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Tag: Nithya Raman

  • Proponent of ULA rollback enters mayoral fray

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    Los Angeles’s mayoral race got a lot more interesting hours before the cutoff for candidates to file to run in the June primary.

    Prominent progressive Councilmember Nithya Raman — a member of the Democratic Socialists of America — is reportedly in the mix to run against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. Raman’s entry caps what has been a buzzy week for the June election, and offers real estate a candidate that’s taken a clear stance on one of the industry’s hottest topics in Measure United to House L.A.

    Inquiries to Raman’s press office were not immediately returned Saturday morning. Candidates have until noon Pacific Standard Time to file their declarations to the city clerk, which had not yet updated that filing roster as of early Saturday.

    While Raman told the Los Angeles Times she holds a “deep respect” for Bass, she said recent months have underscored a need for change within the city.

    “… I’ve really begun to feel like unless we have some big changes in how we do things in Los Angeles, that the things we count on are not going to function anymore,” Raman told the Times.

    Her declaration to run adds to what’s now a crowded field of mayoral hopefuls and a week that saw former Los Angeles School District Superintendent Austin Beutner drop out of the race, Rick Caruso consider for less than a day walking back last month’s statements about not running, and tech entrepreneur Adam Miller enter the mix.

    Meanwhile, former “The Hills” reality TV star Spencer Pratt officially kicked off his campaign Feb. 4. There’s also another DSA member, Rae Chen Huang, who announced her candidacy in November.

    Real estate angle

    Raman’s announcement comes just days after Bass delivered her State of the City in which she largely shied from one of real estate’s biggest headaches in Measure ULA. 

    Raman instead took aim at the so-called mansion tax late last month when she sought her councilmember peers’ approval to push some of the most aggressive carveouts for the two-tier tax through to the June ballot. The council didn’t bite during its Jan. 27 meeting, instead kicking the proposal to the Housing and Homelessness Committee.

    Supporters of the tax have criticized Raman’s proposed changes, offering that they largely give in to real estate and broader business interests. The critics are generally on the left of L.A.’s political spectrum, which has been the core of Raman’s base. 

    Raman’s idea to amend the ballot measure that voters passed in 2022 includes a 15-year exemption from ULA for new construction multifamily, commercial and mixed-use projects. Meanwhile, there’s a one-time carveout for properties impacted by a natural disaster, which would be retroactive to January of 2025 to account for Palisades Fire survivors.

    ULA went into effect in 2023 and currently applies a 4 percent tax to any property sales — commercial or residential — starting at $5.3 million. That bumps up to 5.5 percent on any deals of $10.6 million or more.

    Real estate largely hailed the proposed changes after nearly three years of agents, brokers and developers lamenting stalled deals and a pall cast on the flow of financing for construction of housing and other commercial projects as a result of the tax.

    Cityview CEO and Chief Investment Officer Sean Burton called the changes a “huge move forward” and said they resulted from months of conversations involving real estate, business leaders, non-profits and other interests looking to find ways of addressing what Raman called the “unintended consequences” of the tax.

    “You’ve seen construction fall off a cliff for any sort of market rate housing or affordable housing,” Burton said of the tax’s impact. “L.A.’s been redlined by the investment community because of ULA.”

    So far, ULA has raised over $1 billion since its rollout — a figure proponents often cite as a proof point of the tax’s efficacy. Still, that’s off from the original range of $600 million to $1.1 billion generated annually that voters were pitched when the tax went on the ballot.

    Read more

    “Huge move forward” and two steps back on Measure ULA amendments?


    Karen Bass, Rae Chen Huang, Asaad Alnajjar and Austin Beutner

    Keeping tabs: Los Angeles real estate’s mayoral picks


    Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass with 3980 Bill Robertson Lane

    Missing: Bass’ “State of City” skips specifics on ULA, wildfire rebuilding


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    Kari Hamanaka

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  • Bisexual boss moves

    Bisexual boss moves

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    Ysabel Jurado, 34, a lifelong community member of Highland Park, and openly out candidate, is running against current Councilmember Kevin De Leon for Council District 14, the most powerful city council in Los Angeles County. 

    Her campaign slogan is ‘Ysabel For The Community.’

    Earlier this year, Jurado made history in the primary, using her perspective as a historically underrepresented person in the hopes of bringing new leadership to the district after De Leon was called to resign in 2022, following a scandal. 

    The live voting results earlier this year highlighted Ysabel Jurado at 24.52%, with 8,618 votes, while De Leon fell behind by nearly 400 votes, with 23.39% in the primary. 

    Jurado is a tenants rights lawyer and housing justice advocate from Highland Park who has built her reputation in the community with support from social activist Dolores Huerta,  L.A. City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis. 

    “I’m the daughter of undocumented immigrants, a public transit rider, a former teen mom, and a working class Angeleno who has navigated the challenges of poverty. I have held the line on countless strikes and defended truck drivers against the same wage theft my father faced,” said Jurado in her candidate statement.  

    De Leon secured the second spot and will go head-to-head against Jurado in November. Jurado rose to the top of the polls, while her opponents spent more money on their campaigns, including De Leon. Miguel Santiago raised the most money for his campaign and also spent the most to secure support. De Leon came in second with both money spent and money raised. While Jurado came in fourth in the amount of money spent and raised for her campaign. 

    Jurado is running to become the first queer, Filipina to represent CD-14. Among the list of issues she aims to tackle while in office are; homelessness, climate action, safer streets and economic justice that uplifts small businesses. 

    “I will bring the institutional knowledge of a legal housing expert and the lived experience of a queer, immigrant-raised, working class, woman of color – a battle-tested representative for and from the community,” said Jurado. 

    Though this is her first time running for office, she has already made it as far as political pioneer Gloria Molina in 2015. 

    De Leon might be facing an uphill climb after he was caught saying homophobic, racist and anti-sematic remarks in a leaked audio recording that rocked his political career. Even President Joe Biden called for his resignation. 

    The conversation that rocked L.A politics is said to have started because of redistricting plans and gerrymandering. According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, De Leon had his hopes set on running for mayor of Los Angeles. Since the audio was leaked, protests erupted, calling for his resignation. De Leon continued in his position after an apology tour and is now running against Jurado on the November ballot. 

    The recording of a conversation between De Leon, Ron Herrera, Nury Martinez and Gil Cedillo. 

    Jurado’s statement on her campaign website calls out the leaders of CD-14 that betrayed the communities in the district. 

    “Between FBI raids, backroom gerrymandering, racist rants, and corruption charges, our needs have been chronically ignored,” says the statement. “City government has failed us. We deserve better.”

    If she wins, she would join a progressive bloc of leaders in city council that include Nithya Raman, Hugo Doto-Martinez and Councilmember Hernandez. The leadership would have a pendulum swing toward city affairs that has not been seen before. 

    CD-14 covers Eagle Rock, El Sereno, Boyle Heights and parts of Lincoln Heights and downtown L.A., which includes skid row and other points of interest. 

    Those points of interest make CD-14 seats particularly difficult when it comes to dealing with polarizing issues like homelessness and street safety measures. 

    According to the latest demographic data by L.A City Council, 61% of the population is Latin American, while the second highest population is white, at 16%, followed by Asian, at 14% and Black at 6%. 

    If elected, Jurado aims to tackle homelessness in a district that has one of the highest unhoused populations in the city. 

    Jurado is now gearing up for the November election by continuing to campaign at various events across Los Angeles, including ‘Postcarding with Ysabel,’ at DTLA Arts District Brewing and The Hermosillo.

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    Gisselle Palomera

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