Nithya Raman for mayor; different or same?
By A.R. Johnstone
Recently, in our effort to inform voters, we spoke with Nithya Raman for an expansive conversation regarding her run for mayor and what she strives for in the city of Los Angeles. Her name is definitely recognizable to our readers as she was our councilperson prior to the redistricting in December 2021. Surprisingly, Raman did not ask for our range of questions beforehand, and nothing was off-limits. Her answers were thoughtful and certainly not scripted.
Obviously, many voters have a notion of who they believe Raman is and what she represents. When asked what the biggest misperception of her might be, her candid response was, “There is a belief that I am driven by some far-left ideology in my work when in reality my brand of progressivism means that I really want the government to work well for residents of Los Angeles. I want programs to function as they are meant to and be accountable.”
NITHYA RAMAN
When pressed about her ties to the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists, she was not trying to “run away from the fact” she was a member of the organization, and in fact they had endorsed her. What drew her to the organization, she said, was they were doing the most politically engaging work for renters’ and housing rights. She emphasized she has been endorsed by a range of different groups and feels she is, “one of the most independent voices on the council. To make the city work better, when programs aren’t working or have unintended consequences for the city I stepped up and said things need to change, and received significant political blowback for my decisions.”
Researching Raman’s council voting record, there are several instances where she has broken with the DSA-LA group, such as the appointment of LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell (which triggered a formal “Expression of Disapproval” from DSA), voting yes on LAPD funding increases in 2023, and her recent proposal to amend Measure ULA (the “Mansion Tax,” which taxes high-value real estate sales).
In regards to the latter, Raman proposed an exemption for the first 15 years for new multifamily and commercial construction, “to remove the disincentive for new apartments to be built.” Since Measure ULA has been passed, according to a study by UCLA Lewis Center and Rand, 1,910 fewer multifamily units per year have been built, an 18% decline. It would appear that Raman’s proposal would help rectify the unintended consequences of Measure ULA.
When asked what she would do differently than Mayor Bass, she opined on her frustration with City Hall and the lack of urgency and leadership. On the issue of housing, she mentioned that the city hasn’t had a Deputy Mayor of Housing for the last two years as Mayor Bass did not appoint someone for the role. She spoke at length about bringing all the relevant departments together and driving them forward to address the challenges. According to Raman, there has been no push from the mayor’s office to do that work. The lack of impetus from Mayor Bass has therefore led to delays in building new housing and issuing new permits, and has led to a deepening crisis, according to Raman. She states the Bass administration has many of the same general managers that were there during the Garcetti administration, with no clarity around what the priorities are, and no real metrics to hold each department accountable.
It has been mentioned many times that the City Council of Los Angeles makes the mayor’s job particularly hard to get things done. Raman believes that the Council President is a close ally of Mayor Bass, and if Bass wants to get things done, then she needs to present clear metrics. As an example, Ms. Raman said, she has, “Been pushing for greater oversight in the homeless system for quite some time, namely, looking for better outcome data and advocating to bring contracting in-house because there is hardly any staff in that area—only four—even though we are spending hundreds of millions of dollars. We created this Bureau of Homelessness Oversight last year during the budget process, and we haven’t hired anyone there yet, in a year.” Raman feels a push from the mayor could make those programs a reality, but she has not yet seen that push. “We need to centralize homelessness oversight into the city. We cannot rely on LAHSA anymore,” she said. Her goal is to have the convening power to bring all of the various agencies together to drive outcomes.
As it relates to SB79, Raman feels our city and neighborhoods needed advocacy in Sacramento when the legislation was being introduced. She seemed to understand that maintaining our neighborhoods character was extremely important. She mentioned a fast-tracked standard plan for housing that incorporated design elements and preserved the look and feel of the area as one of her ideas.
With a housing plan on her website that incorporates public and private partnerships, Raman spoke of having a conversation with a developer who told her the hardest part about building new affordable housing in Los Angeles is the city of Los Angeles.
The bureaucracy of the city makes it extremely hard. Her opponents would argue that she has been part of that bureaucracy, therefore part of the problem. She would counter that there is only so much she can do from her City Council seat, and a run for mayor would help her achieve her lofty goals.
First and foremost, she wants accountability for how every dollar is spent and wants to make sure every dollar works the way it should be working.
She emphasized the point that her vote, against a raise for the police in the last budget, was because the city simply could not afford it. She voted against the convention center renovation for the same reason.
Her vision is a city where the citizens do not pay more for less. These are lofty goals, and whether they are achievable or not remains to be seen.
One hopes that if elected, she can keep her promises to all Angelenos, and each citizen will feel they have a voice. The argument could be made by some of her current constituents that they do not feel their voice is being heard right now. It will be up to the voters to decide, on June 2, if Nithya Raman is listening.
Category: News
