Thread by @KNOCKdotLA

Hi everybody! This is Eleanor at Knock, live tweeting the Mayoral Debate tonight. Moderators Elex Michaelson (Fox 11) and Erika D Smith (LA Times) kick off introductions

First Q: homelessness. Bass says she'd declare a state of emergency. Would appoint a housing chief to handle day one

De Leon: has lived experiences with housing. Talks about the housing he's built. "if we can build basketball courts we can build housing for our unhoused neighbors." Wants Build Back Better from federal gov.

Sorry **lived experience with homelessness!

Caruso: talks about the American Dream? Talked about the 14,000 beds we already have.

Buscaino: Sassy to Caruso!! wants to create no camping law city wide and greenlight temporary shelter beds. Also talks about "drug epidemic."

Feuer: thanks the moderator's mother for the brownies hahaha. First day, would follow FEMA's emergency model and declare homelessness an emergency. Wants public spaces to be "safe and accessible to everyone"

Caruso is confident he can build 30,000 beds by the end of the year. "I'm the only one on the street that's a builder." Doesn't answer the question regarding his statement about using cops to deal with homelessness.

Bass doesn't think you shouldn't criminalize poverty, and you can't just move people from one neighborhood to another. Use street outreach workers. Thinks police should be in the background in case things get dangerous, but against arresting unhoused folks.

Buscaino thinks we need a camping law that has teeth, that LA has "enabled this behavior." "Is it criminalizing poverty to connect people to services?" Not directly addressing whether or not he would arrest unhoused folks.

Bass responds: Buscaino's three strikes rule won't work because lots of people are suffering from mental illness. They might not respond to typical street outreach.

De Leon talks about the activists who tried to block him moving unhoused folks into housing (?) Says he's housed more individuals than anyone on this stage. Talks again about his tiny houses.

Feuer said something to Caruso about him being a "builder" and how that's not what we need. Caruso brings up Feuer's office getting raided. Feuer: "I'm glad you brought that up!"

Next Q: Crime. "Do you personally feel safe in Los Angeles"

The next question: Do you feel safe in Los Angeles? De Leon says that will vary from person to person. Thinks we can better utilize our resources. Doesn't think we should increase police budget too much.

Feuer: wants an increase of 10,000 officers but also police reform. Wants civilian ambassadors at police stations, and fund alternative programs.

Buscaino: generally feels safe in LA, but his family would say otherwise. "mayhem and chaos" in LA. Almost said he voted to defund the police hahaha. Corrects himself and says as mayor he would REfund the police. cool

I think folks can use this link to watch along! facebook.com/USCPolFuture/v…

Caruso: "everyone can agree crime has gotten worse." Talks about his 30% reduction of crime (as police commissioner? I missed what he said sorry everybody)

Bass feels safe in LA. Wants to very seriously invest in communities to reduce crime and increase safety in the future.

Feuer again talking about how he thinks it's possible to expand the LAPD and also reform it at the same time. Wants a more diverse police force and more college educated cops.

Caruso again saying crime is the worst it's ever been. Arrest rate is down which means "officers aren't engaged." Says he's used to managing budgets and stands with Joe Biden RE: funding the police. "You can't put a dollar value on saving a life"

De Leon says what Joe Biden says is a bunch of Malarkey. Raising LAPD budget means raising taxes on everyday Angelenos who have already suffered through COVID, or cutting much needed services. We can't have it both ways. Better utilize resources we already have.

now they're all being chummy on stage

Caruso responding to De Leon: instead of saying we only have so much pie to go around, why don't we focus on growing the pie. (Now, I want pie)

De Leon wants to clarify he never agreed with "defunding the police"

Buscaino: everything hinges on public safety in this city. Wants to add 1,000 more cops so that people see them and "feel safe." Wants more gang intervention members. Increase community safety partnership program modeled in Watts.

Bass: Increase the number of police officers to deal with the attrition. Would hire civilians to do the desk jobs so police can be on the streets instead.

