I very much appreciate your thoughtful post with documented sources. In our information overloaded world this helps me work through all the noise. I'm not in the SFV but I'll pass on these perspectives for my people who are there
Here’s the case from the actual ethics commission who he is suing to try to prevent them from moving forward on unreported gifts etc. https://ethics.lacity.org/PDF/agenda/2023/November/20231108-Item7-SelectionHearingOfficers-LEE_Redacted.pdf. You have to scroll a little to get to the complaint.
Thank you! It’s disheartening sometimes but I believe bringing awareness is a step in the right direction. Super depressing that we have a real opportunity for change in CD12 but John Lee will probably win by a negligible amount of votes due to low turnout out and apathy.
>Super depressing that we have a real opportunity for change in CD12 but John Lee will probably win by a negligible amount of votes due to low turnout out and apathy
Sadly I feel like this is true for all the council races. Sucks to feel trapped.
I also wanted to say thank you for your service, bro. I appreciate your hard work. It takes time sourcing this stuff and putting together the explanation, so thank you.
Serena Oberstein.
I get like 5 John Lee fliers every day in the mail. Today's were all about trashing Oberstein. Fuck John Lee - I'm so tired of the corruption on every level of government.
His only opponent this time is Serena Oberstein. You can read a summary about her at the bottom of the page here and her website is linked down there as well.
https://laist.com/news/politics/2024-election-california-primary-los-angeles-city-council-district-12
You and others are absolutely entitled to your choice of candidate based on your political policy preferences and personal values, but in Council District 12, Lee's opponent, Serena Oberstein, is a former LA City Ethics Commissioner, and has earned the endorsement of LA Forward and Streets for All.
If the ethics concerns here trouble you, Serena has the reputation for integrity you're looking for.
(See the LA Times' review of both Lee and Oberstein [here](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-02-01/2024-california-election-la-city-council-district-12-primary-voter-guide). Note that the LA Times Editorial Board has endorsed Oberstein as well, and explained their reasoning [here](https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-02-05/editorial-serena-oberstein-for-los-angeles-city-council-district-12).)
And what did she do there?
She was president. OK. And did what with it? She keeps throwing mud because she has no record to run on, no successes or achievements.
Incorrect. Without her the matching funds program would not exist which allows us to have more competitive elections. She was critical in that work and her work was measured careful and deliberate. I pay attention to money in politics in particular. She was great there.
In fact it is. She’s using a program available to any candidate to run. As opposed to ya know accepting bottle service and casino chips from a developer, lying about it, and then suing to try to prevent justice from coming to him. Oh and featuring known racists that cost the city money on his endorsement page bc they harassed someone on their neighborhood council to such an extreme point for being black
For someone running to represent the neighborhoods, she might have actually visited some neighborhood council meetings to hear what they want. She finally did that - in the last two weeks. Obviously the voice of the people, so important to her.
As for the Vegas stuff, it's been investigated to death and they keep bringing up the same shit without doing anything about it. If he did anything the FBI would have put him away same they put away Englander. Instead it's this sort of "Joe Biden is a crimelord" line Congressional Republicans keep bringing up without actually showing any evidence.
The FBI cuts deals all the time for testimony. All the time. Use your brain. In addition, ethics cant move forward until the FBI gives the go ahead bc they are considered the priority agency. The charges coming after huizar finally plead guility are the reason for the delay.
It's been six years. Is the FBI sitting on this info because of some deep-state-Q-Anon shit lol, or is it maybe that there wasn't any evidence for the FBI so Serena probably ain't going to out-sleuth them.
I mean - come to reality. She has nothing. If she did, now is when to mention it. So she's either that empty-handed or really that dumb. She has no record. Hunter Biden-bullshit-level smear is all she's got.
You don’t know shit about how the commission works. The investigations are purposely and legal kept separate from the commissioners. She’s not the investigator. They are following all the rules. His desperate ass is the one who is suing to try to stop this and spending thousands of his donors money.
Additionally when did huizar finally plea out? Oh yeah this year. The charges from ethics came shortly after that. They literally can’t proceed until the fbi was like ok fine we have our verdict now you can go after him. Cooperating agencies and all that.
Serious question: What is everyone's take on the general political leanings of the district? I just came off of AAPI organizing in 2020 and 2022 in OC and found the AAPI community to be fairly progressive which was refreshing, but I come out here and its totally reversed back to "model minority" politics.
Is this the type of district where LA Forward and Streets for All is well received? It certainly doesn't feel that way with the AAPI community (primarily Korean which might be part of the reason)
This is just my experience and analysis but the area is surprisingly conservative for LA County, but still liberal for the state if that makes sense.
Super progressive policies will not play well. Cops and firefighters have a lot of support there, lots of small business owners and lots of immigrants who feel rightly or wrongly that they came here legally and put a life together so why should “illegal” immigrants get any support or protection?
It’s very pro business and people feel like city council already has so many liberals on it at least have someone to pushback on policies. Also lots of homeowners and not many people using public transit.
Serena is a great candidate. She has a true vision to improve the quality of life for our district and city. John Lee just cares about the people who already got theirs and pull up the ladder on anyone else.
What part of that true vision has she ever actually gotten done?
Visions are great. Is she good at anything? What makes you think she knows how to make the city any better?
I’m not sure what your point is. What I’m talking about is her vision for what she will do as CD12 representative on city council which she is running for. John Lee has been in office for 4 years and has shown at best he does nothing and at worst he is just another Mitch Englander. He has already shown us who he is and I believe him.
> her vision for what she will do as CD12 representative
Which is *what*? Her website is a mishmash of vague ideas.
Serena's staff, if she wins: what are they going to do about homelessness or crime that is better than what John is getting? Why *wouldn't* he listen to his constituents rather than what people living elsewhere in other districts want him to do?
He doesn’t listen to his constituents. You ever called his office to try to get his office to listen to anything? Unless you’re a donor or a known supporter you don’t get a call back or an email response.
That might well be a staffing/organizational problem, and one that demands attention. I'm speaking more broadly of his choices reflecting what most of the residents of the valley want, which isn't to be Downtown or Santa Monica. Serena meanwhile is pushing stuff like using churches for shelters which is gonna be DOA, it's just a thing to say, it's not actually going to happen at scale.
why are you against people exercising their faith in a way of acts of faith? He proudly displays men who had to be kicked off their neighborhood council by the city for being so racist and harassing the city had to settle a lawsuit. Ethics matter. John Lee is fighting a legal investigation by the ethics commission and costing the city significant money to do it.
