Raman urges voters to reject city status quo in final push

Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman told voters on Tuesday night to reject the current city leadership before they cast their ballots in the mayoral race. Speaking the night before the election, Raman argued that the status quo has failed to serve residents and urged electors to support her bid for the top office.

Raman, who was born in India and moved to the United States as a child, said the campaign represented the greatest privilege of her life. She noted that she is the first South Asian woman elected to the Los Angeles City Council, a seat she has held since 2020. During a Day of the Dead celebration in the Union-Hoover area of downtown, she stated that she loves the city and believes it has provided her family with numerous opportunities.

The councilmember directed her criticism at Mayor Karen Bass, who Raman said has questioned whether she is sufficiently local to run for mayor. Raman countered that Los Angeles is a city of immigrants and that voters want a leader who serves them better. She claimed that every municipal service has deteriorated under Bass's administration, citing issues with street lighting, sidewalks, and emergency services.

Raman highlighted specific management failures, including 30,000 broken streetlights and unpaved streets. She also pointed to the city's handling of homelessness, noting that the number of people living on the street increased in the city overall after the administration spent $400 million on its flagship Inside Safe program last year. In contrast, Raman said the number of people living on the street in her own district decreased by 49 percent.

A major point of contention was the mayoral response to the wildfires in Palisades and Boyle Heights. Raman stated that residents in both neighborhoods felt abandoned by the mayor during these crises. She noted that Bass left the country during the Palisades fires despite warnings about wildfire risk. Regarding the Boyle Heights fires, Raman said the mayor left the city to attend President Obama's party in Chicago after the fires had already started.

Raman argued that Bass contradicted public health recommendations during the Boyle Heights fires by telling Latino residents that the smoke was not dangerous to their health. She questioned how voters could trust the mayor to lead the city through another crisis after her performance in what she described as the two most critical situations in the last four years. She said she wants a city hall that works as hard as the residents themselves.

In response to recent negative campaigning, Raman said Bass has run an unrelenting campaign based on fear because she cannot rely on her own record. Raman described her own campaign as one of joy and proposals, focused on a vision for the future. She mentioned spending Tuesday afternoon with 300 young people at UCLA who were preparing to knock on doors in nearby neighborhoods.

Raman identified Latino and young voters as the key demographic that will decide the election. She urged these groups to make their voices heard at the polls. The councilmember said she wants to serve the people of Boyle Heights and the rest of the city, believing they deserve a mayor who genuinely cares about their well-being.