Next topic: LA District Attorney George Gascon.

Bass does not think Gascon be recalled, does not agree with recall process in general. However, she feels no reform should be so rigid that it can't be amended, which she thinks some of his polices are.

Caruso had lunch with Gascon and told him his policies are making people feel unsafe. Caruso decided to contribute to the recall effort to give Angelenos the opportunity to recall him.

Feuer: wants to reduce recidivism. Disagrees with Gascon on a number of things, but does want to collaborate with the DA to keep Angelenos safe.

De Leon: thinks recalls are a waste of taxpayer money. Brings up Caruso fundraising for Gascon (before he fundraised for Jackie Lacey) and how that is now scrubbed from his website.

Caruso responds saying that when he fundraised for Gascon he was a "different person"

Buscaino says he's the first candidate to come out and support the recall. Thinks if you elect someone to prosecute crimes and he's not doing it, he's got to go. Talks about "people in prison on social media" laughing at Gascon's policies.

Next topic from a USC student about Garcetti: if you could redo one thing Eric Garcetti did as mayor, what would you do differently? And what is one good thing he did?

Buscaino praises Garcetti for bringing the Olympics to LA. Worried about bringing the world to LA while we have encampments lining the streets. Thinks Garcetti lost sight of the on the ground issues.

De Leon: talks about the polluted air especially in low income areas and how Garcetti didn't fix that. Applauds him for HHH (housing measure passed in 2016 that promised new units)

Bass: Garcetti's weakness was not seeing homelessness for the emergency that it is. Says when the Olympics come to LA and she's mayor there won't be encampments

Caruso: I missed the first thing he said but he thinks there's too much crime and corruption in city hall. "Very difficult to clean up a problem when you can't clean up yourselves"

Feuer: thinks Garcetti made good strides in certain areas of climate change, but again states that no one is in "charge" of the homelessness crisis and that needs to change. Brings up Caruso evading taxes and wants him to release his taxes for the past five years

Caruso: brags about his boat and how he built his company from the ground up. He says he'll release everything he pays in taxes. "And believe me, I pay my fair share, plus." Feuer wants him to release it tomorrow, Feuer says he'll release his too.

COVID: do the candidates support a return to stricter rules if we see a COVID surge? Feuer: if we see a surge, we'll have to listen to public health experts. If they say we need to go back to tougher restrictions, we'll do it if that means we can avoid shutting down our economy

Caruso: if the health experts say we need to have more restrictions, we should. But also wants to protect small businesses by keeping them open? Not really sure what his plan would be here.

Bass: follow the science, but also wants to focus on vaccinations so that the next time there's a surge we probably won't have to have tougher restrictions.

De Leon: COVID was a tale of two cities in LA. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer. Wants to create a public health department for the city of Los Angeles. Says his district was ground zero for COVID. Need to be prepared for it, cut through bureaucratic BS.

Buscaino: "This emergency is over!" Wants to end the employee vaccine mandate on the first day of him being mayor. okay

Next question: who shaped your worldview? Caruso: his family, specifically his grandmother who came through Ellis Island. Talks again about the American Dream.

Feuer: his father was a POW to Nazis in WW2. Father became an educator because after that experience, he wanted to do the most important job in the world: working with kids. Feuer thinks his path is another one of the most important jobs in the world: service

De Leon: talks about being raised by a single mother of color, who spent a lot of her life working for richer folks. Says the BIPOC working class are the backbone of this country

Buscaino: talking about his grandmother. Emigrated from Italy. Faith, service... sorry I sort of missed what he was saying

Bass: mentions her family as well. So sorry I missed her story but she mentioned how her family's history inspired her to be dedicated to social justice.

Next Q, housing. Caruso: we are so short on housing. We are over regulated. Third time he's said career politician. Talks about the failure of HHH. Untangle the regulations, give incentives to build housing, reduce the taxes to build housing, etc.

