A delegation of Los Angeles officials traveled to Sacramento Monday to meet with state lawmakers, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and members of his cabinet.
Mayor Karen Bass told KNX News’ Craig Fiegener, who traveled with the delegation, that she hopes to secure up to $60 million to pay for storm damage, the 10 freeway fire, and reimbursements for the city’s housing efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sacramento is familiar turf for the mayor, who served in the California Assembly from 2004 to 2010. She’s also familiar with how long it takes to get paid by the state.
“I was puzzled about that before I ever ran for office, because I ran a community-based organization. We had contracts with the state and it took months to get paid,” Bass said.
City Council President Paul Krekorian and councilmembers Bob Blumenfield, Monica Rodriguez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, and Eunisses Hernandez also joined the trip. Hernandez said her district in downtown and Northeast Los Angeles was hit particularly hard by the recent storms.
“There's a lot of infrastructure resources that we need to fix the streets and to make sure that we don't have collapses of homes down the hills,” she said. “We were very successful at the federal level, as a delegation, getting millions of dollars. We’re coming to the state to get millions more.”
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Bass and several councilmembers traveled to Washington, D.C. in October to secure federal resources for housing, the West L.A. VA campus, and more.
Soto-Martinez, a longtime labor leader and first-term councilmember, said working in government is “very different than seeing it from the outside.”
“Once you get in, you realize there’s just so many different levels, and it’s a Byzantine situation sort of thing you’re entering into,” he said. “When I went on the DC trip and both these trips, I came in like a sponge. I was like, I'm here to learn what we can do different and better.”
The delegation is expected to return from the two-day trip Tuesday.
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