Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman turned a South Los Angeles campaign forum into a preview of an increasingly heated battle for City Hall. Raman accused the mayor of damaging the city’s finances, while Bass countered that her challenger was not telling the truth.
Bass and Raman, who represents Los Angeles’ 4th District, exchanged sharp attacks Saturday at the KBLA Talk 1580 Town Hall and Ballot Forum at the SEED School in South LA. The event, hosted by Tavis Smiley, came about a month before Election Day.
Raman argued that essential city services have declined during Bass’ tenure, citing persistent problems with trash, graffiti and potholes.
“Our quality of life is worse today than it was just a few years ago. But we did not get to this moment by accident. In 2023, Mayor Bass led a contract to give LAPD raises that everyone in City Hall knew our city simply could not afford,” Raman said.
“The police union is now funding her reelection campaign in return for receiving what its own leadership calls the largest raises in LAPD history.”
Raman said the police contract contributed to Los Angeles’ budget crisis, pointing to an approximately $1 billion deficit and the cuts to city services that followed.
She also accused Bass of retreating from more aggressive housing policies.
“On a debate stage with the Sherman Oaks homeowners association, Mayor Bass promised the audience that she would protect their communities by keeping housing out,” Raman said.
When asked why she had turned against a mayor she once supported, Raman said she had seen a pattern of politically expedient decisions at City Hall.
She accused Bass of choosing “politically convenient decisions” over “decisions that mattered for Angelenos.”
Bass defended her record on homelessness and housing before turning her criticism directly toward Raman.
Bass said she learned after taking office that Los Angeles’ homelessness response system was “profoundly” broken. She argued that the city needs more control over a system currently divided between the city and Los Angeles County.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: ‘She’s Definitely a Hero’: 85-Year-Old Woman Kills Burglar Who Put Gun to Her Head – NewsFinale
“Right now the city of Los Angeles gets people housed, but then we want to move them out of interim housing into permanent housing,” Bass said. “But we don’t control who moves into permanent housing, the county does.”
Bass then challenged Raman’s record on affordable housing, saying her opponent had performed poorly in that area.
“If you look, by council district, who has built the most affordable housing and the least, she’s number 14 out of 15,” Bass said, arguing that the record highlighted a key difference between them.
Bass also rejected Raman’s claim that police raises were responsible for the city’s budget problems, calling the accusation a “lie.”
“I really think when you go to vote, you gotta vote for somebody that tells the truth,” Bass said.
Bass further accused Raman of taking credit for a 49% decline in homelessness in her council district, which the mayor said was driven by her Inside Safe program.
Smiley noted that homelessness remains a major challenge even though Bass made it a central issue of her 2022 campaign. Bass responded that homelessness had declined for two consecutive years and attributed some of the ongoing pressure to reduced state funding.
However, this year’s Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count found that the number of people experiencing homelessness in the city increased by about 3.4%. The unsheltered population rose by roughly 7.9%, reversing two consecutive years of declines.
The county has already begun mailing ballots ahead of the general election on Nov. 3, launching the final month of a packed election featuring contests not only for mayor but California governor and Congress, along with numerous local and statewide measures.