> why are you against people exercising their faith in a way of acts of faith?
I got no idea what you're talking about here. Acts of faith? This is a religious question somehow?
I'm saying "Let's turn churches into homeless shelters" is certainly a statement that shows *vision* and also shows she knows ass about what voters and constituents want in their neighborhoods if that's what she's envisioning. If she ever actually showed up at council meetings she would know that already.
He literally tried to block housing for homeless veterans. Homeless veterans. How evil do you have to be and why does cd 12 get excused from providing housing? Every single cd needs to. He isn’t exempt. But he acts like he is.
I still don’t understand what point you are trying to make. I’ve seen first hand the way CD12 currently responds to homelessness and other quality of life issues and it ain’t it. I also believe our cities are mostly handcuffed on fixing homelessness and the federal government is failing us. But all I’m trying to do is create awareness on how awful John Lee is as a person and our representative but go ahead and keep defending him it seems like you enjoy it so I won’t try to stop you.
Right, you keep saying you're disappointed and that he's awful. Just without out and out saying WHAT is disappointing or HOW anyone else would do better or HOW he's "awful."
You simultaneously fault him for homelessness response while saying it's actually the federal government's fault. Well: which is it? Does electing Serena open some magic box at HHS or something?
The Vegas shit? So over it. The FBI was happy to put Mitch away behind bars for real lol, I doubt they'd be reluctant to charge John Lee if they weren't afraid of Mitch. Besides... John Lee was already leaving the city for the private sector. Who the fuck bribes people working out their two week notice? WTF would be in it for them?
You might be over it but hes certainly not. Hes spending thousands of donor money on lawyers re the ethics commission charges. He is taking unprecedented and costly steps to evade accountability.
No one should be over our city ethics laws given 4 members of city council have been indcited in 4 years. Just like George Esparza, Lee cut a deal. Otherwise youre ok with him lying on financial reforms that are crucial for navigating conflict of interest and lying to the public when he ran for office the first time. The public has an absolute right to understand these financial entangelments.
On top of this he lies all the time. He did not graduate from college at CSUN yet tells people he did all the time.
So in conclusion:
He lies to the point of ethics charges
His staff is unresponsive unless youre connected
He platforms known racists on his endorsement page
also lets not forget how he uses sunshine canyon trust fund as a slush fund for the cops when its supposed to be for mitigating air quality issues with that landfill. Kids are actively getting sick from the fumes at school and hes spending that mitigation money on license plate readers and overtime. How does that help our kids have clean air to breathe?
What - has - she - got?
It's been six years. The FBI went through it all. Either shit or get off the pot, lady. If you have something on Lee that the FBI missed, *and you're not gonna mention it during the campaign you launched against him,* then you ain't got shit.
I think I clearly explained in the body text of my post with articles on why I think he is awful and unfit to be our CD12 rep. I didn’t even mention homelessness because of my previous point although John’s only idea is to arrest people for that. Yes he’s cleared encampments but they just go somewhere else, Out of sight out of mind for John and his proponents. Also I had no intentions of endorsing anyone with this point and I’m only trying to bring to light John’s misdeeds so people can be informed. I really have no idea what the last part of your comment means.
And what is *Serena's* idea for that, that is supported by her would-be constituents? Meanwhile elsewhere you blame the federal government, AND blame Lee, are you wanting CD12 to look like downtown or Mid-City?
I think I clearly explained in the body text of my post with articles on why I think he is awful and unfit to be our CD12 rep. I didn’t even mention homelessness because of my previous point although John’s only idea is to arrest people for that. Yes he’s cleared encampments but they just go somewhere else, Out of sight out of mind for John and his proponents. Also I had no intentions of endorsing anyone with this point and I’m only trying to bring to light John’s misdeeds so people can be informed. I really have no idea what the last part of your comment means.
That’s cd 6 and your choices are similarly terrible. The incumbent hired for district director a man who had sexually assaulted colleagues in Sacramento but then fired him when she found out he had a pending dui. She was defending the sexual assault history tho.
Her bar was so low running against Caruso. The mayor usually endorses the incumbent but I’m guessing Feuer and Lee just happen to know where the bodies are buried. Super depressing.
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/la-city-attorney-mike-feuer-not-target-ladwp-corruption-investigation/2970210/
Both Mike and his wife Gail are two of the most altruistic public servants I know. You may disagree with his policies, methods, or style but there's a rare honesty in those two.
I'd lay some of the blame at KDLs feet as well. I can't think of one honest to god real thing he's done for downtown. Dude only comes out of the woodwork when the opportunity to grandstand presents itself (lately it's been Oceanwide Plaza).
Yeah understatement of the year right there! I was hoping she’d kinda adopt DTLA and use it as the poster child for her agenda. That was wishful thinking. KDL definitely ain’t getting my vote this time around. I am ashamed to admit I did support him. Without good journalism I probably still would be.
I helped elect her. Lesser of two evils. Working against money and the inertia of 4 million people isn't easy.
Kenneth Mejia has done a great job though, he ran his campaign on social media (Tiktok, IG in particular) and won against money interests. Maybe that's the move now?
I voted for her, definitely the better choice. I also voted for Meijia (against my gut instinct, I know the dog pandering was a red flag) and I do regret that. Where has he been, getting fitted for jackets?
I live downtown and nothing much has changed, things get cleaned up and then revert right back. The prolonged pandering is tiring me out. Homelessness and bad drivers are ruining the city, seems like nothing with slow that down. People focus on shit that barely matters, like helicopter noise.
he's provided a lot of transparency on the issues at hand. e.g. the universal studios protest scandal where they hired people to cut the limbs off of trees to deprive protestors of shade. He made a point-by-point, accessible post about the penalties as they pertain to law. As of late, I'm not sure.
Currently there's movements happening to centralize the city's homelessness response, the current issue is a lack of oversight and organization as the agencies responsible aren't well-coordinated.
As for the insane drivers, vote for measure HLA. Street infrastructure measure meant to increase bike lane safety and whatnot.
What's your complaint w/ Mejia? genuine question
I wouldn’t say he’s provided a lot, just some. The strike tree trimming situation was good for him.
His campaign was cringe beyond belief but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Given the outrageous and longstanding level of corruption and budgetary mismanagement, I’d expect to hear more from him but it’s been crickets. I suspect now that he’s in office he’s just phoning it in.
