Whatâs happening today?
The politically powerful hotel and airport workers union Unite Here 11 announced today that they are endorsing Nithya Raman in the LA mayorâs race. KNXâs Craig Fiegener notes that in the last mayoral election cycle, the group backed Karen Bass, when she was battling Rick Caruso for the seat in 2022. But Unite Here 11 is also a long-time fan of Raman, having poured plenty of money and manpower into getting Raman re-elected to City Council during a tough race in 2024.
Today, the unionâs representatives pointed to the high cost of housing in Los Angeles that has led to hotel workers needing to commute for as long as two hours just to work in areas where they had actually grown up, such as in Koreatown, where the endorsement was announced. Unite Here 11 members stood across from an apartment building where union leaders say there are units being illegally listed on Airbnb, to share their support for Raman on Tuesday.
Kurt Petersen, a co-president at Unite Here, said the union is âbringing an armyâ to go out to get votes for Raman. âWhen working people decide to fight for their city, donât underestimate us,â he said. Meanwhile Airbnb has been funding an independent committee aimed at electing Ramanâs opponent Karen Bass. Although Raman has notably garnered key labor endorsements in her challenge of Bass, LA Timesâs Noah Goldbergâs story published this morning on the endorsement notes that Bass also has plenty of labor support.
What just happened?
A new PPIC report blames homelessness on the landmark Prop 47 measure, but experts are skeptical
CalMatters covers a new report that blames Proposition 47 â a voter approved measure that lowered the penalties on nonviolent crimes, including drug crimes â for a worsening the homelessness crisis. But the article actually contains comments from expert sources who quickly point to how things are never that simple, and even points within the report that note that more housing is linked to decreased homelessness.
One law professor tells CalMatters that the passage and implementation of Prop47 and increased homelessness may have merely happened at the same time, and he thinks itâs unlikely there was a direct link. The report, put out by the influential Public Policy Institute of California, also doesnât consider the damage that a felony conviction could have on someoneâs efforts to recover from drug addiction. The report itself even contains information about how counties that increased permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness, saw decreases in homelessness.
Bass campaign takes aim at Raman for her City Council attendance in new website
The back and forth about who has worse attendance continues unabated, after Mayor Bassâs campaign recently unveiled a new website, No Show Nithya, that attacks Raman for her City Council attendance. Raman and her people have said her absences have been due to needing to attend other meetings for panels that Bass had actually appointed her to. Meanwhile, Bass critics have pointed to the fact that the sitting mayor shouldnât be throwing rocks in a glass house â especially with LAist recently releasing an analysis that found that Bass missed more than half of the meetings for the LAHSA commission, which oversees a homeless services agency. Others have also continued to blast Bass for not being in town when the Palisades fire was raging in January 2025, and attacks on Ramanâs attendance record inevitably provokes mention of that as well.
A few more thingsâŠ
The Muslim Public Affairs Council hosted conversation with LA mayoral candidate Nithya Raman. You can watch an archive of the stream here. Karen Bass is expected to schedule a different time with MPAC to do a similar talk.
There will be an educational LA mayoral forum on Thursday focused on environmental issues. Candidates will be appearing separately in a fireside chat format, and the topics will focus on âexperiences of frontline communities most impacted by air pollution, extreme heat, high utility costs, oil drilling, goods movement, and climate-related disasters.â
Metro just launched a campaign to discourage a trend of train surfing thatâs gained some popularity among young people.
LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman says an LAPD officer, Clifford Proctor, who killed Brendon Glenn in 2015 has been indicted again on murder charges. The indictment was returned about two weeks ago and was only just unsealed. Proctor was arraigned on Monday, according to the LA Times.
The New York Times covers the phenomenon of influencers making money off of stumping for political candidates.
Colleen Shalby at the LA Times writes about the latest development in a showdown between City Council member Nithya Raman and Mayor Karen Bassâs office over bike lanes along Forest Lawn Drive.
