Los Angeles Mayoral Race: Palisades Fire Survivors Still Back Bass as Two Polls Split
LOS ANGELES, California, October 31 — Four residents who lost theirhomes in the Palisades Fire told the California Post they remainfurious over Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass's handling of the disaster,yet will still back Bass in the mayoral election rather than turn tochallenger Nithya Raman, the California Post reported.
The Palisades Fire ignited on January 7, 2025, while Bass was inGhana. The blaze killed at least 12 people and destroyed more than6,800 structures, the report said. Nearly 22 months later, rebuildingremains painfully slow: just 62 properties had received certificatesof occupancy as of October 20, according to a private tracker usingcity permit records, while thousands of families remain displaced.
The four residents were Jessica Rogers, president and executivedirector of the Palisades Long-Term Recovery Group, speaking as aresident; Sue Kohl, a former president of the Pacific PalisadesCommunity Council; Nina Madok, a Republican; and Kaye Steinsapir.
Madok said she believed Bass's actions resulted in her town burningdown and that Bass had been problematic in delivering on promises, butadded: "But the devil you know is better than the devil you don't."She said the Bass administration has a deeper knowledge of thebureaucratic roadblocks delaying recovery and believed Bass'srelationships with Republicans in Washington could help secure federalassistance. Madok has secured rebuilding permits and hopes to returnhome by December 2027.
Rogers raised alarms about Raman and her allies in the DemocraticSocialists of America, saying policies she associates with formerDSA-backed Westside Councilman Mike Bonin damaged public safety. Shecredited Bass with coordinating with federal environmental officialsafter the Palisades Fire, meeting with Gov. Gavin Newsom'sadministration and responding to security concerns, saying Bass wasasked to give residents extra safety and security and work with lawenforcement, and she did.
Kohl acknowledged Bass made a serious mistake traveling to Ghanadespite warnings of dangerous fire weather. "All right, she made amistake. She's not the only human in the world to have ever made amistake," Kohl said. Kohl credited Bass with visiting the community,sending deputies to recovery meetings and helping secure staterestrictions on increased housing density in fire-damagedneighborhoods, saying Bass "works hard, and she has good people in heroffice, and she's done everything in her power since the fire."
Steinsapir said she had confronted the mayor over what she describedas an absence of leadership after the fire, in terms so harsh shefeared the mayor's office would never speak to her again. Instead,Bass listened and continued working with community leaders, she said."I've seen cooperation, and good things from the mayor's office that alot of people in the community are unaware of," Steinsapir added.
The report also noted that billionaire developer Rick Caruso andPalisades Councilwoman Traci Park both plan to vote for Bass despitereservations about her leadership. Caruso, who lost to Bass in 2022,announced on Monday he would vote for his former opponent, saying:"For the love of LA, I must put the past behind me because thiselection must be about our future." Park, whose district includes thedevastated Palisades, said: "I'm not endorsing Karen Bass, but I amvoting for Karen Bass."
Two polls diverged. A California Post/McLaughlin poll found Ramanleading Bass 46.7% to 38.8%, with 13.5% of potential voters undecided.Just 25.5% approved of Bass's job performance, while 71.7%disapproved. A newer UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll showed thecandidates tied at 40%, with 19% undecided, but found 65% of likelyvoters viewed Bass unfavorably.
Raman wrote a letter to the Palisadian-Post on Friday in response to ahigh school student's piece saying the Palisades Fire should weigh onvoters' minds come Election Day. "The city's failures before, duringand after the Palisades Fire were staggering, heartbreaking andutterly unacceptable," Raman wrote, adding that it is the mayor's dutyto "supervise emergency preparedness activities in the variousdepartments and offices," as explicitly defined in the city charter,and that to say the current mayor failed in that duty when it wasneeded most "is painfully obvious." Bass, in an exclusive interviewwith the Post on Friday, said her "biggest regret is most obviouslythat I wasn't here" during the fire.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 洛杉矶市长凯伦·巴斯官方肖像。洛杉矶市政府官方照片，GSM固定图库。 / Official portrait of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. City of Los Angeles official photo, GSM asset library.
