousands of visitors from around the world and that all of the venues that take place in the city of L. A are prepared.

[Interviewer 2 (David Gura)]

I want to ask you for some comparison, if I could. So Dan Lurie in San Francisco has kind of shepherded that city from what was called a doom loop into a bit of a boom environment, thanks in part to AI I'm curious how one mayor looks at another and the work that he or she does. Is there anything in his leadership that you admire or think might be transferable to your leadership of Los Angeles in this term and if you're reelected to a second one?

[Karen Bass]

Well, let me just tell you that one thing that has been very enjoyable about being mayor is that we are all in conversation and collaborate with each other and look at each other's experience. And so actually, my view of San Francisco started with the former mayor, London Breed, who really focused on AI she said she wanted it to be the AI Capital of the world. And I see how he has continued that, and I'm sure he will expand it even further looking at his ties in the business community. Now, you know, San Francisco is a much, much, much smaller city than Los Angeles is. We are so big, 500 square miles, that we don't have one big industry. I mean, the entertainment industry, of course, is a rock, but so are several other industries as well.

[Interviewer 1]

Well, Mayor Bass, as David mentioned, you are up for re election. So focusing explicitly on that, how would you say that Los Angeles is better off today than it was four years ago? And should you win that second term, what is your top goal?

[Karen Bass]

Absolutely. Well, I ran because Los Angeles was the epicenter for the country in homelessness, especially street homelessness. And I am proud to say that after year after year of homelessness increasing and the national trend, frankly, was an increase in homelessness of 18%, we've had the exact opposite in Los Angeles, where we've had a decrease in street homelessness of 18%. This is a dysfunctional system that has been dysfunctional for at least the last three decades. And so what I hope to accomplish by the end of my second term is establishing and creating a functional system that we get people off the street. We know how to do that, but we have to keep them off the street permanently and we have to prevent more people from for falling into homelessness. So public safety is another key issue. And crime has been reduced to levels going back to the 1960s and then basic city services. So when you think of public safety, basic things like street lights, we've had a rash, like many other cities, of copper theft. And so now pushing that furthers our environmental goals of changing from copper to, to solar. And I just announced a program a couple of days ago to replace 60,000 copper wire lights with solar lights. What the city had been doing for years and years is just replacing copper lights with copper lights that continue to be stolen. So basic quality of life, basic city services, homelessness, public safety, the things that I have worked on, that we have made absolute objective progress and I want to continue and take it across the finish line.

[Interviewer 2 (David Gura)]

The 43rd mayor of the city of Los Angeles, Karen Bass. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

[Karen Bass]

Thank you for having me on.

[Interviewer 2 (David Gura)]

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