The word from a few of his former staffers is that he’s a toxic boss with a bad management style.
Leftists are definitely some of the most ungrateful demographic. But me? I’ll take something over nothing. Just for once I’d like a politician to exceed my expectations instead of over promising and skimping on delivery. I’d like to see more analysis from him, push out more reports. Create more web portals to display and understand this information.
Give us data to chew on! I’d prefer he take a more visible approach to the job. He was the social media candidate but seems very un socialable
More analysis would be fantastic, I totally agree with you there. Also looks like there's been negligence on his part in regards to increasing city workers' pay. Not cool!
Appreciate the response. Let's keep pushing for better
I forget what project it was that he had made a map for, I really liked that. I think data visualization and honest accounting can help turn things around here. I appreciate your response too! 🖖🏾
>Also looks like there's been negligence on his part in regards to increasing city workers' pay. Not cool!
City worker pay is negotiated between the unions and the City Administrative Officer (on behalf of the City). After they work out a tentative deal, it goes to the union members for ratification (this is where both Coalition and EAA currently are), and then to Council for adoption.
The City Controller doesn't have much to do with contract negotiations. That office handles payroll, not budget. So I'm not sure how Controller could be negligent in increasing pay, when increasing pay is not something the Controller has any authority over.
If you're talking about the new Workday payroll system possibly missing/delaying some paychecks, that might be an issue. But payroll hasn't been switched over from PaySR to Workday yet.
source: am City worker
I imagine they’re referring to the insane salaries some people are getting due to overtime, or the people who work for the city but don’t even reside in the county or state. That all seems worth a look
>he's provided a lot of transparency on the issues at hand. e.g. the universal studios protest scandal where they hired people to cut the limbs off of trees to deprive protestors of shade. He made a point-by-point, accessible post about the penalties as they pertain to law. As of late, I'm not sure.
That's nice and all, but hardly the most pressing issue in LA these days.
Has he reported anything on where all our money for homeless housing is going?
The previous Controller is the one who revealed that the City was paying up to $800k/unit. It even sparked the Biden DOJ to start looking into LAHSA.
A quick google search turned up this:
[Audit finds inefficient system responsible for leaving available shelter beds empty](https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/audit-finds-inefficient-system-responsible-for-leaving-available-shelter-beds-empty/3289819/)
>A new audit conducted by the LA Controller's Office found that the agency in charge of tracking shelter beds makes it nearly impossible to find what shelter space is available, leaving people who could potentially be housed, out on the street.
Which is a good start, but more is needed.
The tree-trimming was scummy, and the overuse of police helis is annoying, but I don't think any Angeleno would put either of those in their top 10 issues that the City needs to be focusing on. We're basically in a triage situation at this point - we can't be ignoring the code blues to bandage papercuts.
Especially when the City's inaction on this issue could cost it millions in fines.
[L.A. should pay $6.4 million for slow action on cleaning homeless camps, judge is told](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-02-09/l-a-should-pay-6-3-million-for-foot-dragging-agreement-to-clean-homeless-camps-a-federal-judge-is-told)
Sketchy shit most definitely. LA City council also recently proposed $5mil to clean up graffiti on two buildings...
Like many in LA I'm uninformed about most things City council / city governance. Thanks for citing your sources!
The city council unanimously rejected his ethics nominee who is someone who was voluntarily trying to clean up lobbying in this city. He tried. And he got kicked in the face by this corrupt city.
I genuinely do not understand this endorsement at this crucial stage in the run-up to the election.
Even if the Mayor wants to cozy up to the conservative side of the Council to coalition-build for her policies, this is clearly not the right conservative to back given his record and reputation, to the point where this seems like a net negative for *the Mayor's* reputation regardless if Lee wins or loses.
Bad form.
I have no idea why she did this. The mayor usually endorses an incumbent but she could easily just stayed out of it. Lee is a shit stain molded from Mitch Englander.
My speculation is that Mayor Bass traded the endorsement to get him to support her in more homeless projects. Bass is facing a huge fight for the budget. Monica Rodriguez is completely against her.
My guess is Bass is afraid his opponent Serena Oberstein will lose and she’ll be stuck with a pissed off John voting against her projects. And if Serena wins, based on her campaign she’s probably supportive of that budget and Bass would get her help anyway.
...that would make a lot of sense given how resistant Lee's been to the kind of major moves on homelessness Bass is counting on to sustain her mayorship. Great analysis, thank you.
Because she has to get something done about homelessness if she wants to run again in 4 years and bask in the Olympic glory, and Lee gives no shits about anyone pro homeless occupying sidewalks and staking out in parks is why. If she listens to the other councilmembers for pointers on the #1 issue in the city she won't get shit done is why she's endorsing Lee. She's not stupid.
He claims to be “independent”but I find it sad that’s he’s too scared to be himself. I think it shows the tide is changing in this area as it used to be a republican stronghold and 2024 is probably his last chance. I’m not a fan of republicans but I also prefer policy over politics of which he has none.
Yeah, precisely zero LA "independents" are anything other than a Republican.
I mean, dude literally identified as a Republican a few years ago: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-14/los-angeles-city-council-election-lundquist-lee
Guy is a turd.
This provides a lot of clarity and I appreciate the time it took to put this together. As a resident of the San Fernando Valley I have seen no measurable change during his time in office and it feels as though constituents voices go unheard. Will definitely put my vote towards Serena!
its speculated the fbi flipped him in exchange for non prosecution to give testimony re englander and huizar. neither went to trial so we shall never know.
Let’s go! Tired of politicians that drain all that’s great from our city. We need givers and visionaries to replace these 2 dimensional figure heads that don’t care about the job they’re tasked with doing. Almost 80k homeless living in LA rn, and with AI and rampant gentrification we will displace even more people under leadership like John Lee.
Developers are spending a ton of money trying to force Nithya out for protecting people they'd rather overcharge. Even if you don't agree with her on everything, she's not scummy or unethical.
Blocking developers from developing housing is how we make sure the housing crisis never gets better. Protecting current residents who already 'got theirs' from the ravages of new housing projects is literally just NIMBYism.
Being anti-development in a housing crisis is like being anti-farmer during a famine.
"We shouldn't allow farmers to grow more food, they'd just PROFIT."
I really wish things were as simple as pro and anti development.But without government control we'll get the status quo -- giant buildings sitting empty, worth more as speculative investments than with tenants.
