Half of California’s 10 Biggest Cities Are Choosing a New Mayor

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/us/california-cities-mayor-elections.html

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Of California’s 10 most populous cities, half are about to choose a new mayor.

The races to lead Los Angeles, San Jose, Long Beach, Oakland and Anaheim will be decided when voters go to the polls on Tuesday. And in all of these contests, a dominant theme has emerged on debate stages and in candidates’ media interviews: California’s affordable housing and homelessness crises.

Perhaps it isn’t surprising, given that the Golden State has some of the nation’s highest rents and home prices, as well as more than 100,000 people living on its streets. But mayoral elections are typically characterized by unique, local issues, so the across-the-board focus on housing is somewhat unusual, said Raphael Sonenshein, the executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. “It’s becoming an embedded issue in these cities — that’s a change,” he said.

Fueling the frustration around housing are most likely two-plus years of eviction anxiety set off by the coronavirus pandemic, spiking home prices and a growing inflation problem — on top of the state’s long-term affordable housing shortage. An increase in visible homelessness in California over the past several years may have also affected voters’ priorities, said John Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College.

“You go into many areas of Los Angeles, you see encampments, you see homeless people on the street corner and it makes an impression on people,” Pitney told me. “Whether or not the data indicate that homelessness is increasing, people perceive that it is. When you’re out for a walk, you’re going to a store, you’re driving somewhere, it hits you in the face.”

In the race for the next mayor of Los Angeles, where the number of people living on the streets continues to grow, the candidates, Representative Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer, have been repeatedly grilled on their plans to ease homelessness as well as the city’s dearth of affordable housing. Caruso, who has spent a record-breaking sum on his campaign, frequently airs ads promising that his strategy for homelessness is better and “bigger” than his competitor’s.

In San Jose’s contest for mayor, “both candidates have listed housing, homelessness and police staffing as top priorities,” The San Francisco Chronicle reports. In a recent poll of Oakland voters about their mayoral election, 97 percent said homelessness was either an extremely or a very serious problem, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. In Long Beach, where the current mayor, Robert Garcia, has started a bid for Congress, both candidates vying to replace him “agreed that homelessness and public safety are among Long Beach’s top issues,” reports The Press-Telegram.

While policing and crime have been of high concern for decades, Sonenshein said, it’s the heavy emphasis on housing and homelessness that’s new.

Sonenshein said he thought that a generational shift in the electorate had helped make affordable housing more of a major issue, as renters make up an increasingly large share of the voting bloc in California. “At least in L.A., the housing issue looks a little different if you’re 25 and trying to decide if you can stay in L.A. while your rent is going up,” he told me. “That’s a different point of view, obviously, than longstanding homeowners.”

Then there’s the question of how much mayors can actually do to address homelessness and housing issues. It’s a long-term crisis that crosses jurisdictions and is extraordinarily difficult to solve, particularly for a local leader, experts say.

“Being mayor of just about any big city is a highly frustrating job,” Pitney said. After candidates run and win, they enter office “and then they’re gobsmacked by reality.”

For more:

In California’s housing fight, it’s Gov. Gavin Newsom vs. NIMBY.

What does the mayor of Los Angeles actually do?

For the 44 million households who rent a home or apartment in the U.S., inflation keeps pushing costs higher and higher. It could be a breaking point.

The San Fernando Valley could be where Los Angeles’s mayoral race is won or lost, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Pelosi attack: U.S. Capitol Police security cameras captured the break-in at Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home last week, but costly minutes went by before any officer reviewed the footage.

On Wednesday, one of the most senior Democrats in the House demanded to know why the Capitol Police did not do more to prevent the attack.

Tracking rape kits: California officials announced that they had created a way for survivors to track the progress of linking their rape kits with DNA evidence, The Associated Press reports.

Economy: California could soon surpass Germany and become the world’s fourth-largest economy, The Los Angeles Times reports.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

County settlement: Los Angeles County’s board of supervisors voted to pay $47.6 million to settle lawsuits accusing sheriff’s deputies of misconduct, The Associated Press reports.

Stampede memorial: The Korean American Federation of Los Angeles opened a memorial at its Koreatown offices in honor of the more than 150 people who died on Sunday in Seoul, The LAist reports.

Earthquake: According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake occurred at 8:53 p.m. on Tuesday, about 800 miles off the coast of Southern California, KNSD-TV reports.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Caves: The Modesto community is trying to curb caves dug by homeless people along the Tuolumne River, CBS News reports.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Water system: The long-neglected water system in Marin City is one of the most vulnerable to flooding driven by climate change in the entire Bay Area, KQED reports.

Attempted murder: Five teenagers were charged with attempted murder, and a man was arrested, in the stabbing of two teenagers at an elementary school in Novato last week, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

A Southern California designer wanted to create a home where “everything gets put away at night” — and she succeeded. Sort of.

Thirteen easy pasta and noodle recipes our staff cooks on repeat.

Today’s tip comes from Bob Newell, who recommends a Central Coast trip:

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As it was for humans, 2020 was a challenging year for monarch butterflies.

That year, fewer than 2,000 of the insects were counted along the West Coast from Mendocino County to Baja California from November to March, when the butterflies typically overwinter. The next year, the butterflies enjoyed a comeback with over 250,000 monarchs counted.

Now, as winter approaches again, butterfly enthusiasts are hopeful that the monarchs’ population will boom even further.

On Oct. 21, the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History counted over 3,800 butterflies. On the same day in 2021, it counted only 2,593, The Monterey Herald reports.

“It looks like the monarch sanctuary and the monarchs themselves continue to be very inspiring,” Natalie Johnston, the museum’s volunteer and community science coordinator, told the outlet.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.

Briana Scalia and Steven Moity contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.