10 days to decide: Bass, Raman make final push for LA Mayor

Did you know that we are just 10 days away from the general election? I can't believe it. It's already flying. And because of that, early voting is also underway as well. And lots of campaign events. L.A. mayoral candidate and the current mayor, Karen Bass, held a campaign rally today in the San Fernando Valley. Let's go ahead and listen in to that event from earlier today. We are less than a week and a half away from this election. And I know that we're going to bring it home, and we're going to bring it home because we're in the valley. And I wanted to spend my entire life in service. I started in health care. I worked as a nurse in the newborn ICU. Then I went on to be a PA, and I worked at L.A. County General's Emergency Room in the trauma unit. When I was off work, that's when I was an activist like many of the people here. I worked in my community after work and started an organization in 1990 because we were flooded with homicide. Homicide in LA was a thousand homicides in one year. We had crack cocaine. There was just a lot of things happening in our city. I never dreamed that I would be an elected official. There was never a part of my life's agenda. But when it was clear that working in the community is absolutely needed but I was also needed in other places I ran for office it's been so important to me personally but also my ability to deliver for the city that I served in Sacramento and went on to serve in Washington DC and ours our congressional representative and our representative in Sacramento said my whole life has been spent building coalitions and relationships in order to serve the people relationships and knows how to serve the people you represent in your council district then how on earth are you going to take care of the people in the city we are fortunate in our city to have fighters Chingona is a perfect and take no prisoners for anybody in her district and compare that to somebody who feels as though the constituents are beneath her. We are blessed that our former council member, Paul Krikorian, by heading up the office of major events, because in a little more than 600 days, we are going to have the largest sporting event in U.S. history take place on a city that doesn't know the history of the city she wants to govern. who's only been in the city she wants to govern for 13 years, and I guess never heard of Rodney King, or never heard of 1992, the most expensive civil unrest in U.S. history, then how do you say you want to govern the city? We have, in those little more than 600 days, we have to get our house in order, the infrastructure and everything in preparation for the games and to have a mayor who says we now need a new police chief and on day one we're going to do that is an example of somebody who has absolutely no idea of what is involved in picking a police chief and to have our department and disarray right before the Olympics is basically just call up the president and tell him And I'm not going to do that. I can work with everybody in Washington, D.C., Democrat or Republican, but I think we can hold our own here. We need to invite the administration to come in and take over. But I will tell you that if they see a sense of disorder, that is something that will absolutely happen. I believe in our city working in partnership with Congresswoman Rivas and Assemblymember Rodriguez Celeste. We can have what we need in our city, a city that is affordable. Did you know that we have built more housing, more affordable housing in the last four years than have been built in many years before that? The centerpiece of her platform, guess who has built the least amount of affordable housing? You can say what you're going to do and have lofty ideas, but the people of L.A. need to say, what have you done for me lately? You can't come in with ideas if you don't have the receipts that shows people what you actually have been able to accomplish. I know our city can be affordable. I know that. We have 47,000 units of affordable housing being fast tracked now. 10,000 of those units are already available for occupancy. We have a city that I know can be safe, and it's not just about police officers. It's about social workers and mental health professionals who can be called on to go out and address a problem so that the police can stay focused on what they need to stay focused in. And we can bring help to people who actually are not violent, are threatening communities, but they might be causing a ruckus. Why would you come out and arrest them? Why wouldn't you give them help? These are issues that I have worked on for many, many years. Our city can be affordable, our city can be safe, and our city can have opportunities for everyone. When the game here is games for all. We want to have activities, activations, art exhibits, cultural activities that everybody can participate in. And we did a dress rehearsal at the World Cup. We had over 100 venues where there were watch parties and festivals and all sorts of activities for the community. We want our small businesses to benefit, so VICA will really be able to talk about what we can have here in our city. And we want to make sure that all of our community organizations benefit, so that by the time someone leaves the Olympics, an international guest will say, oh my God, I had no idea there was a northeast San Fernando Valley and a south L.A. and an east L.A. and a west L.A. People come to L.A. and they go to five places and say they've been in L.A. We want people to know the breadth and the diversity of our city, and we want city residents to benefit from when they come and visit here. So I am deeply appreciative that you would stand