Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has drawn criticism after praising the clean-up of the city's notorious "graffiti towers", a stalled $1billion (£790million) skyscraper development that critics say she allowed to fall into disrepair and become a magnet for vandalism and crime for years before acting. The unfinished Oceanwide Plaza complex became a symbol of urban decay in downtown LA, with taggers scaling the abandoned towers and covering them in graffiti while officials were accused of doing little to secure the site or hold anyone accountable.

Detractors argue that Bass is now taking credit for remedying a problem that persisted under her own watch, with the towers standing derelict and largely unsecured for a prolonged period despite repeated warnings and public embarrassment over the eyesore. The development, once envisioned as a luxury residential and hotel complex near Crypto.com Arena, became emblematic of broader concerns about vacant construction sites, homelessness and lax enforcement in downtown Los Angeles, fuelling wider criticism of Bass's handling of the city's urban decline.