On Tuesday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “On Balance,” Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez said that given the damage from the fires in the area and the lack of water and firefighters, taxpayers didn’t get what they paid for and stated that whether Mayor Karen Bass can continue in her office “is for voters to decide.”
Host Leland Vittert asked if it was “fair to say Karen Bass failed your constituents, failed the city?”
Rodriguez answered, “Well, I think, again, we have a shared leadership model in the city of Los Angeles. And, for my part, I remain and have continued to be a very strong advocate for greater investments in public safety. When it came to the budget process, I fought and secured some of the additional positions which weren’t included in the budget, including wildland handcrews and additional mechanic and sheet metal workers to help repair some of the rigs. But what I’m critical about is making sure that we have the greatest amount of accountability and transparency with the use of public dollars. And I will always remain a very strong advocate for that to ensure that taxpayers are made whole and get the services that they pay for.”
Vittert then asked, “When 10,000-plus homes burn and there’s not water and there [are] not enough firefighters. They haven’t gotten what they paid for, correct?”
Rodriguez responded, “Correct. I think that there is clearly a lot more work to be done. I introduced a motion about a year ago working on a nexus study to ensure that we can grow this fire department commensurate with the growth of the city, and we’re in the process of doing that. I’ve helped to expand the alternative, basically having nurse practitioners helping to respond to a lot of what we — a lot of our call load. 82% of the L.A. city Fire Department call load is for emergency medical services.”
Vittert then asked, “[W]hen you have a leader in Karen Bass who can’t simply say, when the National Weather Service was issuing catastrophic warnings and I as Mayor got on a plane to go to Ghana, she can’t say, yeah, I made a mistake, how can she continue as Mayor?”
Rodriguez responded, “Well, listen, we will all be measured on our actions and our work. And I think it’s — that is for voters to decide. That — at this juncture, for me and my part, I was just out with Rep. Whitesides (D-CA) in my district surveying the damage associated with the Hurst fire.”
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