Los Angeles’ Democratic Mayor Karen Bass Thursday conceded her Africa trip was “absolutely” a mistake and that she was working to regain the public’s trust after facing backlash for her botched response to the raging fires in her city last month.
“Absolutely it is, and I think that I have to demonstrate that every day by showing what we’re doing, what is working, what are the challenges,” Bass told NBC Los Angeles when asked if she’s trying to “regain confidence.”
The remarks come as Los Angeles faces rainstorms this week, which could create “debris flows” in areas where the fires burned, a landslide risk for what’s left of the disaster that tore through in separate fires in the region. There have already been mudslides in some scarred areas, according to Fox Weather.
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Bass was in Ghana for the swearing-in of its president when the fires began, even though there was a high fire risk known at the time. The Palisades Fire started Jan. 7 and escalated through the night, but the mayor did not get back into the city until Jan. 8, and she did not answer repeated questions from a Sky News reporter upon her arrival in the United States.
Bass’ silence went viral and led to backlash from residents and social media.
Over 170,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for her to step down as mayor. The situation also resulted in public criticism of the mayor, ranging from former Democratic mayoral opponent Rick Caruso to liberal talk show host Bill Maher.
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“LA’s mayor, Karen Bass, the Nero of American politics, was fiddling in Ghana while the city burned,” Maher said last month.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., suggested that Disney CEO Bob Iger run for mayor in 2026. When pressed on whether she took Khanna’s comments personally, Bass shrugged it off.
“I am focused on one thing and one thing only, and that is to make sure that our city is able to recover and rebuild, and that all of those individuals that lived in the Palisades can go home,” Bass told NBC Los Angeles.
The nearly 24,000-acre Palisades Fire destroyed over 6,800 buildings, damaged 973 buildings and resulted in 12 deaths, according to state government data.
Political fallout from the fire continues as Steve Soboroff, who’s tasked with recovery efforts, was slated to receive a $500,000 payday for the next three months from different charities. However, he will now be doing the job without pay after the amount raised eyebrows as some Californians build back from nothing.
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