Karen Bass

absolutely number one is making it easier to build and so i did that within my first couple of weeks in office i signed an executive directive to fast track the building especially of housing and we have 40 000 units that are currently going through that process now with several thousand actively under construction but once we applied those lessons to affordable housing

Then we began to apply those lessons in terms of cutting red tape to other types of building, whether it's commercial, residential, etc.

And so that has helped.

Now, of course, the other thing that is creating a lot of difficulty is just the larger macro economic issues.

Well, let me just tell you, even before that, the entertainment industry is one of our foundation industries.

And so I have certainly been doing everything to make sure that filming doesn't continue to leave and, in fact, increases in our city.

And so the first thing, of course, was the advocacy on the tax credits on the state level, which did finally pass and get signed.

I was involved when I was speaker of the assembly there.

many years ago in creating the first tax credits.

But I meet with the industry regularly and they came up with a variety of things that the city could do to make filming easier.

I put all of those into policy, put them into action,

And we do have filming increasing in our city.

Of course, I'm concerned about the merger.

I think what a lot of people don't think about are all of the jobs that are associated either directly or indirectly with the industry and making sure that filming can be easier.

We have over 119 new projects that have started in L.A.

since the tax credits and these other initiatives have been put into place.

Sure.

Well, we certainly are anticipating reimbursement from the federal government.

You know, we got the consideration for a national security event very early on.

And so that unleashes a lot of support.