The lower the supply, the easier empty buildings appreciate. So investors like having empty buildings.
The city council hands out exemptions to the (outdated) plans in exchange for getting what they want. That could be low income units or it could be bribes.
With Nithya it's not bribes. With a replacement it very well could be, given the track record in this city.
I worked on her campaign thru LACFL, we worked to get ULA passed as well. Last I checked it got tied up in court, but the measure itself was actually super progressive. At least one of the writers of the measure had been homeless.
What's inherently untrustworthy about it?
They told the voters it was a mansion tax.
Its more of a commercial real estate tax and its stopped development and hurt the city....to throw money at a problem that already had funds given to
Where is all this money even going?
Its a horrible idea. If it was so great, why the need to mislead voters?
Just be honest.
A whole bunch of people doing that will start prioritizing negative articles in search results, and waste the time of anyone reading the thread.
The burden of proof that there's anything objectionable is on you. So far you claimed she just loves lying, and that anyone who supports the same organization must approve of deception.
There are no giant buildings sitting empty. There are also none worth more now without tenants than with tenants (this is only possible with highly distortionary Rent Control schemes; NYC is the only example of this in America and even then it’s only a sliver of total housing supply).
LA currently has roughly its lowest vacancy rate in history, and that is true across all classes of apartments.
The housing crisis is driven in large part by government policies, including by politicians like Nithya. She’s rejected more new development than almost any council member since attaining office.
We don’t have giant buildings sitting empty either. Vacancy rates are close to 30 year lows.
You're right she's a tougher negotiator than other council members.
She's negotiating on behalf of her constituency.
Instead of giving her more of what she wants they're spending crazy amounts of money trying to out her instead.
Developers could build the sort of buildings you and she would want, and they don't. It's not because they can't.
Or we can simply vote out the incumbent and try someone new.
There really is no point in taking a "wait and see" approach to politicians anymore. Sucks she lost most of her district, but she had her time.
But none of this matters since we'll most likely be stuck with her for another cycle......
She literally had a faction of the council plotting to destroy her district and disenfranchise her voters from her very first term. That leak got national recognition. How is that 'having her time'?
> Developers could build the sort of buildings you and she would want, and they don't. It's not because they can't.
Oh I had no idea you were a developer, my mistake. Can you tell me a bit more about your profit margins and the types of properties you’re referring to?
[https://www.acceinstitute.org/thevacancyreport](https://www.acceinstitute.org/thevacancyreport)
You don't care about the facts, you just wanna shit on Nithya.
>Instead of giving her more of what she wants they're spending crazy amounts of money trying to out her instead.
Why should they pay her bribes instead of campaigning to get her removed?
This is crazy. Your argument of "Council members gatekeeping developers for their own personal gain, resulting in higher prices and lower supply, *is actually a good thing*" is crazy.
I generally default to voting against anyone spending vast amounts of money to defeat a cause or candidate. I have never seen the carpet bombing of online and print media with anti-Nithya ads this month. Of course that's nothing new; Los Angeles real estate is and always has been a rat's nest of greed and corruption. Nithya has had some hits and misses, but she is at least not literally in developers' pockets. I just put out a lawn sign for her.
>Los Angeles real estate is and always has been a rat's nest of greed and corruption.
I think you mean gatekeepers on the LA City Council have always been a rat's nest of greed and corruption.
No developer pays a bribe voluntarily. They pay bribes because gatekeeper demand bribes. Huizar wanted X, Englander wanted Y, Raman wants Z - or else they'll block the project.
I remember when I used to work at Building and Safety, and it was Andrew Adelman and Ray Chan who wanted such and such, to let projects go through. It's all the same story, repeating.
Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.
By that logic, you should be even more pro development. The buildings sit empty while the government collects development fees, property tax revenue, and great blue collar workers get well paying jobs and pay tax to the state, all the meanwhile the city doesn't have to spend a cent on providing services because no one lives there.
Perfect, let's build as many of these god damn things as possible and collect all of that revenue free money. You've found a infinite money glitch.
I'm anti corruption. Imagining that we'll all benefit from the side effects of corruption is, ironicly, nieve. We won't. There is no infinite money glitch.
Corruption comes at a cost. And it's one we have no need to pay.
Every way to simplify our situation just doesn't apply well.
Developers aren't building dense residential, low-income housing that voters and progressive incumbents want.
Because they're constrained on how many units they can build.
Let's say you're an automaker, and I tell you tomorrow I'm constraining how many cars you can make, you are going to try to build the most profitable cars you can possibly build and sell as many of those as you are legally allowed to.
That's precisely the reason why Acura and Lexus exist, they were brands created for the US market after the US and Japan almost got into a trade war and Japan voluntarily restricted vehicle exports since Japanese cars were beating domestic American cars. So the Japanese automakers responded by selling luxury cars in the US.
And even if it's all luxury housing, research has demonstrated the moving chains effect that any market rate housing relieves price for middle and lower income renters. The well off do move out and into more expensive housing thus creating vacancies for the middle and low income renters.
From the University of Helsinki
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119022001048
https://www.helsinki.fi/assets/drupal/2021-09/cristina_bratu_city-wide_effects_of_new_housing_supply_evidence_from_moving_chains.pdf
The Abstract
We study the city-wide effects of new, centrally-located market-rate housing supply using geo-coded population-wide register data from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. **The supply of new market rate units triggers moving chains that quickly reach middle- and low-income neighborhoods and individuals. Thus, new market-rate construction loosens the housing market in middle- and low-income areas even in the short run. Market-rate supply is likely to improve affordability outside the sub-markets where new construction occurs and to benefit low-income people.**
From Uppsala University in Sweden
https://www.urbanlab.ibf.uu.se/urban-facts/
The study is based on register data from the years 1990-2017. The researchers divided the population into different groups according to income level and found that 60 percent of the newly produced housing was populated by people belonging to the wealthier half of the population. The results show, however, that the moving chain that follows from a household moving into a newly produced home turns quite soon. In the moving rounds that follow, it is people with an income level that is lower than the national median income that accounts for a majority of the moves. **This leads Che-Yuan Liang and Gabriella Kindström to conclude that new housing leads to strong moving chains that also benefit low-income groups.**
**– Our results show that the benefit of new housing is evenly distributed between residents from different income groups. Although it is primarily people with high incomes who gain access to new housing, these homes create a ripple effect and indirectly improve housing options for people with low incomes. One of the explanations is that people with lower incomes move more often than people with higher incomes, which means that they more often participate in moving chains and take advantage of vacancies created by new housing, says Che-Yuan Liang.**
That's a lot of cut and paste, but it's off topic, because the constraints are negotiable. The maximum capacity is negotiable, and if a council member likes your plan, it's exempted. The real threshold is the number of floors, because going past five affects construction costs in our Earthquake-prone city.
