Coronavirus: LA mayor gives emotional address with more than half of city’s residents unemployed

Saying that the city of angels ‘will fly again’ Eric Garcetti implored Angelenos to imagine a future more caring and egalitarian than the pre-pandemic past

In his annual State of the City speech, mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles has told his city’s residents not to underestimate the scale of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus lockdown – and implored them to commit to the reconstruction of a better, fairer city after the danger from the pandemic has passed.

He made his address just days after the University of Southern California released a study finding that less than half of the county’s residents said they held a job in April, meaning that around 1.3 million jobs were lost in March alone.

His voice breaking, Mr Garcetti made no attempt to shield viewers from reality: “Tonight, I stand before you because our city’s charter directs the mayor to ‘publicly address the Council on the state of the city’. I’ve never before hesitated to assure you that our city is strong. But I won’t say those words tonight.

“Our city is under attack. Our daily life is unrecognisable. We are bowed and we are worn down. We are grieving our dead. But we are not broken, nor will we ever be.”

Los Angeles county, home to some 10 million people, has seen more than 12,000 confirmed diagnoses of coronavirus and around 600 deaths. The city issued a so-called “safer at home” order at the end of March, closing nonessential retailers and telling the public to stop gathering outside the home.

When combined with the effects of radically decreased domestic and international travel, commerce and trade, the result has been devastating to the local economy. Citing a 95 per cent drop in air passenger traffic and a precipitous drop in city revenues, the mayor made no bones about the situation.

“All of us remember the 2008 recession,” Mr Garcetti said.

“Until now, it was the biggest economic blow of our lifetime, and it hurt. But there’s no way to sugarcoat this: this is bigger, and it will hurt more.”

Scores of city workers will have to be furloughed, meaning they will effectively lose ten per cent of this year’s income, while several departments will have to operate on a bare minimum of resources.

“From a fiscal perspective, this is the worst it’s ever been.”

However, Mr Garcetti refused to dwell on the dire present. Instead, he also used his speech to set out a new direction for the city post-pandemic, imagining a future where the injustices and inequalities of the present day could be collectively tackled and defeated.

“We live, in the words of my friend Antonia Hernandez, in a city that is an imperfect paradise. While our weather and our people are unmatched, we, like everyone, struggle with our challenges. We grapple with homelessness, with children growing up unequally, with traffic and pollution, with decades of neglect that have piled up.

“And while we set the pace for the nation in so many ways, in innovation, in freedom, in belonging, we must ask of our city and our nation, at this time, is normal really what we want to come back to?”

Before the pandemic began, Los Angeles had one of the US’s worst homelessness problems. Like several major cities in California, it saw the number of people sleeping rough rise dramatically in 2019. The homeless population created by the growing crisis itself reflects the city’s long history of inequality, with black Americans heavily overrepresented among those living on the streets.

It was with this reality in mind that Mr Garcetti made his call for Angelenos to support their neighbours not only now, but in the years to come.

“Our city is hurting. How could it not be? But our city is ready. Our eyes are open wide to the high demands of justice. Our arms, outstretched, announcing to a neighbour we may not touch that we will not let you fall.

“Our hearts, Los Angeles, are stronger than ever. We are the City of Angels and we will fly again.”