with me. This has been a big battle, and polls say we're neck and neck, but the biggest equation in this election is the undecided voter. And the undecided voter is such a large percentage, and people are voting very, very late. About 7% of votes have been cast, which means everybody is voting this week. And so our timing is perfect to go out and present the contrast. Somebody who has a history of delivering for the city, somebody who has devoted their life to delivering for the city, somebody who knows how to build relationships and have those relationships delivered, or somebody who's brand new and is not even able to build relationships with the 14 people that work with her on a daily basis, how on earth is she going to govern the city? So let me just say, for a city that is affordable, for a city that is safe, for a city that has a world of opportunities, I appreciate all of you for going out there and telling voters this. Thank you so much for your support. It means the world to me. As I go around the city and talk to people, I am... You were just listening in to an event with L.A. Mayor Karen Bass from earlier today in Panorama City. She was campaigning. And also important to note that L.A. Mayoral Candidate Nithya Raman also held an event today in Sylmar to campaign as well. So we want to go ahead and listen in to that event as well. This facility here in Sylmar where a bunch of people canvassed in the morning for the campaign and we came here, ate some tacos, and celebrated together that we have 10 more days in this campaign. You seem to put on some good, fun events. I've covered a couple of them. They're cool. You feed us. We love you. Okay, enough flattery. Why Sylmar? You know, the San Fernando Valley is such an important part of Los Angeles, and particularly neighborhoods like Sylmar, Panorama City, these have been really hard hit by the raids and so there is a lot of impact that families are feeling here from the presence of ICE in addition to all of the challenges that everyone across Los Angeles is facing the rising cost of housing the rising cost of all essentials life is tough here residents here have told me that they expect a city that works as hard as they do to fix the streets and to deliver the essentials and that's what my mayoral campaign is promising a city that works as hard as the people of this neighborhood do two point question here in past past elections the valley has had a huge presence on who wins you you mentioned about day one change mcdonald that makes a huge impact on communities especially communities affected by ice yeah talk to me a little bit about that so you know i think i've said in a few different places, but I'll say it again. I don't believe that this police chief has met this moment. We need to keep neighborhoods safe and families safe, but we also need to make sure our immigrant communities are feeling protected at a time when the city is facing so much impact from Trump's raids on our streets. This police chief, I don't believe, has delivered that level of safety for our immigrant residents here. And on day one, I'll begin the process of looking for a new police Chief who can meet that moment. I know that it's not something, a decision that I can make unilaterally. It will take time to find the right person, but I'm very committed to ensuring that we can deliver on all aspects of public safety for Los Angeles, and Angelenos deserve that. Any concerns about that change happening just before the Olympics? I would never take any decision without real deliberation. The safety of Angelenos is so important to me. I know what it means to have the police force on your side. We've worked with them a long time in my district to deliver real results. And I will make sure that any change I make will never impact negatively the public safety of Angelenos. Can I just say one more thing? So I was really delighted here today. We had a big gathering. And one of the things I was most excited about is that we were we had the announcement of an endorsement by LA school board member Kelly Gomez who represents the Northeast San Fernando Valley and I am so glad that she's now on our team. She's a fellow working mother. She understands the challenges facing Los Angeles and she knows that we can't wait four years for change. Check, check, check. Okay picking up again. Talk to us a little bit about the game plan for the next 10 days. I mean you are ahead But what's the game plan to stay ahead? So, you know, I will say that I'm not taking this election for granted at all. We feel a lot of momentum. There's a lot of positivity, people coming out and supporting the campaign. But I'm going to spend the next 10 days doing what I've done for the past few months, making my case to the people of Los Angeles. I want to get out there and talk to as many people as possible and tell them that change is possible, that this broken status quo is not something that we have to accept, that we can build a more affordable city, a city that works for every single family that lives here if we choose differently on November 3rd. Anything else you want to share with our viewers? Nope, that's great. Thank you so much. It's always a pleasure. You were just listening to an interview with L.A. mayoral candidate Nithya Raman that was conducted by our photojournalist Olin Martinez, and she spoke about a number of issues along with L.A. Mayor Karen Bass as well, who also had an event in the San Fernando Valley today as well. Both of them trying to plead their cases and talk about their campaign to voters because we are just 10 days away from the midterms. Also important to note that recent polling does show L.A. mayoral candidate Nithya Raman ahead in this race.