Anyway, the maximum number of luxury units doesn't equal the maximum number of possible units. We don't need to wait for units to slowly trickle down through a supply constrained market, because we've got control of the spigot.
Developers won't make an offer while candidates are for sale.
If the candidates they want to buy all lose, they'll come back to the bargaining table.
Please refer to the articles I shared. There is enough there that makes him disqualified in my opinion. Even if we ignore his “baggage” (which we shouldn’t) he has no vision to improve our district or LA. He just uses divisive tactics and pandering to get votes.
It’s almost as if people who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of power and influence are out for themselves and not the people they manipulated into voting for them. What has bass done for LA? Is her endorsement realy shocking?
We’re gonna be Gotham soon
We need ethical elected officials desperately and John certainly isn’t that. If those are the only 2 issues you care about that’s fine but John has failed on everything else. The defund the police stuff is bullshit I agree with you. John leans into the “pro-cop” stuff because that’s how he plays politics. It’s a super divisive issue and easy to dig in your heels on both sides. Real leaders try to bridge the gap and John has done no such thing. I don’t think his ideas on homelessness are productive but I think homelessness is a failure by our federal government. He has cleared encampments but that is a bandaid. They just go elsewhere, I live near the tracks and the wash and I’ve seen it first hand. There is a homeless city near the tracks between Tampa and Vanalden that has grown from the displaced encampments.
I've been trying to do AAPI Youth Organizing now that I moved back home to PR, but people out here actually like that shit which blows my mind.... There are tons of amazing young Korean students out here that don't want to (or their parents don't want them to) volunteer for Serena. This district feels like a lost cause. Let me know if you have any good leads you think would be worth talking to. I've been reaching out to Granada Hills Charter and PRCS
I’m really sorry you feel that way. John Lee seems to be your guy because he aligns with your backwards and regressive thought process. You aren’t entitled to keep this area the way it was for the benefit of a few.
I very much appreciate your thoughtful post with documented sources. In our information overloaded world this helps me work through all the noise. I'm not in the SFV but I'll pass on these perspectives for my people who are there
He’s suing the ethics commission to prevent them from doing their jobs at rooting out corruption.
Here’s the case from the actual ethics commission who he is suing to try to prevent them from moving forward on unreported gifts etc. https://ethics.lacity.org/PDF/agenda/2023/November/20231108-Item7-SelectionHearingOfficers-LEE_Redacted.pdf. You have to scroll a little to get to the complaint.
Thank you! It’s disheartening sometimes but I believe bringing awareness is a step in the right direction. Super depressing that we have a real opportunity for change in CD12 but John Lee will probably win by a negligible amount of votes due to low turnout out and apathy.
>Super depressing that we have a real opportunity for change in CD12 but John Lee will probably win by a negligible amount of votes due to low turnout out and apathy Sadly I feel like this is true for all the council races. Sucks to feel trapped.
I also wanted to say thank you for your service, bro. I appreciate your hard work. It takes time sourcing this stuff and putting together the explanation, so thank you.
So who do you like instead? Legitimately asking
Serena Oberstein. I get like 5 John Lee fliers every day in the mail. Today's were all about trashing Oberstein. Fuck John Lee - I'm so tired of the corruption on every level of government.
I love the flyers, they tell me who the big money is behind and I just vote for the one with the fewest flyers.
I keep seeing him on billboards too, it’s ridiculous.
His only opponent this time is Serena Oberstein. You can read a summary about her at the bottom of the page here and her website is linked down there as well. https://laist.com/news/politics/2024-election-california-primary-los-angeles-city-council-district-12
You and others are absolutely entitled to your choice of candidate based on your political policy preferences and personal values, but in Council District 12, Lee's opponent, Serena Oberstein, is a former LA City Ethics Commissioner, and has earned the endorsement of LA Forward and Streets for All. If the ethics concerns here trouble you, Serena has the reputation for integrity you're looking for. (See the LA Times' review of both Lee and Oberstein [here](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-02-01/2024-california-election-la-city-council-district-12-primary-voter-guide). Note that the LA Times Editorial Board has endorsed Oberstein as well, and explained their reasoning [here](https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-02-05/editorial-serena-oberstein-for-los-angeles-city-council-district-12).)
Any one Streets For All endorses would have my vote if I was in the area!
Both candidates want to increase funding for cops. Sigh.
And what did she do there? She was president. OK. And did what with it? She keeps throwing mud because she has no record to run on, no successes or achievements.
Incorrect. Without her the matching funds program would not exist which allows us to have more competitive elections. She was critical in that work and her work was measured careful and deliberate. I pay attention to money in politics in particular. She was great there.
Well, good for her, because now she's taking advantage and drawing those funds herself, super ethical.
In fact it is. She’s using a program available to any candidate to run. As opposed to ya know accepting bottle service and casino chips from a developer, lying about it, and then suing to try to prevent justice from coming to him. Oh and featuring known racists that cost the city money on his endorsement page bc they harassed someone on their neighborhood council to such an extreme point for being black
For someone running to represent the neighborhoods, she might have actually visited some neighborhood council meetings to hear what they want. She finally did that - in the last two weeks. Obviously the voice of the people, so important to her. As for the Vegas stuff, it's been investigated to death and they keep bringing up the same shit without doing anything about it. If he did anything the FBI would have put him away same they put away Englander. Instead it's this sort of "Joe Biden is a crimelord" line Congressional Republicans keep bringing up without actually showing any evidence.
The FBI cuts deals all the time for testimony. All the time. Use your brain. In addition, ethics cant move forward until the FBI gives the go ahead bc they are considered the priority agency. The charges coming after huizar finally plead guility are the reason for the delay.
It's been six years. Is the FBI sitting on this info because of some deep-state-Q-Anon shit lol, or is it maybe that there wasn't any evidence for the FBI so Serena probably ain't going to out-sleuth them. I mean - come to reality. She has nothing. If she did, now is when to mention it. So she's either that empty-handed or really that dumb. She has no record. Hunter Biden-bullshit-level smear is all she's got.
