Raman vows she won’t block homeless camping bans as mayor — then votes to block one on LA’s Westside

Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman voted against banning homeless encampments at six Westside locations, despite promising voters she wouldn’t block fellow councilmembers from imposing such restrictions if elected mayor.

The city councilwoman opposed a proposal from Westside Councilwoman Traci Park last week to crack down on camping at parks, beach dunes and pedestrian tunnels, days before Raman faces Mayor Karen Bass in the Nov. 3 election.

The measure passed 11–4, with Raman among the four councilmembers who voted against it.

“When I’m mayor, if the council wants to create new [no camping] zones, I’m not going to stand in the way,” Raman told an audience in May, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Park blasted Raman’s latest 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 shape the city’s anti-camping law and fought to expand restrictions near schools and libraries, defended the measure as a critical tool for protecting neighborhoods.

“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 unloaded on Raman.

“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 said Raman was running a “say-anything-to-get-elected flip-flop campaign,” claiming she was “talking out of both sides of her mouth.”

Park’s proposal targeted six locations across her Westside district, including 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 restrictions fall under the city’s controversial anti-camping ordinance, Municipal Code Section 41.18, which allows officials to prohibit sitting, sleeping and camping in designated public spaces.

Supporters say the law helps keep parks, sidewalks and other public spaces safe and accessible. Critics, including Raman, say it simply pushes encampments from one neighborhood to another without getting people off the streets.

“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.”

But for some Venice parents, the fight over encampments is deeply personal.

Venice mother Erin Ashford told The Post her child suffered nightmares about “zombies” after repeatedly encountering homeless encampments near Westminster Elementary School during former Councilman Mike Bonin’s tenure.

Bonin, who represented the Westside, refused to designate anti-camping zones in his district while in office.

Ashford said her pleas to Bonin’s office were brushed off.

When she heard Raman’s remarks questioning whether moving tents 500 feet away from schools would make children safer, she was furious.

“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’s comments came during a 2024 Sherman Oaks forum, where she questioned whether banning encampments within 500 feet of schools would make children safer.

“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 comments resurfaced in September when the police union targeted Raman in a campaign ad featuring a young girl walking past a homeless encampment.

Raman pushed back, saying she wants encampments removed from city streets altogether rather than simply relocated to another block.

But Nico Ruderman, a Venice Neighborhood Council member and father, questioned why Raman continues voting against the restrictions if she intends to let councilmembers use them as mayor.

Ruderman became active in neighborhood issues after children arriving at his son’s school encountered a dead body during morning drop-off. He also told The Post about RV’s outside the school that caught fires and fights that would break out while dropping off his son.

“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 challenged Raman to demonstrate her commitment 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 blasted Raman saying she has repeatedly voted against restrictions designed 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 reached out to Raman’s campaign for comment.