Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman voted against prohibiting homeless encampments at six Westside sites, even though she has told voters that, as mayor, she would not obstruct councilmembers who want to establish similar restrictions.
Raman joined three other councilmembers in opposing a proposal introduced last week by Westside Councilwoman Traci Park. The measure sought to ban camping in several parks, beach dunes and pedestrian tunnels, coming just days before Raman faces Mayor Karen Bass in the Nov. 3 election.
The City Council approved the proposal by an 11–4 vote.
“When I’m mayor, if the council wants to create new [no camping] zones, I’m not going to stand in the way,” Raman said at a May event, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Park sharply criticized Raman after the vote.
“Once again, Nithya Raman voted against my efforts to protect our kids and public spaces from dangerous encampments,” Park told The California Post. “Her voting record speaks louder than her campaign promises.”
Former Los Angeles Councilman Joe Buscaino, a former LAPD officer who helped write the city’s anti-camping law and pushed for expanded restrictions near schools and libraries, said the measure gives neighborhoods an important way to address quality-of-life concerns.
“I helped write 41.18 because parents asked us to keep encampments away from schools, beaches and libraries,” Buscaino told The Post.
“It works because it lets each councilmember decide what’s right for their community. The best way to govern as mayor is to trust councilmembers and give them real tools to address quality of life concerns, not stand in their way.”
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents rank-and-file LAPD officers, also attacked Raman over her vote.
“Nithya Raman must love the Britney Spears song, ‘Oops!… I Did It Again,’ because this week she once again voted to allow dangerous homeless camps near sensitive locations throughout West Los Angeles,” the union told The Post.
The union accused Raman of running a “say-anything-to-get-elected flip-flop campaign” and claimed she was “talking out of both sides of her mouth.”
Park’s proposal covered six sites in her Westside district: Vista del Mar Park and the Dockweiler Beach sand dunes; Asilomar View Park and Temescal Canyon Park in Pacific Palisades; and two pedestrian tunnels beneath Pacific Coast Highway.
The proposed restrictions rely on Municipal Code Section 41.18, the city’s controversial anti-camping ordinance. The law allows officials to prohibit sitting, sleeping and camping in designated public areas.
Supporters argue that Section 41.18 protects access to parks, sidewalks and other shared spaces. Critics, including Raman, counter that the policy merely shifts encampments from one neighborhood to another instead of helping people move indoors.
“My imagination for how we address homelessness in L.A. goes beyond just thinking about which block an encampment should be on,” Raman has said. “It is about how we actually get encampments indoors.”
For some Venice parents, however, the debate over encampment restrictions is more than a political dispute.
Erin Ashford, a Venice mother, told The Post that her child developed nightmares about “zombies” after repeatedly seeing homeless encampments near Westminster Elementary School during the tenure of former Councilman Mike Bonin.
Bonin, who represented the Westside, declined to establish anti-camping zones in his district while serving on the council.
Ashford said her appeals to Bonin’s office were dismissed.
She became angry after hearing Raman question whether moving tents 500 feet from schools would actually make children safer.
“I was livid when I heard this,” Ashford told The Post. “Have her visit our house and try to explain to our kids that zombies aren’t trying to get them.”
“What they saw every day before Traci Park made this a no-camping zone was a nightmare,” she said.
Raman made the comments at a 2024 forum in Sherman Oaks, where she questioned whether a 500-foot buffer around schools would improve student safety.
“I don’t think a kid’s gonna be safer because a tent is 500 feet away from a school,” Raman told the audience, adding, “You know, it’s like, whatever.”
The remarks resurfaced in September after the police union featured them in a campaign advertisement showing a young girl walking past a homeless encampment.
Raman defended her position by saying she wants encampments removed from city streets entirely, rather than simply moved to another block.
But Nico Ruderman, a Venice Neighborhood Council member and father, questioned why Raman continues to oppose the restrictions if she plans to allow councilmembers to use them as mayor.
Ruderman became involved in neighborhood issues after children arriving at his son’s school encountered a dead body during morning drop-off. He also told The Post that recreational vehicles outside the school caught fire and that fights broke out during morning arrivals.
“Nithya Raman has made campaign promises that she’ll let councilmembers use 41.18 in their own districts as mayor. But she consistently votes against them doing exactly that as a councilmember,” Ruderman told The Post.
“She has repeatedly spoken against the law, and Traci Park’s proposal to expand it sat unheard in the committee she chaired. Both her votes and her actions contradict what she’s telling voters.”
Ruderman said Raman should prove her position before Election Day.
“Why should anyone trust her? Becoming mayor isn’t going to magically change her political beliefs. If she means what she says, she can demonstrate it now.”
“She has consistently opposed 41.18 protections around schools, and this week she voted against protections around parks where children play,” he added.
“As a parent, I believe she’s a danger to children in Los Angeles, whether she’s a councilmember or mayor. I’m judging her by both her votes and her actions, not what she says to get elected.”
Bass’s campaign also criticized Raman, saying she has repeatedly opposed measures intended to keep encampments away from schools and other sensitive locations.
“Nithya Raman says on the campaign trail that she won’t interfere with her colleagues’ work to ban encampments outside of schools and daycares, but she keeps voting to do just that,” a campaign spokesperson told The Post.
“Raman doesn’t think a kid is safer if a tent is 500 feet away from a school, and she would undo our progress cleaning up encampments throughout the city.”
The Post contacted Raman’s campaign for comment.
