The launch of The California Post is an important moment for our city and state. While I won’t agree with everything in these pages, I know that more information is better for our public discourse, and I appreciate their invitation to share thoughts about the state of our region’s leadership in the first issue.

We all know this state should be the best place to live, and Los Angeles should be the best city to live in.

The innate gifts of both are immense, from entertainment and innovation to culture and economic opportunity. And their greatest strength has always been the people who live here, pay their taxes, raise families, and come here not to fail because they believe the system will work for them if they follow their dreams and work hard. 

Sadly, the other half of that bargain is not being upheld.

Today, leadership in our state and our city is fundamentally broken because career politicians are not listening and do not care about the vast majority of Californians or Angelenos.

Instead, the people’s voices have been pushed to the fringe, while elected leaders spend their time and energy catering to small groups of professional political operators who steer the agenda. 

This isn’t a rhetorical argument. We live with it every day.

Our housing costs are the highest in the nation, but there hasn’t been meaningful action to eliminate useless regulation, which drives costs higher because special interests kill every effort.

911 response times are rising,........

© New York Post