LA Mayor's race EXPLODES with major UPDATE

I'm joined now by candidate for mayor of. Los Angeles, Nithya Raman. Thanks so. much for joining me. >> Thank you for having me. >> So, this is the city that I live in. Um. I've been covering this race. I'm. curious first and foremost because I. think a lot of the national attention. that this race is getting is owed in. large part to the fact that Spencer. Pratt um has been a very vocal, kind of. Trumpian voice in in this race. But, like Donald Trump in 2016, there are a. lot of people that are saying, you know, there are a lot of things that are wrong. with Los Angeles and nobody seems to be. speaking as bluntly about how to fix.

them as him. And so, what is your. response to to the attention that he's. garnered online with very much the same. style that Trump had 10 years ago? >> You know, I think that uh Spencer Pratt. is tapping into a lot of the. frustrations that people have in Los. Angeles by the way that things are. going. And his Trumpian qualities is. exactly why I think Angelenos should be. taking this race seriously, but should. also be grappling with the critiques. LA. right now.

feels worse than it did 2 years ago or 3. years ago. >> Yeah. >> For a lot of Angelenos, it feels like we. are moving in the wrong direction rather. than in the right direction. And that. isn't just a consequence of the fact. that economically things are harder, it's also a consequence of the fact that. even some of our most basic services in. the city like street lights and potholes. are worse than what they were before. There's 30,000 street lights out across. the entire city. There's more potholes. than they were. And our homelessness.

crisis continues to exist on our. streets. And I think. this is the same issue that we're facing. nationally, which is if you feel like. the country is moving in the wrong. direction, and if you feel like. establishment Democratic politics is not. feeling that urgency to solve those. issues or to prevent them from happening. in the first place, people lose faith in. government. and I feel that frustration.

around me in Los Angeles every day. Um. and that's, you know, it's it it it drives me in my work, and. it drove me to run for this seat. Um but. I also think it's a very real thing that. we should take seriously, and we need to. grapple with, and we need to offer it an. honest response. A response that's. rooted in actually solving these. problems. Um otherwise, people will turn. to fascism, to mini Trump, which is who. I think Spencer Pratt really represents.

>> So, if if you're saying that these. problems need to be fixed, if you're. correctly diagnosing these problems, if. they're so obvious to you and me and. everybody else who recognizes the issues. with Los Angeles, clearly the mayor, the. current mayor, Karen Bass, could see. these things, too. And so, what is the. response as to why these things aren't. getting done? >> You know, I think some of the problems. are the direct result of the way in. which our local political machine works, and the way in which campaign financing. works here, and the way in which. political campaigns are funded. We are.

in a budget deficit right now, a real. kind of fiscal challenge that was driven. by the fact that the police union is one. of the major players in our local. politics, and the mayor signed an. unsustainably large contract with LAPD. in 2023, in part to secure their support. for her future election, which she has. And that money is now being spent. against me, and that unsustainably large. contract has led to real budget.

deficits, which have led to service cuts. across the entire city, which have made. life in the city harder and worse for. ordinary Angelenos. I don't think the choice right now needs. to be between our broken status quo that. is motivated by these kind of. um. really political decisions around some. of the most important issues facing Los. Angeles and between a MAGA Republican. These do not have to be our only. options. I really feel like we can build.

a better city here, but we have to. reorient ourselves towards serving the. public, towards serving Angelenos, not. just serving the political interests. that really maintain the status quo in. City Hall. >> So, there are three issues that I want. to focus on and that's housing, homelessness, and Hollywood. And I think. that Hollywood and housing are are. things that I want to discuss reforms. with you, but homelessness is something. that we're spending a ton of money. on right now that I think largely folks.

can agree is not getting better. or at least not visibly getting better. I'm sure that if you look at the. numbers, you know, there's some, you. know, small incremental percentage of. people who are getting into beds, but I. think in large part. people in this city recognize that a lot. of money goes toward this and that there. isn't, you know, a solution. that that that is, you know, easy to. identify taking place. And so, you know, why hasn't this been able why is this. issue so difficult to navigate in Los.