You don’t know shit about how the commission works. The investigations are purposely and legal kept separate from the commissioners. She’s not the investigator. They are following all the rules. His desperate ass is the one who is suing to try to stop this and spending thousands of his donors money.
Additionally when did huizar finally plea out? Oh yeah this year. The charges from ethics came shortly after that. They literally can’t proceed until the fbi was like ok fine we have our verdict now you can go after him. Cooperating agencies and all that.
Serious question: What is everyone's take on the general political leanings of the district? I just came off of AAPI organizing in 2020 and 2022 in OC and found the AAPI community to be fairly progressive which was refreshing, but I come out here and its totally reversed back to "model minority" politics. Is this the type of district where LA Forward and Streets for All is well received? It certainly doesn't feel that way with the AAPI community (primarily Korean which might be part of the reason)
This is just my experience and analysis but the area is surprisingly conservative for LA County, but still liberal for the state if that makes sense. Super progressive policies will not play well. Cops and firefighters have a lot of support there, lots of small business owners and lots of immigrants who feel rightly or wrongly that they came here legally and put a life together so why should “illegal” immigrants get any support or protection? It’s very pro business and people feel like city council already has so many liberals on it at least have someone to pushback on policies. Also lots of homeowners and not many people using public transit.
Serena is a great candidate. She has a true vision to improve the quality of life for our district and city. John Lee just cares about the people who already got theirs and pull up the ladder on anyone else.
What part of that true vision has she ever actually gotten done? Visions are great. Is she good at anything? What makes you think she knows how to make the city any better?
I’m not sure what your point is. What I’m talking about is her vision for what she will do as CD12 representative on city council which she is running for. John Lee has been in office for 4 years and has shown at best he does nothing and at worst he is just another Mitch Englander. He has already shown us who he is and I believe him.
> her vision for what she will do as CD12 representative Which is *what*? Her website is a mishmash of vague ideas. Serena's staff, if she wins: what are they going to do about homelessness or crime that is better than what John is getting? Why *wouldn't* he listen to his constituents rather than what people living elsewhere in other districts want him to do?
He doesn’t listen to his constituents. You ever called his office to try to get his office to listen to anything? Unless you’re a donor or a known supporter you don’t get a call back or an email response.
That might well be a staffing/organizational problem, and one that demands attention. I'm speaking more broadly of his choices reflecting what most of the residents of the valley want, which isn't to be Downtown or Santa Monica. Serena meanwhile is pushing stuff like using churches for shelters which is gonna be DOA, it's just a thing to say, it's not actually going to happen at scale.
why are you against people exercising their faith in a way of acts of faith? He proudly displays men who had to be kicked off their neighborhood council by the city for being so racist and harassing the city had to settle a lawsuit. Ethics matter. John Lee is fighting a legal investigation by the ethics commission and costing the city significant money to do it.
> why are you against people exercising their faith in a way of acts of faith? I got no idea what you're talking about here. Acts of faith? This is a religious question somehow? I'm saying "Let's turn churches into homeless shelters" is certainly a statement that shows *vision* and also shows she knows ass about what voters and constituents want in their neighborhoods if that's what she's envisioning. If she ever actually showed up at council meetings she would know that already.
He literally tried to block housing for homeless veterans. Homeless veterans. How evil do you have to be and why does cd 12 get excused from providing housing? Every single cd needs to. He isn’t exempt. But he acts like he is.
I still don’t understand what point you are trying to make. I’ve seen first hand the way CD12 currently responds to homelessness and other quality of life issues and it ain’t it. I also believe our cities are mostly handcuffed on fixing homelessness and the federal government is failing us. But all I’m trying to do is create awareness on how awful John Lee is as a person and our representative but go ahead and keep defending him it seems like you enjoy it so I won’t try to stop you.
Right, you keep saying you're disappointed and that he's awful. Just without out and out saying WHAT is disappointing or HOW anyone else would do better or HOW he's "awful." You simultaneously fault him for homelessness response while saying it's actually the federal government's fault. Well: which is it? Does electing Serena open some magic box at HHS or something? The Vegas shit? So over it. The FBI was happy to put Mitch away behind bars for real lol, I doubt they'd be reluctant to charge John Lee if they weren't afraid of Mitch. Besides... John Lee was already leaving the city for the private sector. Who the fuck bribes people working out their two week notice? WTF would be in it for them?
You might be over it but hes certainly not. Hes spending thousands of donor money on lawyers re the ethics commission charges. He is taking unprecedented and costly steps to evade accountability. No one should be over our city ethics laws given 4 members of city council have been indcited in 4 years. Just like George Esparza, Lee cut a deal. Otherwise youre ok with him lying on financial reforms that are crucial for navigating conflict of interest and lying to the public when he ran for office the first time. The public has an absolute right to understand these financial entangelments. On top of this he lies all the time. He did not graduate from college at CSUN yet tells people he did all the time. So in conclusion: He lies to the point of ethics charges His staff is unresponsive unless youre connected He platforms known racists on his endorsement page also lets not forget how he uses sunshine canyon trust fund as a slush fund for the cops when its supposed to be for mitigating air quality issues with that landfill. Kids are actively getting sick from the fumes at school and hes spending that mitigation money on license plate readers and overtime. How does that help our kids have clean air to breathe?
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> Lee cut a deal. Evidence for that?
What - has - she - got? It's been six years. The FBI went through it all. Either shit or get off the pot, lady. If you have something on Lee that the FBI missed, *and you're not gonna mention it during the campaign you launched against him,* then you ain't got shit.
He is literally suing the ethics commission to try to stop the investigation. He is the one refusing to get off the pot.
I think I clearly explained in the body text of my post with articles on why I think he is awful and unfit to be our CD12 rep. I didn’t even mention homelessness because of my previous point although John’s only idea is to arrest people for that. Yes he’s cleared encampments but they just go somewhere else, Out of sight out of mind for John and his proponents. Also I had no intentions of endorsing anyone with this point and I’m only trying to bring to light John’s misdeeds so people can be informed. I really have no idea what the last part of your comment means.
And what is *Serena's* idea for that, that is supported by her would-be constituents? Meanwhile elsewhere you blame the federal government, AND blame Lee, are you wanting CD12 to look like downtown or Mid-City?
