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THE BOTTOM LINE - Mayor Karen Bass’s recent commentary on public safety argues correctly that safety matters, that policing matters, and that Los Angeles must act. No serious person disputes that public safety is foundational to a functioning city. Where her argument collapses is not in principle, but in record.
Where has this urgency been?
Last year, Mayor Bass signed a city budget that did not include the public safety funding increases she is now calling essential. The Los Angeles City Council approved it. That choice was not forced by circumstance or timing. It was a deliberate prioritization decision and Angelenos are living with the consequences every day.
This is not an abstract policy disagreement. It is visible on our streets: broken sidewalks, deteriorating roads, darkened streetlights, unchecked graffiti, and neighborhoods that feel less safe than they did a decade ago. It is reflected in slower emergency response times, understaffed police and fire departments, deferred maintenance, and a city workforce bracing for furloughs and layoffs year after year.
Los Angeles has fallen into a dangerous and familiar pattern. Each budget cycle begins with optimistic assumptions and political promises. Each year ends with mid-year spending additions, unplanned commitments, and widening deficits. The result is chronic fiscal instability followed by service reductions that hit core city functions first and hardest.
Public safety and policing are not optional line items. They are core services. So are fire protection, street repair, sidewalk maintenance, street lighting, water infrastructure, sewer systems, and the electrical grid. A city that cannot maintain these basics is not governing responsibly it is merely reacting to failure.
Yet instead of fully funding these services at the start of the fiscal year, City Hall repeatedly approves budgets that underfund them, only to return months later asking for emergency infusions. That approach is not strategic. It is fiscal mismanagement. It creates uncertainty, erodes public trust, and leaves departments unable to plan effectively.
We have seen this movie before. It ends with budget shortfalls, labor concessions, hiring freezes, deferred infrastructure projects, and residents paying more while receiving less. It is precisely how Los Angeles has drifted into structural deficits year after year.
Compounding the problem is the explosion of long-term legal settlements costing the city hundreds of millions of dollars annually often spread over 10, 20, or even 30 years. These obligations quietly consume future budgets before a single pothole is filled or a single streetlight is repaired. As long as these costs remain unexamined and unchecked, the city will never catch up on its infrastructure backlog.
Then there is homelessness spending billions of dollars allocated with limited transparency and uneven outcomes. Stakeholders deserve a clear accounting of what return on investment the city is receiving. Every dollar spent without measurable results is a dollar not spent hiring police officers, staffing fire stations, repairing streets, supporting anti-graffiti programs, or modernizing aging infrastructure.
None of this requires new slogans or rhetorical flourishes. It requires tough decisions.
It requires a mayor and city council willing to say no to parochial projects, discretionary pet initiatives, and politically convenient add-ons. It requires every elected official to come to the table and agree collectively that core services come first, not last.
That means fully funding police and public safety before a crisis emerges, not after conditions deteriorate. It means repairing streets and sidewalks on predictable schedules, fixing streetlights promptly, replacing water and sewer pipes before failures occur, and investing in the technology systems that allow city departments to operate efficiently.
Most of all, it requires honesty with the public. Residents are not asking for miracles. They are asking for competence, transparency, and priorities aligned with reality.
Los Angeles does not suffer from a lack of ideas. It suffers from a lack of discipline.
The bad behavior must stop. Fiscal responsibility is not optional. Transparency is not negotiable. Public safety cannot be reduced to rhetoric after the fact.
If Mayor Bass and the City Council truly believe public safety is essential, the proof must appear where it matters most: in the budget before the fiscal year begins, not after it collapses.
Promises are easy. Results are harder. Los Angeles deserves the latter.
(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.)
(Jay Handal is a veteran community advocate and longtime CityWatch contributor who plays a central role in holding Los Angeles City Hall accountable. He serves as treasurer of the West LA–Sawtelle Neighborhood Council. With decades of grassroots organizing and civic leadership, Jay is a relentless voice for transparency, fiscal reform, and empowering neighborhoods to challenge waste, mismanagement, and backroom decision-making at City Hall.)
