LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announces plan for recovery in State of the City address
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti delivered the annual State of the City address Monday. (Screen capture by Anika Chakrabarti/Daily Bruin staff)
By Alexandra Guadagno
April 20, 2021 6:26 p.m.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti introduced the 2021-2022 budget proposal at the annual State of the City address Monday.
The budget proposal includes $75 million directed toward mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and $1 billion focused on providing resources and programs to advance racial justice and economic progress. Further details related to the budget proposal will be released Tuesday.
In addition, Garcetti announced that he will offer a total of $25 million in “comeback checks” to 5,000 local businesses in LA. Separately, $1.3 million will be allocated to support street vendors and $2 million to restaurant owners in low-income neighborhoods, Garcetti said.
The State of the City address is an annual event during which the mayor describes recent accomplishments and announces the office’s objectives for the upcoming year.
The budget proposal will be submitted to the LA City Council for review, which will then issue a finalized version in the coming weeks.
The city will distribute $235 million to Angelenos struggling with rent payment through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which will help pay the rent for nearly 100,000 households, Garcetti said. Garcetti added that he will allocate nearly $1 billion of next year’s budget to end the homelessness crisis through initiatives such as creating more low-income housing.
[Related link: Homelessness advocates express mixed reactions about ongoing lawsuit]
A portion of the budget will also go toward the Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project, a construction project of a new LA Metro transit line from the Los Angeles International Airport to the San Fernando Valley, part of which will be completed by 2028. Garcetti added that he plans to fully reopen the LA bus service by September and provide free transit to all LA students by fall.
“Justice means investing in community infrastructure and our community starts with our youth,” Garcetti said during the address on Monday.
Garcetti introduced a new program called Earn, Learn, Play to provide youth summer work, study and education opportunities. He said the city is also considering a program to compensate young Angelenos who are tutoring their siblings.
The budget includes $1 million to be dedicated to keeping immigrants and their families together while they defend their rights in federal court, Garcetti said.
Garcetti also announced LA REPAIR, a program created to combat institutional racism by creating more jobs for historically disadvantaged racial groups.
The program will receive $12 million in funding under the proposed budget. In addition, Garcetti announced a program called Therapeutic Unarmed Response for Neighborhoods, which will provide alternative responses to nonviolent emergencies through community-based interventions.
“We are becoming a city more just – becoming a city more equal, more kind, more itself — than we have ever given it the opportunity to be,” Garcetti said “Our better day is within reach.”
