Councilwoman Nithya Raman brings her critique of City Hall to the Harbor Area, promising a city government focused on basic services, housing and accountability.
By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
The LA/LB Labor Coalition Parade is one of the biggest stages for anyone seeking union support, even if candidates aren’t allowed on the stage. It’s a place where candidates can display their progressive bona fides and community ties. It’s also a place where an absence can be as noticeable as a presence.
Mayor Karen Bass and Councilwoman Nithya Raman were both present, while deftly avoiding each other.
In the June primary, Bass performed substantially better in Wilmington than her citywide results might suggest. Wilmington’s heavily Latino electorate was part of a broader pattern in which Bass carried numerous Latino-majority neighborhoods. She won 35 Latino-majority neighborhoods citywide, compared with seven for Raman and one for Spencer Pratt.
Bass also won San Pedro, although Pratt performed strongly in parts of the port town. It is in this context that Raman has been making the most of an opportunity to introduce herself to the Harbor Area — and, perhaps more importantly, to help Los Angeles get to know her.
Raman has spent five years at City Hall representing the 4th Council District, stretching from Silver Lake through the San Fernando Valley.
“I’ve been privileged to serve for the past five years,” Raman said. “I started with a strong focus on serving my constituents, addressing everything from streetlights to preventing evictions and responding to homelessness.”
But under Bass’ leadership, Raman said she believes the city’s ability to respond to residents has deteriorated.
“I think there are a lot of people out there who are frustrated, too, who want the city to work for them. This city is not working for them.”
Raman characterized Bass’ leadership as prioritizing monied interests over Los Angeles residents, citing businesses such as Airbnb as examples.
“I don’t think it has to be that way. I think we can have a city that works for everyone,” Raman said.
Historically, the measure of a well-run city has often been mundane: trash pickup, sanitation, functioning streetlights, potholes and passable roads. Yet nearly every mayoral candidate eventually confronts the same larger question: How do you change a city government that has become difficult to manage?
Raman said the city’s structure has changed, particularly since charter reforms expanded the mayor’s executive authority.
“The last charter reform process gives the mayor more executive authority. The mayor can hire and fire department heads; the mayor has the ability to set her priorities and make sure they deliver to the residents of L.A.,” Raman said.
“I was there at the tail end of the Garcetti administration, and I was there for the Bass administration. The length of time it takes for a broken streetlight to get fixed went from one month to one year. The number of potholes being filled has declined from two years ago to last year.”
The sidewalk question
Los Angeles’ massive sidewalk-repair program grew out of Willits v. City of Los Angeles, a class-action lawsuit brought by people with mobility disabilities who argued that deteriorating sidewalks and inaccessible curb ramps violated federal disability-rights laws.
The settlement, finalized in 2016, requires the city to spend approximately $1.37 billion over 30 years on accessibility improvements. For 2025-26, the city’s obligation was approximately $35.7 million.
“We have a settlement to fix our sidewalks, but we are spending the absolute minimum doing that,” Raman said. “Meanwhile, there are millions of dollars — the same amount of money — for liability losses. You have to be able to budget for the people instead of budgeting for your political priorities.”
The city’s sidewalk problems have also produced their own liability costs. The city controller previously reported more than 1,700 claims and 1,020 lawsuits related to sidewalk injuries over a five-year period, resulting in more than $35 million in settlements.
The issue led to a broader discussion of the city’s liability exposure, particularly claims involving the LAPD.
Raman acknowledged that police-related liabilities represent a substantial portion of the city’s exposure, although she stopped short of saying they account for half.
“The LAPD is the biggest piece of the budget, and it is the largest diverse staff that we have,” she said.
The political difficulty of reducing police spending is obvious. Yet Raman argued that rising police expenditures have not produced the results promised by proponents of increased spending.
“What we’ve done in Los Angeles is make the worst of all possible decisions; we’ve poured money into raising salaries to retain and attract police officers, and neither of those things has happened,” she said.
Raman also argued that the city’s liability problems extend beyond the Police Department.
“We haven’t fixed the Personnel Department that slows down hiring, not just in our police department but in every city job,” she said.
“Retention has not increased, and we are paying half a billion dollars more per year for fewer officers, and that’s all under this mayor’s leadership.”
Raman said city employees deserve wages that allow them to live in Los Angeles, but argued that compensation decisions must be balanced against the city’s fiscal capacity.
Another round of contract negotiations with LAPD employees and other city unions is approaching, she said, but little can be done until those negotiations begin.
“What we can do is think about what we can do with our existing monies and manage our current liabilities properly,” Raman said. “We have $300 million in liabilities, yet there is no one in the city in charge of managing those liabilities.”
She offered an example: If a broken sidewalk produces a settlement after someone is injured, the city should make sure the underlying hazard is actually repaired.
When asked whether Los Angeles could restructure its finances so the LAPD bears more of the cost of liabilities generated by the department, Raman said she had heard similar proposals.
“We have to figure out what makes sense,” she said. “But because public safety costs are considered to be the center of the budget, it will just pull more money out from other parts of the budget.”
Instead, Raman said, the city needs an incentive structure that encourages departments to reduce liabilities.
“I want to make sure we’ve got something that works in reality and not just on paper,” she said.
Homelessness and urgency
Raman argued that addressing crises such as homelessness requires both political courage and an emphasis on cost-effective interventions.
She cited a renovated hotel in Encino that provides housing and services for transition-age youth, including young people aging out of foster care. Raman has also introduced a motion aimed at reducing homelessness among 18- to 24-year-olds, a population that includes many young people aging out of foster care.
“There’s a huge pipeline that goes directly from the foster care system to the streets,” she said. “These units help people who are aging out of that system and make sure they get the support they need to stay housed and off the streets.”
Harbor Area activists have long argued that homelessness should be treated as a public health crisis alongside the city’s housing-first approach.
Raman said her district has responded with urgency, pointing to pop-up shelters, tiny homes and shelter conversions.
“We’ve seen a 49% reduction from last year in homelessness,” Raman said. “And I know we can move with urgency citywide. If I’m elected mayor, I’d make sure we’re moving with urgency.”
The 49% figure refers specifically to street homelessness in Council District 4, according to the 2026 homeless count; citywide street homelessness increased by nearly 8%. Raman has cited the district result as evidence that her approach could be expanded citywide.
Bass’ campaign has disputed Raman’s characterization, arguing that the mayor’s Inside Safe program contributed to the reduction in Raman’s district.
Raman said she loves Los Angeles and cannot imagine leaving the city in a state of reduced services and degraded open spaces.
For her, the moment is ripe for change.