Mayor James T. Butts Jr.

On February 1, 2011, James T. Butts, Jr. was sworn in as Inglewood’s 12th mayor. James Butts has 45 years of public safety and municipal government experience. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from California State University and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from California Polytechnic University. Mayor Butts has held the rank of the general manager or assistant general manager of 4 large and complex municipal organizations for the past 32 years. He served 19 years in the Inglewood Police Department rising to the rank of Deputy Chief, 15 years as the Chief of Police for the City of Santa Monica, and 5 years as an assistant general manager for Los Angeles World Airports in charge of Public Safety and Counterterrorism; taking LAX to a NUMBER 1 ranking nationwide by the TSA in 2009.

In 2011 he negotiated with Madison Square Garden to renovate the Forum. In 2016, the Forum became the #1 concert venue in California. He secured the reinstatement of the federally defunded Residential Sound Insulation Program by obtaining over $100 million in grant funding. Inglewood now operates the number one Residential Sound Insulation Program in the country.

On November 4, 2014, James T. Butts was re-elected Mayor of Inglewood with over 83% of the votes cast—the highest margin of victory in Inglewood electoral history. In 2015 & 2016 he was named one of the 500 most influential leaders in LA County by the Los Angeles Business Journal. His business expertise prevented bankruptcy, by reducing a structural deficit and various unfunded liabilities. Mayor Butts negotiated the return of the NFL to Southern California. Both the Rams and Chargers will play home games in Inglewood by the 2020 season. In June of 2017, he led the City to open negotiations with the Los Angeles Clippers with the mutual intent of relocating the Clippers to Inglewood into a cutting edge NBA arena. On September 30, 2018, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 987; this law establishes new environmental protection standards, that will provide the new LA Clippers arena project with streamlining relief.

On November 4, 2018, Mayor James Butts, Jr. was re-elected to his third term as Mayor. In 2022 the LA Philharmonic will relocate its Youth Orchestra Program (YOLA) to Inglewood. In 2022, the Superbowl will be held in Inglewood, in 2023 the NCAA Championship Bowl game will take place in Inglewood, by 2024 it is expected the Clippers will open a state of the art NBA arena here and finally in 2028, the Olympic Games will open in Inglewood California. The only thing that has changed in Inglewood is everything.