Angeles, especially given just the. influx of money that's put toward it? >> A big part of the reason, so I want to. say that in my district we've had a. really big reduction in tents and. encampments and I represent District 4. and we've done a lot of the work in my. district to actually reduce visibly and. palpably the number of large. encampments, tents that were on the. streets. I've seen a 54% reduction over. a 3-year period. and and more over the time that I've. been office my. I've been in office. And so, I think you.

can make a palpable impact on this. issue, but it requires real. coordination. In LA right now, we spend. we've increased our spending on. homelessness by 15 times over just a few. years. Um, we've given a lot of money to our. homeless services authority and to. homeless service providers, but in the. city, despite my efforts to create. oversight and accountability, there's. very few staff that are actually looking. at how we're spending that money and.

ensuring that every single dollar that. we're spending is actually getting to. results. >> Do you Do you know the the total number. of spending in the past fiscal year that. goes toward homelessness in LA? >> Um, so the uh it's about 700 million. from the budget. >> And do you know how many people were. were taken off the streets and put into. beds? >> I don't know that offhand, but there are. Yeah, there are. >> Roughly Like a Like roughly is there is. there any indication? >> of people go indoor to shelter and to. housing across the entire system every.

day every every year. Uh, but many of them return to the. streets because they don't have adequate. quick care in the shelters, they're not. connected to mental health services, and. people cycle in and out of shelters all. the time. But the reality is part of the. reason we don't see a lot of progress on. our streets is that we still lack the. number of shelter beds that we need for. our total homeless population. We only. have a third of the shelter that we need. for our total homeless population. And. we don't manage our shelters very well.

And so when people get into them, this. is what I was saying, we invest a huge. amount of money in homelessness, but the city of Los Angeles right now. does not have an office, an entity, an a department that is. tasked with ensuring that every single. dollar is working as hard as it could to. get people indoors and to keep people. indoors and to make sure that they're. moving on to their next step as quickly. as possible. This to me is a huge. failure of accountability. I've pushed. to create the very first.

bureau of homelessness oversight in the. city. We finally got that passed through. the city budget process last year, but. because of a lack of urgency from City. Hall, including from this mayor. We. don't have a single new staff member. for this homelessness oversight body at. all, which means we have no information, no one responsible for actually making. sure that the system works. I can do. whatever I can at the district level, but at the citywide level, we have to. have the urgency to create a truly. accountable system, and that requires.

the mayor's efforts. She is the person. who has the convening authority and the. power to be able to move that forward. That's part of why I'm running, and I. want to go back to what I said earlier, which is if we don't build trust and. faith in the system, if we don't ensure. that people's tax dollars are going. towards real results, if. this city, which has voted three times. in the past few years to tax itself to. provide a response to the crisis on our. streets. with housing, and with shelter, and with.

services, if we don't demonstrate. results, people will lose their faith in. government. >> Yeah. >> And that that scares me. As a. progressive, as someone who really. believes in the power of government to. do good, we need to deliver on that. >> What does success look like? Let's say. you're elected mayor, and obviously the. issue of homelessness is, you know, the. the subsequent election will be a. referendum on that issue. Let's Let's be. honest. It's It's Los Angeles. It's It's. always a referendum on homelessness. What does success look like for you in 4.

years? >> So, for I released a plan just a few. days ago talking about my approach to. how I would address this issue, and what. I'm promising is a reduction in tents. and encampments across the city by 50%. by the Olympics, which is in 2 years, and by the end of my first term, that we. will have addressed all tents and. encampments across the city. >> Okay. >> And I have a plan Excuse me. [clears throat] I have a plan to get. there that uses our existing investments. and our existing dollars, but uses them.

much more effectively, and ensures that. people are transitioning into lower cost. voucher programs and mental health beds. that can effectively get many more. people off the streets without asking. for more money from the public. >> Another issue I want to switch over to. is the entertainment industry. I have. interviewed every gubernatorial. candidate I've interviewed. Even when. I've spoken to Newsom, I've been a bug. up his ass every time about expanding. the TV and film tax credit.

