Career politician Karen Bass- using other people's money- beats out embodiment of the American Dream Rick Caruso

Edit: A previous version of this article stated Rick Caruso was an immigrant. He is not. However, his grandparents immigrated to the United States from Italy. Caruso became a billionaire in a mere three generations of his family being here. Only in America.

Dear Karen Bass, I'm extremely skeptical you will do absolutely anything at all to address the housing supply crisis, the homelessness (stop saying "houseless", that doesn't fix the problem) disaster, and rising crime- but I'm pulling for you. As I stated in my Los Angeles voter guide, I fully supported Rick Caruso. But the people have spoken, and Karen Bass will be our next mayor (#mymayor), getting sworn in on December 12th, 2022. As I've stated before, Bass represents the Democrat establishment. Believing use of words like "community" and "diversity" will do anything at all to do, well, anything at all. But at least she agrees on what the issues are. And I do believe that she does want what's best for Angelinos, I simply think she will fail at delivering any results whatsoever. For the sake of holding our elected officials accountable, I have linked to her tweet below where she states clearly: "To the people of our city, my message is this: We are going to solve homelessness. We are going to prevent and respond urgently to crime. Our city is no longer going to be unaffordable for working families. And know this — that work has already begun." Also, here is an archive of her website, where her list of priorities clearly states: "Homelessness, Public Safety, Crime Prevention, and Affordability." I'll end with the quote below, pulled from my voter guide where I pull no punches on my thoughts on the emptiness of Bass:

Caruso comes from an immigrant family who built his empire by, well, building. LA can thank Caruso for some of the biggest real estate deals in LA. He’s actually had to work for a living. Not just collect tax payer dollars with empty words. There is a great debate between Bass and Caruso, I watched the whole thing. Caruso handles himself very well and understands we need to support business in LA to support growth. And no one understands the absolute shit show that is permitting better than someone who has experienced it for decades. In the debate Bass sticks to the democratic talking points, using words like “diversity”, “houseless”, and “community.” These words don’t actually mean anything, they are just used as a magic wand to prevent having to truly discuss solutions to problems. And don’t even get me started on the “scholarship” USC awarded Bass. This was so clearly a bribe it makes my head spin. It’s a joke.

With all that said, I'd like to make three predictions holding my own opinions accountable (you can track my other predictions here). I hope I return to these predictions in four years, kicking myself for being such a cynic, and proudly announcing my support for Bass to serve a second term.

There will be no meaningful improvement to the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.

There will be no meaningful improvement in the amount of new housing units added to Los Angeles.

There will be no meaningful crime reduction in Los Angeles.

Bass, Angelinos are relying on you. It's time to build.

Speaking of building. I cofounded Fullsend, a studio based right here in LA helping innovative companies build best-in-class apps. Let's talk, reach out to me at dick@fullsend.io.