De Leon: incentives by themselves simply don't work. He has experience with housing insecurity and says you have to be super wealthy or super lucky to buy a house in LA. As Mayor will mandate affordable housing and supercharge a massive first time home buyers fund

Buscaino calls Caruso out for bashing HHH when Caruso donated $100k to it. Wants to create one department to streamline processes.

Caruso snaps back by saying he could talk about Buscaino using campaign funds to go on vacation. He doesn't understand why he's bringing up HHH because HHH was well intentioned, it's the career politicians who mismanaged it. "It's you who mismanaged it, Joe"

Buscaino tries to clear up taking his family on vacation by saying he was "following the rules."

Bass: talking about the luxury properties that people are simply holding onto and they might not even live in the US. Wants to do away with the red tape. No more luxury housing.

Feuer: calls Caruso out for opposing rent control which he says has been a lifeline for many constituents. Wants to pursue adaptive reuse of existing commercial space to turn it into affordable housing. Addresses outdated housing rules in LA that need to change.

Caruso again saying the career politicians are giving empty promises and *he* actually is the one who will do things right

Bass responds: we want to bring the city together. Lots of people have dedicated their entire life not to making money, but to public service and they shouldn't be denigrated for that

De Leon to Caruso: "I have a body of work you could only dream of." haha that rocks

Feuer: Caruso didn't even answer the question about rent control. He references bills and policies he's authored that have made a positive impact in LA.

Question from a student: how will you make the city more equitable. Feuer talks about the chasm between white income and Black income. The city needs to pay attention to this.

Caruso talks about educating kids, creating jobs, supporting small businesses.

Bass: doesn't think equity is a tough issue-- but rather one that should permeate through everything you do. "That means in appointments, that means in city resources. Sometimes equal is not equitable. There are some parts of town that need more, that need different"

De Leon: loves LA. "an amazing mosaic" of diversity. Concerned it's a city that is leaving people behind. Wants to transform the economy, disrupt the school to prison pipeline, create real jobs, give every single child an opportunity for success.

Buscaino: some good quotes-- "a pothole in Watts is no different than a pothole in Porter Ranch." "Nothing stops a bullet better than a job" "If you need a job, we will find you one"

how will you hold police accountable so they stop killing us? Buscaino: "that's a deep question. Let's be mindful that our police officers are the angels in the city of angels." says he'll tell cops "I see you, I honor you... and I'll be the first to hold you accountable"

How will you fight corruption in city hall? De Leon: says he was elected to stomp out major corruption. Reinterviewed every position in his office. It's also about a culture of complacency. Won't allow the status quo to continue. Again talks about all the housing he's built.

Should LA have it's own public health department? Bass: it's a nice idea, but it might take ten years. A problem is the city and county pointing fingers at each other. Has a nice relationship with the supervisors, need to utilize relationships to work together

Who is your favorite former mayor? Feuer: Tom Bradley. "Taught us all about what it means to have that common ground, a unified city. He made respect the order of the day." Also sneaks in talking about his mom who grew up in Boyle Heights.

What would you do to stop companies from fleeing LA? Caruso: says he would be LA's biggest champion. We've made it too difficult to do business here. 90% of the businesses in LA are small businesses. LA needs to serve them. "How can we help you live out your American Dream?"

LA police union endorsed Caruso. Buscaino: money played a big role in that. Says he has the support of individuals and other large police unions.

Question about Caruso donating to so many Republicans. Caruso: "Well I've also donated to everyone on this stage" (De Leon points out he hasn't donated to him). He says he's a Democrat now and proud to be.

Question for Bass about her not having enough management experience- she says she thinks being speaker of the assembly during the worst health crisis in recent years is enough managerial experience.

Missed the question for KDL but he's talking about how he wants officers off mental health front lines and wants to replace them with mental health workers, and put cops back on crime.

Sorry I missed Feuer's question but now there's a lightning round and I don't know if I'll be able to keep up :( SORRY

"As a woman, what do you know differently than others on stage?" Bass: how to get along! How to build coalitions!

Okay folks, that's it and my fingers are cramping. Eleanor signing off!!!

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