The office of Mayor Karen Bass announced on December 5 that Banc of California is relocating its headquarters from Santa Ana to Los Angeles. This follows the mayor’s weeklong tour of Los Angeles, commemorating her one-year anniversary as the city’s mayor.
“As California’s leading business bank, we are designating Los Angeles as our headquarters to further serve this vibrant business community. In recognition of our partnership with the City, Banc of California is very pleased to make a $1 million contribution to Mayor Bass’ Contract Financing Assistance Program,” said Jared Wolff, CEO of Banc of California in the press release.
This is the latest effort of Mayor Bass’ office to ensure her first year’s accomplishments are firmly imprinted in the public’s mind and to build support for her second and third years in office.
On December 4, the Mayor made her first stop in San Pedro to visit the city workers on their sidewalk repairs, noting that their work repairing roads damaged by the extreme temperatures.
The mayor also attended a Clean L.A. graduation in downtown Los Angeles, where she engaged with prospective employees joining the city government. Mayor Bass visited a water reclamation plant in Van Nuys, which is working to establish a ‘drought-proof’ water supply system for Los Angeles.
“Over the past year, we’ve invested heavily in ending homelessness, public safety, attracting businesses to our city, and protecting against natural disasters like hurricanes,” said Mayor Bass on December 3.
Although the city government is expected to release a series of statistics next week to showcase its past performance, it is confronting major criticism from within and outside the city, including the lack of progress on the homeless problem, the appointment of biased cronies to key positions, and controversies over the overconsumption of city funds.
The city’s homelessness initiative, Inside Safe, has been under scrutiny for spending tens of millions of the city budget to provide temporary housing for the homeless and has been criticized for not resulting in permanent housing. The city claims to have assisted over 17,000 homeless individuals, though it faces criticism over many of these individuals eventually returning to the streets.
The mayor’s staffing of key positions such as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor has included former congressional aides, individuals from certain nonprofit organizations, and officials from the previous mayor’s office, leading to accusations of cronyism both inside and outside of City Hall.
BY BRIAN CHOI, HOONSIK WOO [ichoi@koreadaily.com]
