During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of “The Issue Is,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stated that President Donald Trump “has no clue about what he is talking about” when he criticizes her on permitting, but “there [are] problems all over. But the thing is, is that we have been addressing them every step of the way.”
After playing video of Trump criticizing Bass on permitting, host Elex Michaelson asked, “We do know that a lot of people have been frustrated that permits aren’t coming faster. So, what’s your response to the President on the permit issue?”
Bass answered, “Well, I think a couple of seconds later, he also said that we weren’t turning on the spigot for the water. So, he has no clue about what he is talking about. We have issued over –.”
Michaelson then cut in to say, “There have been some permit problems.”
Bass responded, “Well, sure, there [are] problems all over. But the thing is, is that we have been addressing them every step of the way. If you judge our progress based on other fires that have taken place in California, we have been months and months ahead. And so, we have –.”
Michaelson then cut in to say, “And a lot of that is thanks to the Trump administration’s Army Corps of Engineers,” and Bass responded that she has noted that on multiple occasions.
Bass added that “we have issued over 300 permits. We have a number of permits that are going through the process, but the permitting process is complicated. And every time we find a speed bump, every time we find a problem, we address that. So, he has no clue what he’s talking about, just like he had no clue what he was talking about when he was talking about the water. He was actually talking about central California, miles away from Los Angeles.”
Michaelson then asked, “Yeah, which had nothing to do with the Palisades fire. Although, there were clearly problems with the water here in Los Angeles with the Palisades fire. In terms of AI and its use in the permitting process, I know we’ve talked about this work that’s been this private-public partnership with Archistar to get that going. Where are we at on that, and is that making a difference?”
Bass answered, “Well, it is not making a difference just yet, because it’s not ready for primetime, but it is under development, which means, AI has to be trained. And so, that is taking place right now. I think we might be about a month away from it going into full speed. So, the issue there is, is that we have about 600 permits that are working [their] way through the process. But just imagine when it’s 2,000. So, we are getting everything in place to manage what we know is going to be a flood of permits, what we hope is going to be a flood of permits soon.”
Michaelson followed up, “So, you think about a month from now you’ll have that AI technology to help speed up that in a dramatic way?” Bass responded in the affirmative.
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