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THE VIEW FROM HERE - Kudos to CD4 voters. On May 19, 2015, they rejected Garcetti endorsed candidate Carolyn Ramsey to replace termed out Tom LaBonge. Personally, I liked Ramsey, but her accepting an endorsement from Garcetti was the touch of death. As a result, CD4 decided to give David Ryu a chance. He turned “all Garcetti” after the election, and CD4 voters booted him in November 2020. In 2020, Nithya Raman looked good on paper. Boy, were we all wrong! She’s a dyed-in-the-wool Woker who sees her mission in life to impose Woke DEI Angelenos.
CD 4 Voters Broke the Pattern
As LaBonge’s chief of staff, Carolyn Ramsey was essentially the incumbent since Tom was termed out. . For decades Angelenos voted for who is in office or for the chief of staff. That’s how Tom became CD4 councilmember. He was John Ferraro’s chief of staff. Ferraro had served from May 25, 1966 – April 17, 2001. Then, Tom was CD4 councilmember from November 1, 2001 – July 1, 2015. That was 49 years of continuity. Starting in 2015, CD4 voters broke the mold – twice in a row. The third time will be the charm if Raman is now dismissed from CD4.
CD 4's Choices in 2024 Are Limited to Three
But first, here is a hyperlink to Stephen S Wise Temple’s CD4 Candidate forum where you can hear what the three say for themselves. [5:20 start Baronian, 27:18 start Raman (39:09-42:45 re DSA), 48:03 start Weaver]
1) Nithya Raman is current CD4 councilmember and a member of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) which supports Hamas with its Charter to exterminate Jews “from the river to the sea.” Raman’s comments at the Temple’s candidate forum were a throw-back to Trump’s comment after the Tiki Torch Parade with Nazi’s chanting, “Blood and Soil. Jews shall not replace us.” Trump said there are some good people on both sides. Likewise, Raman talks about the good things which DSA does without explicitly mentioning its goal to exterminate Jews “from the river to the sea.” While Raman spoke out against Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacre [Temple tape 39:09-42:45), she still supports DSA despite its censure of Raman where DSA reiterates its support of Hamas. Raman’s trying to have to have her cake and eat it too -- “Hitler does bad things, but I support the Nazi party.”
2) Lemon “Lev” Baronian. Baronian makes two classic mistakes.
(1) He says that “it is time for a change.” What challenger says, “Things are going great with the current councilmember, but elect me anyway.”?
(2) He thinks businessmen make good councilmembers. Wrong! Businessmen are generally terrible. Businessmen, especially those who run small businesses, are managers who make decisions and them implement them. That is not the function of a councilmember. Baronian might make a fantastic City Manager. LA has no city manager; our City Administrative Officer – Matthew W. Szabo – is not a city manager (which may be one of our problems). Thus, businessmen have the wrong background to be on a city council. Whether one likes or dislikes Karen Bass, with her gazillions of years in the state legislature and then Congress, she has the proper training and background for city politics.
3) Ethan Weaver: He makes the same mistake as Baronian. He proclaims, “Now is the time for change.” Really, what does he plan to do differently from Raman?
Weaver’s list for a new direction are: (I) address homelessness, (ii) investing in emergency services, (iii) restoring public safety, (iv) ending gun violence, (v) building more housing, (vi) creating good jobs, and (vii) supporting small businesses.
Objective (v) – building more housing is absurd. We have the Homeless Crisis because the city let so many RSO units and small homes be demolished and replaced by market rate multi-unit housing. We have a surplus of 150,000 vacant units and the population is decreasing. A surplus is not a shortage!
Weaver on LAFD and LAPD
For decades Los Angeles’ fire and paramedic emergency services have been seriously underfunded as our death statistics reflect. The problem made headlines in 2005. The Price of Just a Few Seconds Lost: People Die, by Robert Davis, USA TODAY, May 20, 2005
In June 2013, the LA Civil Grand Jury found that Garcetti’s claim that LA could spend less on fire fighters and paramedics, while improving service, was false. The Grand Jury report changed nothing; the under-funding continued as Angelenos continued to die at an unnecessarily high rate due to slow response times. Weaver’s website says, “Ethan Weaver will increase funding for firefighters and paramedics.” (bold added) No, Weaver will not increase funding. No single councilmember has that power. Weaver may try to get the city council to allocate more funding, but he certainly cannot do it by himself. At least, Weaver addresses this vital issue.
What About the Police?
Weaver addresses our need for more officers under a separate heading, which indicates that he takes policing and public safety seriously. The LAPD ranks are down to about 8,995 officers. (Since officers are constantly quitting and retiring, it’s not possible to know the exact number from day to day.) There were only 29 cadets in the recent Academy Class. Mayor Bass’s goal was 9,500. In 2015, the LAPD had about 10,000 officers.
Weaver website states: “Ethan Weaver is committed to rebuilding community trust with LAPD and reducing crime by fully funding the LAPD, and hiring more police officers.” (Bold added) One may think supporting the police is a no-brainer. However, with Woke councilmembers like Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez, and Nithya Raman, the number of LAPD officers will continue to decline, especially with Woke DA Gascón. Police officers do not want to play “catch and release” with dangerous criminals. Nor, do police officers want to be told not to arrest criminals because they are friends of Mayor Karen Bass and the Woker elite. Yes, Jason Reedy still has not been arrested nor have the rioters who attacked LA City Council back in 2023. Who is safe when a councilmember can be attacked at a Children’s Christmas Party and the Woke officials protect the attacker? The Wokers employ the tactic of blaming the victim. Kevin DeLeon did not stalk Reedy, KDL did not scream insults at Reedy in the middle of a Christmas Party, KDL did not follow Reedy to the hallway where Reedy and his mob backed KDL to a wall and where Reedy head butted the councilmember. Nonetheless, the Wokers claim that KDL attacked Reedy. As we see with DSA’s support of Hamas, the Woke endorse political violence both here and abroad.
Weaver shares a valuable experience with police officers. He has worked for years on the streets as a Neighborhood Prosecutor, which is basically a social worker who uses the law to help people in need such as street assaults, illegal trash dumping, graffiti, and business vandalism and robberies. As a neighborhood prosecutor, he was in the neighborhoods to work with Angelenos to devise new ways for the law to help improve quality of life. Weaver reminds me of Tom LaBonge (RIP) who would borrow city trucks early on Sunday mornings to help his staff clean the streets, e.g., Franklin Ave. No matter how often we sued the City, LaBonge was still open and ready to listen, as his love of Hollywood superseded all.
What’s at Stake in March 5, 2024 Election?
If no candidate gets a majority of votes, the top two candidates will face a run-off in November 2024. Since Raman is presently at 45% and Weaver close behind, it is best to vote for either Baronian or Weaver so that Raman does not get more than 50% on March 5th. That way CD4 voters will have more time to truly evaluate Raman and Weaver before CD4 casts its final votes in November.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