>> Yep. >> I've lived here for 15 years. I moved here because of the. entertainment industry. I have seen a. city bustling with with activity when it. comes to. TV and film production down to what it. is right now, which is, you know, even. in my own circle of friends, I've had. people move to Atlanta, people move to. New Jersey, to New Orleans, even to. Canada because that's where the work is. And so, as we look toward, you know, trying to regain what we can. from this industry, what is your plan to.

bring jobs back to not, you know, the. city that that we live in? >> You know, I think we have to make a much. better case for this tax credit. And as. mayor, I want to be the loudest, most. fervent advocate for a tax credit that. is designed to be competitive with the. other jurisdictions that are taking jobs. away. And frankly, we should have been. advocating for this years ago because. the loss in jobs has been happening for. many years now. We need a tax credit. that has no cap, that is guaranteed. years into the future. It has to be. guaranteed because studios want to.

invest locally. >> Yep. >> to invest locally and to make those. investments, you have to be able to know. that you can apply for this next year or. the year after. So, it has to be with no. cap. It has to be guaranteed years into. the future. And I think we have to. figure out better ways of structuring it. so that above the line costs are. addressed so that we can also. incentivize things like post-production. to also happen here. I mean, this is the. kind of tax credit that we desperately.

need. And you know, as a representative, as a mayor of the. city of Los Angeles, I would be the. loudest advocate for that both in. Sacramento and now in DC where. discussions around a tax credit are also. happening. >> Um, I'm very glad to hear you say uh a. tax credit with no cap because that's. something that I've been advocating for. for years and I think that the $750. million is a good first step, but it's. only a first step and clearly not enough. um to bring, you know, to to bring. business back into Los Angeles as we are.

now at the lowest point that we've been. for those who have careers in the. entertainment industry in this city, but. another. >> think Oh, and I think for businesses who. are trying to figure out, for studios. that are trying to figure out where to. shoot, >> Yeah. >> right now it's a lottery system. >> Correct. And And that's why we saw. Netflix invest so much money into New. Jersey. You know, and and and uh that would have. been great for me 20 years ago and I. grew up in New Jersey, but not not so. much anymore. But another big part of. this is not just the tax credit, it's. also the difficulty to shoot in this.

city and. I I have um the luxury, even though I. work in politics, of having all of my. friends work in the entertainment. industry. This way I don't have to talk. about politics after work, but like um. it is difficult to shoot in this city. and the permits are a nightmare to shoot. in this city and the costs are a. nightmare to shoot in this city and we. have regulated ourselves into obscurity. at this point. And so on a more local. level, do you have a plan to make it. easier to actually shoot in this city so. that money, time, resources doesn't go. toward um dealing with bureaucracy that.

doesn't exist in other places where they. clearly want this business and those. same bureaucratic loop uh. barriers don't exist. >> Uh 100% and this city has an approach to. film permitting and and filming in LA. that we need to completely change. The. city has taken shooting. for granted. It's taken the industry for. granted for a very long time. And now we. need to do much more to ensure that we. are actually incentivizing and making it. as easy as possible for productions to.

shoot here. And I would do everything possible to. ensure that we're removing the barriers. in City Hall to those issues. On day. one, I would appoint a film liaison who. had film industry experience, who knew. what productions needed. I would staff. out a full film office in the mayor's. office so that we were making sure that. all issues were addressed so that we. could be doing inter-jurisdictional. coordinating. So many places in LA like. the beaches. have both county and city.

responsibility. It should not be on. productions to liaise between two. different jurisdictions. It should be on. the city to make sure that this is. happening. Across the city we have. things like neighborhood filming. conditions where where productions have. to pay additional fees even to. homeowners associations and to local. neighborhood associations. These kinds. of things are remnants of an industry. that doesn't look the same anymore. And. we need to get rid of all of those uh. kinds of barriers and costs. There are. also additional costs for things like.

police officers and fire marshals. Not. every production needs the level of. bureaucracy and staffing that we. required of them and I would want to. make sure that we were removing all of. those. And for smaller productions, potentially eliminating it entirely. >> Great. Um and just for for folks who are. watching and listening right now, like I. I also want to be clear that when we. talk about the entertainment industry, this isn't like to help Brad Pitt and. Angelina Jolie and George Clooney. Like. these are there are hundreds of. thousands of jobs that are that are.

every everything from catering to PAs. and production to post-production. um and special effects houses and hotels. that rely on people coming into town to. shoot this stuff and transportation. I. mean, it's all the jobs that that. hundreds of thousands if not millions of. jobs that make up this industry beyond. just what you see in front of the. screen. It's no different than what the. auto industry was to Michigan or or any. other major industry is to to the region. that they come from. Um so, you know, I.

know that like people will kind of you. know, turn their nose up at the. entertainment industry because it's it. doesn't feel as as important, but this. city exports culture to not just the. rest of the country, but the world. And. I think that I think that, you know, that that has never been more important. when especially at a moment when reality. oftentimes feels so grim to have um to. have that world to escape into and to. support the arts in such a big way. Um and finally, I want to talk about. housing because um I I I'm intimately. familiar with with this and I know that.

it is. as close to impossible to build in Los. Angeles as as it could be. Um. even as as I have built my own house, um. I know that that you can't put a shovel. in the ground for more than a year. Um I. mean, this is, you know, everything I'm. saying is is no surprise to you. I'm. sure you've heard it every which way. Uh. so, what is the what what is your stance. on reforming um. all that makes Los Angeles so difficult. to build in?

