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# Los Angeles Isn’t Failing by Accident — Mayor Bass Is Running It That Way
April 16 2026
Written by Mihran Kalaydjian.
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THE BOTTOM LINE - Los Angeles isn’t just struggling it’s being mismanaged, and the consequences are now impossible to hide.
Look at America’s three largest cities New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. All three are shedding jobs, piling on debt, and watching public services deteriorate. That’s not coincidence. It’s a pattern.
And in Los Angeles, that pattern points directly to leadership.
Under Mayor Karen Bass, the problem isn’t just policy it’s the people chosen to carry it out. Because if you want to understand why Los Angeles feels increasingly ungovernable, don’t just look at the mayor. Look at her appointees.
This isn’t bad luck.
It’s bad leadership by design.
Time and again, critical roles have been filled not with proven operators, but with political allies and insiders. The result isn’t just inefficiency it’s a steady erosion of public trust and a system where accountability is optional.
Start with public safety.
After the devastating 2025 wildfires, Angelenos deserved transparency. Instead, they got controversy. Reports that a critical after-action review may have been altered raised serious concerns about political interference. And what followed? No urgency. No aggressive pursuit of answers. No clear accountability.
At a moment that demanded leadership, City Hall delivered silence.
And silence, in the face of failure, is a decision.
Then comes the revolving door of failed leadership.
A high-profile appointment to oversee fire recovery collapsed under controversy, including claims of a massive taxpayer-funded compensation package. Leadership at Animal Services unraveled amid allegations of dangerous conditions and a lack of transparency ending in yet another quiet exit.
At the Port of Los Angeles an economic engine responsible for one out of every fifteen jobs serious questions remain about the judgment behind key reappointments tied to past financial mismanagement.
And nowhere is the failure more visible than in the city’s homelessness response.
Billions have been spent. Yet the crisis persists and in many areas, worsens. Audits and independent reports have pointed to breakdowns in oversight, unreliable data, and deep accountability gaps. Allegations of conflicts of interest tied to public contracts only reinforce what many Angelenos already believe:
The system isn’t working and no one is being held responsible.
This is not a series of isolated missteps.
It is a governing pattern.
A pattern where loyalty is rewarded over competence. Where oversight is avoided rather than enforced. Where failure carries no consequence.
When loyalty replaces competence, failure isn’t accidental it’s inevitable.
Los Angeles has seen political machines before. But even flawed systems understood one basic truth: if you hold power, you have to deliver results.
Today’s version doesn’t.
Instead, it delivers expanding bureaucracy, declining services, rising costs, and a public that is losing confidence fast.
You can see it everywhere.
Infrastructure that continues to crumble. Public safety stretched thin. A homelessness crisis that consumes billions with little measurable progress. Businesses and residents quietly leaving for cities where governance is disciplined, predictable, and effective.
Meanwhile, cities like Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, and Miami are attracting growth, investment, and opportunity because they are getting the fundamentals right.
This isn’t about ideology.
It’s about competence.
It’s about whether the people running one of the most important cities in the country actually know how to manage complex systems, enforce accountability, and deliver results.
Right now, the answer is becoming impossible to ignore.
Los Angeles doesn’t just have a leadership problem. It has a culture-of-governance problem.
And until that changes, nothing else will.
The bottom line: this isn’t a crisis of resources.
It’s a failure of leadership and the city is paying the price.
*(**Mihran Kalaydjian** is a veteran public affairs and government relations professional with more than two decades of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, and strategic communications. A respected civic and education leader, he has helped drive dialogue and reform across Los Angeles. He is a regular contributor to CityWatchLA.)*
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