During her years as a community organizer in South Los Angeles, Los Angeles City Councilmember Marquis Harris-Dawson saw the ravages of the cocaine epidemic and the economic crisis that followed the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Working in South Los Angeles, where he lived as a child, inspired him to become a politician. It was also there that he met another progressive organizer, Karen Bass.
Harris-Dawson, 54, now leads the City Council as incoming speaker, with Bass, a close aide, as mayor.
Harris-Dawson’s two decades at the nonprofit Community Alliance, which Bass co-founded, would define her agenda. Homelessness, which disproportionately affects Black and Latino populations, and housing affordability will be among her top issues, she said Friday at her first board meeting as president.
“When we have a situation where tens of thousands of people are living on our streets, we are literally putting the public safety of everyone at risk,” he told his family.
“First of all, people living on the streets are open to any unprecedented sacrifice,” he said. “There are other dangers as a result of this disaster: fire, whatever.”
Harris-Dawson, first elected to the council in 2015, pushed for more housing in her district and to stop sex trafficking on Figueroa Street.
Represents a district in South Los Angeles that includes all or part of the neighborhoods of West Adams, View Heights, Hyde Park, Van Ness, Baldwin Hills, and Adams-Normandy.
Dermot Givens, a political consultant who has followed Harris-Dawson’s career, described her as a relationship builder. Givens said the council member secured enough votes to become speaker without a public battle with any colleagues.
“He’s a very good guy and he will continue that approach as chairman of the board,” Givens said.
The council voted 14-0 in May in favor of Harris-Dawson to replace Councilman Paul Krekorian, who had served in the position since October 2022 after the audio leak scandal prompted the resignation of Council President Nouri Martinez. Krekorian will leave the board in a few months due to term limits.
As council chair, Harris-Dawson will have to manage relationships with some of the colleagues she has openly criticised.
Harris-Dawson, who is black, was among those calling for the resignation of Councilman Kevin de León, who was involved in the leaked chat with racist and offensive comments.
He told The Times he had repaired his relationship with De Leon, who supported his bid for council president along with other council members.
“Some of the things left their mark,” Harris-Dawson said this week of the comments, which were recorded in an undercover conversation that included disparaging remarks about black people and others. “Those signs are still there, but I think we’ve gotten to the point where we can work on behalf of the people of the city of Los Angeles.”
At Friday’s meeting, Harris-Dawson’s colleagues, including De Leon, offered their congratulations. Some praised the new council president’s efforts to work with them behind the scenes.
Council member John Lee said he felt “lonely” after joining the council in 2019 because he is seen as a conservative on the Democratic-majority council. Harris-Dawson reached out and the two are now friends, Lee said.
“You’re not focusing on things that we don’t necessarily agree with,” Lee told Harris-Dawson. “You’re focusing on things that we do agree with.”
Harris-Dawson grew up in South Los Angeles until gang violence forced his family to move to the mountain communities of Altadena and Arcadia. He would visit his grandfather in Baldwin Hills on weekends.
He then went on to study political science and mathematics at Morehouse College.
At Community Alliance, she worked on educational and labor-related initiatives.
“They address some of the same issues,” Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State Los Angeles, said of Harris-Dawson and Bass. “The politics of concern that the mayor has are very similar to what Marquis has.”
As chair, Harris-Dawson can choose which council members serve on committees that deal with the budget, public safety, homelessness and other key issues. She also sets things up for a vote.
In the interview, he said he would form a new committee that would focus on “unarmed response,” which is how police officers handle traffic stops, among other issues.
The council is already exploring the value and feasibility of creating civilian enforcement teams to respond to certain traffic problems, ending some traffic stops for minor infractions and limiting traffic fines in poor neighborhoods.
Advocates cite racial disparities in LAPD stops and searches in South Los Angeles, saying the crime-fighting strategy has alienated generations of Black and Brown Angelenos.
Harris-Dawson spoke about being stopped by police while driving, even after joining the City Council, and described her fear of seeing an armed police officer pull up to her car.
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