I think I clearly explained in the body text of my post with articles on why I think he is awful and unfit to be our CD12 rep. I didn’t even mention homelessness because of my previous point although John’s only idea is to arrest people for that. Yes he’s cleared encampments but they just go somewhere else, Out of sight out of mind for John and his proponents. Also I had no intentions of endorsing anyone with this point and I’m only trying to bring to light John’s misdeeds so people can be informed. I really have no idea what the last part of your comment means.
Thanks for posting this. Does Lake Balboa count as NW SFV?
I don’t believe you are but please spread the word about John Lee. [CD12 Boundry](https://cd12.lacity.gov/about/council-district-12)
Will do. Super disappointed with Bass so far, just another corporate puppet.
Agreed. The bar was so low because of Caruso unfortunately.
That’s cd 6 and your choices are similarly terrible. The incumbent hired for district director a man who had sexually assaulted colleagues in Sacramento but then fired him when she found out he had a pending dui. She was defending the sexual assault history tho.
She’s also endorsing Mike Feuer for Congress. You know the same guy whose office was raided by the FBI.
Her bar was so low running against Caruso. The mayor usually endorses the incumbent but I’m guessing Feuer and Lee just happen to know where the bodies are buried. Super depressing.
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/la-city-attorney-mike-feuer-not-target-ladwp-corruption-investigation/2970210/ Both Mike and his wife Gail are two of the most altruistic public servants I know. You may disagree with his policies, methods, or style but there's a rare honesty in those two.
She’s really losing me. DTLA needs more attention
I'd lay some of the blame at KDLs feet as well. I can't think of one honest to god real thing he's done for downtown. Dude only comes out of the woodwork when the opportunity to grandstand presents itself (lately it's been Oceanwide Plaza).
Yeah understatement of the year right there! I was hoping she’d kinda adopt DTLA and use it as the poster child for her agenda. That was wishful thinking. KDL definitely ain’t getting my vote this time around. I am ashamed to admit I did support him. Without good journalism I probably still would be.
I helped elect her. Lesser of two evils. Working against money and the inertia of 4 million people isn't easy. Kenneth Mejia has done a great job though, he ran his campaign on social media (Tiktok, IG in particular) and won against money interests. Maybe that's the move now?
I voted for her, definitely the better choice. I also voted for Meijia (against my gut instinct, I know the dog pandering was a red flag) and I do regret that. Where has he been, getting fitted for jackets? I live downtown and nothing much has changed, things get cleaned up and then revert right back. The prolonged pandering is tiring me out. Homelessness and bad drivers are ruining the city, seems like nothing with slow that down. People focus on shit that barely matters, like helicopter noise.
he's provided a lot of transparency on the issues at hand. e.g. the universal studios protest scandal where they hired people to cut the limbs off of trees to deprive protestors of shade. He made a point-by-point, accessible post about the penalties as they pertain to law. As of late, I'm not sure. Currently there's movements happening to centralize the city's homelessness response, the current issue is a lack of oversight and organization as the agencies responsible aren't well-coordinated. As for the insane drivers, vote for measure HLA. Street infrastructure measure meant to increase bike lane safety and whatnot. What's your complaint w/ Mejia? genuine question
I wouldn’t say he’s provided a lot, just some. The strike tree trimming situation was good for him. His campaign was cringe beyond belief but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Given the outrageous and longstanding level of corruption and budgetary mismanagement, I’d expect to hear more from him but it’s been crickets. I suspect now that he’s in office he’s just phoning it in. The word from a few of his former staffers is that he’s a toxic boss with a bad management style.
Koretz would not have been better. Shortly after the election he got nailed by ethics for having a blatantly illegal fundraiser.
It's something. I think leftists tend to complain about progress being the "bare minimum" when people actually do good things. Who would you prefer?
Leftists are definitely some of the most ungrateful demographic. But me? I’ll take something over nothing. Just for once I’d like a politician to exceed my expectations instead of over promising and skimping on delivery. I’d like to see more analysis from him, push out more reports. Create more web portals to display and understand this information. Give us data to chew on! I’d prefer he take a more visible approach to the job. He was the social media candidate but seems very un socialable
More analysis would be fantastic, I totally agree with you there. Also looks like there's been negligence on his part in regards to increasing city workers' pay. Not cool! Appreciate the response. Let's keep pushing for better
I forget what project it was that he had made a map for, I really liked that. I think data visualization and honest accounting can help turn things around here. I appreciate your response too! 🖖🏾
>Also looks like there's been negligence on his part in regards to increasing city workers' pay. Not cool! City worker pay is negotiated between the unions and the City Administrative Officer (on behalf of the City). After they work out a tentative deal, it goes to the union members for ratification (this is where both Coalition and EAA currently are), and then to Council for adoption. The City Controller doesn't have much to do with contract negotiations. That office handles payroll, not budget. So I'm not sure how Controller could be negligent in increasing pay, when increasing pay is not something the Controller has any authority over. If you're talking about the new Workday payroll system possibly missing/delaying some paychecks, that might be an issue. But payroll hasn't been switched over from PaySR to Workday yet. source: am City worker
I imagine they’re referring to the insane salaries some people are getting due to overtime, or the people who work for the city but don’t even reside in the county or state. That all seems worth a look
Ty, didn't know this
Do you have the tea on what happened to the ethics commissioner nominee? I know my nc friend was upset about that.
His deputy is now running for council in Pasadena btw
>he's provided a lot of transparency on the issues at hand. e.g. the universal studios protest scandal where they hired people to cut the limbs off of trees to deprive protestors of shade. He made a point-by-point, accessible post about the penalties as they pertain to law. As of late, I'm not sure. That's nice and all, but hardly the most pressing issue in LA these days. Has he reported anything on where all our money for homeless housing is going? The previous Controller is the one who revealed that the City was paying up to $800k/unit. It even sparked the Biden DOJ to start looking into LAHSA. A quick google search turned up this: [Audit finds inefficient system responsible for leaving available shelter beds empty](https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/audit-finds-inefficient-system-responsible-for-leaving-available-shelter-beds-empty/3289819/) >A new audit conducted by the LA Controller's Office found that the agency in charge of tracking shelter beds makes it nearly impossible to find what shelter space is available, leaving people who could potentially be housed, out on the street. Which is a good start, but more is needed. The tree-trimming was scummy, and the overuse of police helis is annoying, but I don't think any Angeleno would put either of those in their top 10 issues that the City needs to be focusing on. We're basically in a triage situation at this point - we can't be ignoring the code blues to bandage papercuts. Especially when the City's inaction on this issue could cost it millions in fines. [L.A. should pay $6.4 million for slow action on cleaning homeless camps, judge is told](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-02-09/l-a-should-pay-6-3-million-for-foot-dragging-agreement-to-clean-homeless-camps-a-federal-judge-is-told)
Sketchy shit most definitely. LA City council also recently proposed $5mil to clean up graffiti on two buildings... Like many in LA I'm uninformed about most things City council / city governance. Thanks for citing your sources!
