LIVE: MAJOR SHAKE-UP in LA Mayoral Race Could CHANGE IT ALL | The Weekend Show

Mayor Karen Bass is criticized for not leading with the urgency and focus required for Los Angeles's challenges. A key example is the absence of a Deputy Mayor of Housing for two years, despite an 'extraordinary cost of living crisis' driven by housing costs. This perceived 'rudderlessness' contributes to worsening city conditions.

Guest states, 'this mayor... has not led with the urgency and focus that this moment in Los Angeles demands. We have an extraordinary cost of living crisis driven by the rising cost of housing and we haven't had a deputy mayor of housing for the last 2 years in City Hall.'

LA's public safety system is unbalanced due to a costly LAPD union contract. This contract, intended to boost staffing and retention, failed, resulting in the city paying half a billion dollars more annually for 1,500 fewer officers. This overinvestment in salaries for existing officers depletes funds for other essential public safety elements like 911 call takers and unarmed response teams, ironically making Angelenos feel less safe.

Guest explains, 'We have a system where we have under-invested in some elements of public safety while putting more money into an LAPD contract that was designed to increase LAPD staffing and retention, but failed to do that. So now we have a contract which is ensuring that we're paying about half a billion dollars more annually for 1,500 fewer officers than we were before.'

Unlike New York City, which has a court mandate to provide sufficient shelter beds, Los Angeles only has about one-third of the necessary shelter beds for its homeless population. This results in two-thirds of LA's homeless population experiencing unsheltered homelessness (living in tents, cars, RVs), making the crisis highly visible and intense compared to other major cities.

Guest contrasts LA with New York: 'New York actually has more homeless people than even the county of LA... But because the city of New York has a court mandate to build the number of shelter beds... only a very small percentage of their homeless population is on the streets... Here in the city of LA, we have about a third of the shelter beds that we need... and as a result, two-thirds of our homeless population is experiencing what we call unsheltered homelessness.'

An urban planning perspective highlights that the lack of housing near job centers in Los Angeles is a primary driver of traffic congestion. When people cannot afford to live close to work, they commute from farther afield, often without transit options, leading to increased car usage. Building more housing, especially near transit lines, could actually reduce traffic.

Guest states, 'in many ways it is the lack of housing near job centers that increases traffic here in the city of Los Angeles. If you don't have enough housing near where people work... that means they will be getting in their car to come to work. Which means actually the lack of housing is what's resulting in more traffic, not increasing housing.'

Los Angeles is behind schedule in its preparations for the Olympics, particularly regarding a plan for sharing expenditures with LA28. The city is liable for the first $275 million in cost overages, and delays in planning for transportation between event sites are ongoing and slow, raising concerns for a cash-strapped city.

Guest notes, 'We were supposed to receive a plan for a sharing of expenditures between ourselves and LA28 some months ago. We still haven't gotten that. And for the city, that is a challenge because... we are on the hook for the first $275 million in cost overages.'

Despite vocal opposition to ICE, the city of Los Angeles has not been proactive enough in challenging federal immigration policies. The city should be suing the federal administration more frequently for unconstitutional actions and funding immigrant defense at a higher level, as it was previously underfunding it compared to the last Trump administration. LAPD's questionable collaboration with ICE has also eroded public trust.

Guest asserts, 'I think we should be suing the federal administration more frequently for the unconstitutional actions of federal law enforcement on our streets... We were funding immigration defense at a lower level than we were at the in the last Trump administration, despite the fact that the Trump administration was doing so much more harm on our city streets.'