There is a new infection spreading through California almost as fast as the coronavirus delta variant…Recall Fever.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is facing a recall election scheduled for September 14. Los Angeles County residents are busy signing a petition to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.
Now, the Los Angeles Office of the City Clerk has announced approval for a petition to recall Councilwoman Nithya Raman.
Raman, who represents a number of central neighborhoods including Hollywood and Silver Lake, is facing the recall effort from constituents upset over her handling of the city’s homelessness crisis.Raman, who represents a number of central neighborhoods including Hollywood and Silver Lake, is facing the recall effort from constituents upset over her handling of the city’s homelessness crisis.Recall petitioners will have until Nov. 4 to collect signatures from at least 27,405 qualified registered voters — 15% of the districts’ registered voters.
It was merely last November the area progressives touted Raman’s election as proof that socialism would be the next big thing.
Democratic-leaning as it is, Los Angeles moved a bit further to the left last week as young Jewish progressives joined like-minded activists to help a candidate supported by the Democratic Socialists of America win a seat on the 15-member City Council.Nithya Raman, an urban planner from India in her first run for public office, defeated one-term incumbent David Ryu, in part through the campaign efforts of the DSA’s local chapter, which is heavily populated by young Jews drawn to her policy positions as an extension of values they say they learned early in their lives.Raman, who won the endorsement of the U.S. Senate’s most prominent progressive — Bernie Sanders of Vermont — campaigned for more effective solutions to homelessness, more affordable housing, police reform and sanctuary protections for the city. She won 52% of the vote.
Despite Raman’s claims of implementing practical solutions for the homeless, it is that very issue that is a driving force in the recall effort. She even managed to inspire Allison Cohen, the publisher of the Los Feliz Ledger, to get on board with the effort.
So why this? And why now? Why jump head first into the deep end of local politics, against a first-term councilmember who’s barely been in office for half a year?It was that homeless encampment on Berendo Street, near Hollywood Boulevard, Cohen said.For months, residents complained that it had been taken over by a criminal gang, and the Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed it has been run by a group called La Mirada Locos.“Renters and homeowners alike on North Berendo have begged, respectfully, for help since December for the situation, which deteriorates by the day,” The Ledger editorialized in April.In May, Raman told ABC7 News that almost all the tents had been removed. The news report then showed a few homeless structures that were still there. As this situation developed, the Ledger criticized Raman for reportedly leaving early from meetings with constituents.“I can’t count how many people have said, ‘We call, we don’t hear back,’” Cohen said.
Raman isn’t the only council member facing a recall either. Councilman Mike Bonin received a recall notice..for the same reasons.
Petitioners against Bonin, who represents Westside neighborhoods including Venice, and Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who represents central neighborhoods including Hollywood and Silver Lake, cite anger with how the council members have handled the city’s homelessness crisis.The two have led an effort to replace the city’s mandatory encampment clean-ups with a more voluntary, service-based approach. Their motion to have the city develop a new method to replace the clean-ups, often referred to as “sweeps,” was unanimously passed by the City Council in April….“Under Mike Bonin’s watch, the humanitarian crisis of the homeless population is growing exponentially. Taxpayer money is squandered. Fires. Struggling local businesses. Crime is rampant and rising. Neighborhoods and schools are unsafe. We feel afraid to visit public beaches and community parks,” the Recall Bonin 2021 campaign’s website reads.
It will be interesting to see if recalls will target any more California politicos as this movement spreads.
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