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THE BOTTOM LINE - Los Angeles is unraveling and Mayor Karen Bass is busy saving the planet.
The city is grappling with rising street disorder, a homelessness strategy that continues to fall short despite billions spent, dangerously low police staffing, wildfire risks, and a deepening fiscal crisis. Residents are not asking for sweeping ideological visions. They are asking for basic governance: safety, order, and competence.
Instead, they are getting a climate agenda.
Bass has unveiled an ambitious plan: 100% renewable energy by 2035, a fully electric bus fleet by 2028, 120,000 EV chargers by 2030, expanded restrictions on oil and gas, and hundreds of millions in new climate-related spending. It is a platform designed to win applause in activist circles and policy conferences.
But Los Angeles is not a conference room. It is a city in distress.
This is not an argument against environmental responsibility. Clean air, sustainable infrastructure, and long-term planning matter. But leadership is about priorities and timing. Right now, Los Angeles is failing at the fundamentals.
Encampments persist despite more than $20 billion spent across the region in recent years. Too many individuals cycle in and out of temporary housing without permanent solutions. The LAPD remains hundreds of officers below authorized strength, stretching response times and eroding public confidence. Core city services are under pressure. And above it all looms a budget emergency so severe that the mayor sought nearly $1 billion in relief from Sacramento and came back empty-handed.
This is not a temporary shortfall. It is a structural crisis.
For residents, this crisis is not abstract. It shows up in longer emergency response times, in neighborhoods where encampments return as quickly as they are cleared, and in basic services that no longer meet expectations. It shows up in small businesses struggling with safety concerns, in families questioning whether they can remain in the city, and in a growing sense that City Hall is disconnected from everyday reality. These are not theoretical failures. They are lived consequences of a government that has lost focus on its core responsibilities.
And yet, City Hall is doubling down on expensive, long-horizon climate commitments that will do little to impact global emissions but will strain local resources even further. This is not pragmatism. It is misalignment. This isn’t just misplaced focus it’s a governing failure with real consequences for every resident of Los Angeles.
The city is also preparing to host the World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games global events that will place extraordinary demands on public safety, infrastructure, and basic city services. These are not distant challenges. They are immediate tests of competence.
Right now, few would argue Los Angeles is ready.
What makes this moment more troubling is the political reality. There is no serious pressure forcing a course correction. One challenger is running even further to the left, offering more of the same ideology at a time when the city needs balance. Another, a Republican, faces near-impossible odds in a deeply blue electorate.
That leaves Los Angeles with a sobering conclusion: the current trajectory is likely to continue.
Karen Bass is not governing like the mayor of a city in crisis. She is governing like a leader still convinced that the primary failure of Los Angeles is a lack of progressive ambition.
It isn’t.
The failure is simpler and far more dangerous. It is the inability to focus on what matters most.
Until that changes, Los Angeles will continue to drift not because solutions don’t exist, but because its leadership refuses to prioritize them.
(Mihran Kalaydjian is a seasoned public affairs and government relations professional with more than twenty years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, community relations, and strategic communications. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has spearheaded numerous academic and community initiatives, shaping dialogue and driving reform in local and regional political forums. His career reflects a steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and public service across Los Angeles and beyond.)