>> I mean, we. we absolutely need to transform this. city into a city that says yes to new. housing rather than a city that is. really designed around delaying and. denying new housing. We have an. extraordinarily. intensive housing shortage here. Uh we. have the fewest homes per capita uh per. adult of America and we have the highest. rent burden population of any major city. in America. Those numbers are directly. related to each other and it didn't. happen by accident. This city said no to.

housing for a very long time. Residents. stood up and had an active anti-housing. movement and city hall responded by. making construction as slow as possible. particularly for apartments that are. exactly what we need so much more of. Our average time for approving an. apartment here is over a year and a. half. Um much longer than in other. states like Texas and Colorado, and I. want to change all of that. I want to. create a bureaucracy that's designed to.

say yes in a in a reasonable amount of. time. So, I want to put in place a shot. clock, a deadline by which the city has. to say yes or no to a permit. application. 60 days for zoning. compliant projects, 120 days for. projects that require some zoning uh. changes. I want to make sure that we are. having a single inspector look at a. project from day one to finish, so that. bureaucracy is not giving you two. different responses. um to what you need to do in order to.

actually be allowed to build. I want to. make sure the Department of Water and. Power, which can add millions of dollars. in costs and add months. of delay to a project, is forced to come. to the table from the beginning and. tell you exactly what it's going to take. and when they're going to turn the. lights on. All of these things, these. bureaucratic changes, can actually. transform the process of construction. here and can make it much more possible. for the city to build at the scale that. it needs to in order to address our. housing shortage. >> And I mean, to that point, too, there.

there is there is national significance. here, especially as we approach the 2030. census, where California is expected to. shed electoral votes, and the states. that are going to pick them up uh are. not historically blue states. I mean, Texas is expected to pick up um pick up. electoral votes. And so, how does the. national environment inform, if if at. all, how you think about your. responsibility or your duty um to make. sure that that we support our population. here in California? >> Oh, I think it's incredibly important,

especially as we're watching the. redistricting battles play out across. the rest of the country. We cannot. afford to let. this state and this city become less. populous. We have We can't afford to. give up house seats at this moment. I. mean, I think it is absolutely essential. for us in terms of our broader. democratic project here in the country. And to me, this work on making sure that. this city is welcoming, that we can. actually invite more people to live in. it instead of driving working families. out of it. We lost 54,000 people over.

this. over the past few years, and that's a. huge population loss here. And it's. going to impact us into the future. One. of the things that has always been. something that I've been so proud of as. a representative of Los Angeles is that. this city is a place of inclusion and. welcoming for the LGBTQ+. community, for people of color, people. who are fleeing oppressive environments. at home. come to Los Angeles seeking refuge. And.

if this place becomes unaffordable, it. is no longer that for so many people. So, for me, it is really part of what I. love about Los Angeles, part of what we. need to keep alive about Los Angeles. Our housing crisis is intimately. connected to our ability for this city. to be a place of welcoming and inclusion. and opportunity. And I think it's a. really important electoral strategy at a. time when every vote in the house. matters. >> Well, I appreciate you taking the time.

today. Thanks for addressing all those. issues. With that said, for folks who. are looking to help out with your. campaign, where can they go? >> Nithyafor.city.com. is our website where you can donate, sign up, learn more, and I'm on socials. at Nithyafor.city everywhere you go to. consume social media. >> Awesome. Well, I want to remind people. who are watching right now, if you live. in Los Angeles, if you have friends or. family in LA, the election is happening. right now. We are in early voting. The. election. The last day is June 2nd, so please make. sure to make your voice heard, to get.

your ballots in. And Nithya, thank you. so much for taking the time. >> Thank you so much for having me. I. sincerely appreciate it. >> [music].