Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has pulled funding for “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) initiatives in the fire department amid the ongoing backlash over January’s wildfires.
Bass, a Democrat, appears to be backing away from the “woke” agenda after DEI was blamed for the poor response to the deadly fires earlier this year.
The mayor has just released her balanced budget proposal for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Her proposal included the goal of hiring 227 new positions at the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).
Approximately half of the new jobs are for firefighters.
Bass also requested in the proposal that the LAFD Fire Chief take the “necessary steps” to begin consolidating the Bureau of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion into the Professional Standards Division.
The move is expected to remove five “equity and inclusion” positions.
Some thought this move by Bass was inspired by President Donald Trump’s crackdown on far-left DEI initiatives.
Former fire commissioner Rebecca Ninburg told the Los Angeles Times on Monday:
“This was Karen Bass cowing to the Trump administration.
“Chief [Kristen] Crowley was very proud of this, and they are basically eliminating this project during their installation of a whole new regime.”
The LA Times reported that Bass said in an interview on Friday the LAFD remains committed to pushing for diversity and inclusion.
Bass reportedly insisted that her proposal was not in response to anti-DEI sentiment.
“That’s the beauty of living in L.A.,” Bass said.
“I don’t need to placate anybody over diversity and inclusion.
“We are looking at doing some reorganization at that level.
“But we would never roll back the goals.
“We don’t have any reason to do that at all.”
The LAFD has not commented on the moves.
The Bureau of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion was established in 2022.
It was launched under then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and then-Fire Chief Kristen Crowley.
Crowley was fired by Bass earlier this year.
She was fired after she criticized the mayor and city leadership for failing the city during the wildfires.
The proposal to consolidate the Equity Bureau also comes a few months after the city was attacked for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on various DEI programs despite cutting the LAFD budget by approximately $17.6 million.
Many believe the budget cuts and DEI push were responsible for the wildfires becoming so destructive.
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