What’s happening today?
LA mayoral candidates talking environment tonight
Mayor Karen Bass and Council member Nithya Raman will share their views on the environment at an “educational” mayoral candidate forum hosted by various environmental groups, which include the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters, a political action committee that focuses on the environment. SCOPE, Sierra Club, Clean and Healthy California, Communities for a Better Environment, and the Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance are the other organizers.
The LAist’s Erin Stone will be talking to Bass and Raman in back-to-back interviews, which will be at Los Angeles Trade Tech College, starting at 6 p.m. The radio station will be broadcasting the talks on 89.3 F.M. It is also being streamed on YouTube.
No water flows at St. Andrews Recreation Center splash pad, and more from the Recreation and Parks board meeting
LA city’s recreation and parks commissioners met today at the Algin Sutton Recreation Center, which is in Vermont Vista, one of several neighborhoods in the South Central area. Public commenters who turned out spoke about a splash pad at St. Andrews Recreation Center that hasn’t had water for three years, including during this especially hot summer. That prompted one commissioner to note that similar concerns were already raised the last time they held a meeting at Algin Sutton, and she said this reminded her that they had previously sought a report on splash pads that she also noted, with some frustration, has yet to be provided.
There was also a contingent of people who identified themselves as members of the equestrian and equine community who raised concerns about a bike path project in Griffith Park.
And one other public commenter spoke about his frustrations with park facilities Lincoln Park, including a not so great smelling lake. That commenter recommended that the lake be drained, and also expressed concerns about recent vandalism of the Wall Las Memorias monument at Lincoln Park. Some of the Recreation and Parks commissioners later met in a subcommittee to discuss facility repair and maintenance, and during an update on parks facility “master planning,” one of the commissioners noted that there was to be a deeper dive soon on the future of Lincoln Park, which just secured some Measure A funding to do a master plan. You can read more about the $800,000 Measure A grant in this piece by Brenda Rees at The Eastsider LA.
What just happened?
DSA-LA has endorsed Nithya Raman, marking the local chapter’s first foray into the mayor’s race arena
DSA-LA members – known for canvassing to elect candidates aligned with socialist values – have voted 65.9% in favor of pouring their resources into getting City Council Nithya Raman elected as Los Angeles’s next mayor. Raman is challenging the sitting mayor, Karen Bass, for her seat.
Raman is now part of the slate of candidates that the LA chapter of a socialist organization, recently buoyed by Zohran Mamdani’s upset of New York’s political establishment, that also includes Marissa Roy, a candidate for LA City Attorney, and Estuardo Mazariegos, a candidate for the 9th District on the LA City Council.
The endorsement vote came out of a week-long voting period in which several other candidates were also seeking DSA-LA’s endorsement. Raman’s endorsement decision turned out the highest number of DSA-LA members, with only 52 abstaining from voting on this question out of the more than 1,400 ballots cast. DSA-LA officials say their total membership is 6,000, and this endorsement vote has generated their chapter’s highest turnout.
The decision on whether to endorse Raman has been a contentious one for DSA-LA, with strong opposition lodged by many of its members throughout the voting period. That was reflected in the results released Wednesday – with just over 60% of the ballots favoring Raman, and a still sizable portion of members voting against endorsing. A Geese magazine op-ed that posted Wednesday argued for unity among DSA members so that they can effectively carry Raman into office.
Several other new endorsements were won by candidates for the Burbank and West Hollywood city councils, a couple of school boards in Inglewood and the South Bay, and a Congressional race. Angela Gonzales Torres, who is the latest to launch a challenge of Jimmy Gomez, in the Congressional District 34 that tends to for Bernie Sanders-type candidates, got DSA-LA’s endorsement. You can peruse the other endorsees at DSA-LA’s website promoting their “Shake Up LA” slate of candidates.
Notably, DSA-LA members ended up voting against endorsing Sarah Rascon, who was seeking support for her bid to Senate District 26 bid, and Sam Sukaton, who wanted DSA-LA’s support in seeking the District 3 seat on the State Board of Equalization. A DSA-LA endorsement translates into the use of the chapter’s resources, so these decisions can also be influenced by people weighing whether they feel it makes sense for DSA-LA to get directly involved in a race. For what it’s worth, Sukaton and Rascon had both been DSA-LA’s picks in the chapter’s primary election voter guide, which offers up the chapter’s paper recommendations.
A few more things…
LAUSD officials told the school board on Wednesday that they were prohibiting students from using artificial intelligence, which the LAist’s Mariana Dale reported appeared to surprise board members and others.
Ahead of its Sept. 22 opening, Lucas Museum gave a preview to the media. The LA Times’s Mary McNamara focuses on the museum flattening the hierarchies of high and low-art. Time Out reports that the museum features a Banksy gallery, and Alissa Walker of Torched has a fun, Star Wars-inspired video showing off the entrance. Cultured Magazine profiles the Beijing-based architect of the new museum.
The Los Angeles City Council did end up voting to approve ordinance language repealing a city law that limits people to purchasing only one handgun per month, but 12 council members were needed, and only 10 members were present to vote, so it’s up for another largely procedural vote next week. The Firearms Policy Coalition and others had challenged LA city’s law, LAMC 55.14, in June in a lawsuit that argued that this law was just like a state law that they and others had successfully challenged last year as being unconstitutional and a violation of the Second Amendment. FYI, the June 2026 lawsuit also included a challenge of a similar “one-a-month” handgun law in Inglewood.
