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Courtesy Nithya Raman campaign<\/p>\n
On Feb. 7, City Councilmember Nithya Raman surprised Los Angeles by launching a mayoral campaign<\/a>. Among the many questions this raises is, what do her District 4 constituents think of her?<\/p>\n The Eastsider asked 47 people involved in community groups and organizations, such as local neighborhood councils. One notable result was the number who answered. We expected a few replies. We got 15, including seven who answered how they’d vote in a head-to-head race between Raman and Mayor Karen Bass (Raman 6, Bass 1).<\/p>\n
All respondents answered as private individuals, not as representatives of any organization. Here are some takes.<\/p>\n ‘Responsive’<\/p>\n The word “responsive” appeared in nearly half of the opinions we received.<\/p>\n “I personally have found Councilmember Raman and her staff to be responsive, even if the answer was frustrating and tied up in bureaucratic red tape,” said Deborah Matlock, a community activist and president of the Los Feliz Improvement Association.<\/p>\n Ironically, this was Raman\u2019s weak point when she entered office in 2020 and\u00a0almost immediately faced a recall effort<\/a> triggered by her perceived lack of response to a homeless encampment on Berendo Street.<\/p>\n Raman has been known to shift her approach\u2014something many respondents noted.<\/p>\n Changing course<\/p>\n
When Raman recently stated she doesn\u2019t want the Los Angeles Police Department to lose more officers, the\u00a0L.A. Times<\/a>\u00a0noted that she had said “Defund the police” during her 2020 campaign for Council and that she had recently\u00a0voted against hiring more cops<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scott Plante of Silver Lake appreciated the move: “Happy to see her now say L.A. should not lose more police officers.” Ben Deeb of Los Feliz called that kind of shift “pragmatism,” saying, “When a policy she supports doesn\u2019t pan out as expected, she\u2019s willing to admit she was wrong and try something else.”<\/p>\n
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