Mayor Bass Celebrates 818 Day, Highlighting Investments and Progress in the San Fernando Valley

“There is no Los Angeles without the contributions of the San Fernando Valley,” said Mayor Bass. “This 818 Day, we celebrate the incredible businesses, culture, and communities of the Valley and continue our work to improve public safety, reduce homelessness, build more housing, and accelerate economic growth across the region.”

Investments and Progress in the San Fernando Valley

• Improving Public Safety: Burglaries in the Valley are down by 42% since last August. Mayor Bass announced a surge of LAPD resources following a spike in break-ins while also advancing key community safety initiatives like Summer Night Lights, which served more than 50,000 Angelenos across seven Valley parks this summer. The Mayor also secured more than $2 million in federal funding to support CIRCLE in the Valley, which sends trained mental health professionals to respond to non-violent crisis calls. 

• Investing in the Sepulveda Basin: Mayor Bass is leading a targeted, multi-agency restoration strategy in the Basin to clear brush and debris, remove long-standing encampments, and reduce public safety threats. Fire-related incidents have decreased by 31% compared to the same time period in 2024. Mayor Bass also secured $22 million in new state funding specifically allocated to maintain efforts in the Sepulveda Basin.

• Reducing Street Homelessness: More than 900 people have been brought inside and more than 268 tons of debris were cleared through 29 Inside Safe operations conducted in Van Nuys, Woodland Hills, Canoga Park, North Hollywood, Chatsworth, Pacoima, Reseda, Granada Hills, Panorama City, Sun Valley, Shadow Hills, Arleta, North Hills, and Valley Glen.

• Building Affordable Housing: Mayor Bass recently unveiled the largest affordable housing project approved under her Executive Directive 1 – signed during her first week in office to slash red tape and streamline the approval of 100% affordable housing. Viva Warner Center will provide more than 3,000 units of affordable housing for LA’s senior population. To date, Mayor Bass has fast-tracked more than 12,000 affordable housing units in the Valley to address the City’s housing and affordability crisis head-on. 

• Improving Public Transportation & Accessibility: As a member of the Metro Board – and now Chair of the Board – Mayor Bass voted to approve the Sepulveda Transit Corridor, a transformative rail connection plan that will link the San Fernando Valley to the Westside. The City has also broken ground on the Chandler Bikeway connection, which will create a continuous 21 mile bikeway from Chatsworth to Burbank. Upgrades continue on the Metro G Line to deliver faster, more reliable Metro service for Valley residents.

• Delivering Basic City Services: In the Valley alone last year, City crews removed more than 1.8 million square feet of graffiti, filled nearly 23,00 potholes and completed more than 420,000 requests for item and illegal dumping pickups.  

• Repairing and Replacing Up to 60,000 Street Lights Citywide:Alongside Councilmember Monica Rodriguez and community members in Pacoima, Mayor Bass launched a historic new initiative that will clear the City’s street light repair backlog by replacing 60,000 street lights citywide harnessing solar street light technology. New solar lights have already been installed in Canoga Park, Sherman Oaks, Sun Valley, Sylmar, Northridge, North Hollywood and Pacoima. 

• Advancing a “Games For All”: Mayor Bass recently marked two years out from the start of the 2028 Paralympic Games at Birmingham Community High School in Lake Balboa, the site of the first official wheelchair basketball game. The San Fernando Valley will become a global hub in 2028 with the Sepulveda Basin set to host sporting events like 3x3 Basketball, Skateboarding, and BMX Racing. The Universal Studios Lot will also make history, hosting the Olympic debut of Squash.  

• Bringing the World Cup to Every Community:36 free “Kick it in the Park” community celebrations were hosted across the Valley for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where 13,500 Angelenos watched matches for free at the Hansen Dam, Northridge Recreation Center Lanark Recreation Center, Sylmar Recreation Center, Whitsett Fields, and Sheldon-Arleta Park.

• Boosting the Entertainment Industry: Earlier this year, Mayor Basscut the ribbon on the new Cinespace Studios in Woodland Hills, a 108,000 square foot campus and the company's first studio in Los Angeles, which has already secured multiple productions. Mayor Bass successfully advocated for the historic doubling in the State’s Film and TV Tax Credit, and she has continued to cut fees and advance policies to make filming in L.A. easier and more affordable.

• Historic Climate Action:In April, Mayor Bass announced her Climate Action Plan for Los Angeles at the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys, which is currently under construction to double its water-purifying capacity, a huge win for environmental sustainability. The approval to double the capacity of this facility was made under Mayor Bass’ leadership. Once complete in 2027, the facility will be able to purify 45 million gallons of water a day – enough for 500,000 Angelenos – and reduce LADWP’s reliance on imported water, including water that feeds Mono Lake. Under Mayor Bass’ leadership, Los Angeles has achieved historic clean energy milestones – from the full divestment from coal in our power supply to the completion of the Eland Solar-plus-Storage Center, one of the largest solar and battery storage projects in the country, and the doubling of fast chargers for electric vehicles

• Welcoming the LA Rams Headquarters: Mayor Bass has continued to support the development of the new Rams Village at the Warner Center. The LA Rams relocated their permanent headquarters to the San Fernando Valley and are using the facility as their state-of-the-art training center. 

Mayor Bass regularly meets with her Valley Advisory Board to hear directly from residents, non-profit leaders, and the business community about investments and policies to continue supporting the San Fernando Valley. Board members include:  

• Stuart Waldman, CEO, Los Angeles BizFed

• Rowan Vansleve, President, Hope the Mission

• Jeff Skobin, Chief Marketing Officer & Vice President of Business Operations, Galpin Motors

• Dennis Zine, Former Councilmember, City of Los Angeles

• Wendy Greuel, former Councilmember and Controller, City of Los Angeles

• Dr. Armida Ornelas, College President, Los Angeles Mission College

• Rob Glushon, President, Encino Property Owners Association

• Sev Aszkenazy, Founder of Aszkenazy Development, Owner of Valley Sun and El Sol newspapers, Board Chair of Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley

• Shefali Mistry, Associate Vice President of Government and Community Relations, Cal State University Northridge 

• Janet Marinaccio, President and CEO, MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity)

• Joshua Englander, ValPac Executive Director

• Michael Menjivar, Director of Community Relations, LA28

• Nicole Chase, President & CEO, Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley

• Keren Waters, Commissioner, Board of Neighborhood Commissioners

• Luis Almonte, Executive Director, Discovery Cube Los Angeles

• Maria Luisa Camacho, Government Affairs, Los Angeles Rams

• Roberto Barragan, Executive Director, ICON CDC

• Sonya Kay Blake, President and CEO, Valley Economic Alliance

• Cristina Gutierrez Medina, Executive Director, DIY Girls

• Dale Surowitz, President & CEO, Los Angeles Jewish Health 

• Veronica Padilla-Campos, Executive Director, Pacoima Beautiful

• David Ford, Los Angeles Workforce Development Board

• Robert Arias, President, Champions in Service

• William “Blinky” Rodriguez, Executive Director, Champions in Service

• Richard Katz, Board President, LADWP Commission

• Christy Vega, Owner, Casa Vega
   

  SOURCE: https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/mayor-bass-celebrates-818-day-highlighting-investments-and-progress-san-fernando-valley