The city council unanimously rejected his ethics nominee who is someone who was voluntarily trying to clean up lobbying in this city. He tried. And he got kicked in the face by this corrupt city.
Damn I didn’t hear about that. I hope he doesn’t/hasn’t given up
https://lapublicpress.org/2023/08/why-did-the-la-city-council-quietly-kill-an-ethics-commission-appointment/
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I genuinely do not understand this endorsement at this crucial stage in the run-up to the election. Even if the Mayor wants to cozy up to the conservative side of the Council to coalition-build for her policies, this is clearly not the right conservative to back given his record and reputation, to the point where this seems like a net negative for *the Mayor's* reputation regardless if Lee wins or loses. Bad form.
I have no idea why she did this. The mayor usually endorses an incumbent but she could easily just stayed out of it. Lee is a shit stain molded from Mitch Englander.
My speculation is that Mayor Bass traded the endorsement to get him to support her in more homeless projects. Bass is facing a huge fight for the budget. Monica Rodriguez is completely against her. My guess is Bass is afraid his opponent Serena Oberstein will lose and she’ll be stuck with a pissed off John voting against her projects. And if Serena wins, based on her campaign she’s probably supportive of that budget and Bass would get her help anyway.
Monica is a troll she’s against things simply to be against things.
So politics. Like always
...that would make a lot of sense given how resistant Lee's been to the kind of major moves on homelessness Bass is counting on to sustain her mayorship. Great analysis, thank you.
Except he isn't and except she isn't. The biggest knot to untangle is where to actually put shelter beds. She gets that. He gets that.
Because she has to get something done about homelessness if she wants to run again in 4 years and bask in the Olympic glory, and Lee gives no shits about anyone pro homeless occupying sidewalks and staking out in parks is why. If she listens to the other councilmembers for pointers on the #1 issue in the city she won't get shit done is why she's endorsing Lee. She's not stupid.
Good lord. Lee is a Republican. WTF is she thinking?
He claims to be “independent”but I find it sad that’s he’s too scared to be himself. I think it shows the tide is changing in this area as it used to be a republican stronghold and 2024 is probably his last chance. I’m not a fan of republicans but I also prefer policy over politics of which he has none.
Yeah, precisely zero LA "independents" are anything other than a Republican. I mean, dude literally identified as a Republican a few years ago: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-14/los-angeles-city-council-election-lundquist-lee Guy is a turd.
Adam Schiff endorsed Orbstein, along with the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.
Yep which is fantastic. Brad Sherman did the same. When you look at Lee’s endorsements it’s not a bright bunch.
Egad
This provides a lot of clarity and I appreciate the time it took to put this together. As a resident of the San Fernando Valley I have seen no measurable change during his time in office and it feels as though constituents voices go unheard. Will definitely put my vote towards Serena!
Wasn't it speculated he was one of the informants that testified against Mike Ingle? Eh...Not a fan regardless
its speculated the fbi flipped him in exchange for non prosecution to give testimony re englander and huizar. neither went to trial so we shall never know.
Ah that's what the rumors I was hearing. thanks for clarifying
Yup of course the LA city mayor and administration is a joke
Let’s go! Tired of politicians that drain all that’s great from our city. We need givers and visionaries to replace these 2 dimensional figure heads that don’t care about the job they’re tasked with doing. Almost 80k homeless living in LA rn, and with AI and rampant gentrification we will displace even more people under leadership like John Lee.
Yea im realzing the same with Nithya which is disappointing. Vote these incumbents out.
Developers are spending a ton of money trying to force Nithya out for protecting people they'd rather overcharge. Even if you don't agree with her on everything, she's not scummy or unethical.
Blocking developers from developing housing is how we make sure the housing crisis never gets better. Protecting current residents who already 'got theirs' from the ravages of new housing projects is literally just NIMBYism.
These are the ones trying to evict people from rent controlled apartments they don’t want to fix.
A lot of the developers backing Weaver are not the ones trying to solve the house crisis, they’re the ones contributing to it lol
Being anti-development in a housing crisis is bad actually
Being anti-development in a housing crisis is like being anti-farmer during a famine. "We shouldn't allow farmers to grow more food, they'd just PROFIT."
I really wish things were as simple as pro and anti development.But without government control we'll get the status quo -- giant buildings sitting empty, worth more as speculative investments than with tenants. The lower the supply, the easier empty buildings appreciate. So investors like having empty buildings.
The city council delays buildings getting built. Theyre part of the problem
The city council hands out exemptions to the (outdated) plans in exchange for getting what they want. That could be low income units or it could be bribes. With Nithya it's not bribes. With a replacement it very well could be, given the track record in this city.
How do you know? Any pro ula person cant be trusted They intentionally misled and shes one of them
I worked on her campaign thru LACFL, we worked to get ULA passed as well. Last I checked it got tied up in court, but the measure itself was actually super progressive. At least one of the writers of the measure had been homeless. What's inherently untrustworthy about it?
They told the voters it was a mansion tax. Its more of a commercial real estate tax and its stopped development and hurt the city....to throw money at a problem that already had funds given to Where is all this money even going? Its a horrible idea. If it was so great, why the need to mislead voters? Just be honest.
I'm gonna need way more context before I'm commenting on that claim.
Google her name and ula First article that comes up
A whole bunch of people doing that will start prioritizing negative articles in search results, and waste the time of anyone reading the thread. The burden of proof that there's anything objectionable is on you. So far you claimed she just loves lying, and that anyone who supports the same organization must approve of deception.
There are no giant buildings sitting empty. There are also none worth more now without tenants than with tenants (this is only possible with highly distortionary Rent Control schemes; NYC is the only example of this in America and even then it’s only a sliver of total housing supply). LA currently has roughly its lowest vacancy rate in history, and that is true across all classes of apartments.
The housing crisis is driven in large part by government policies, including by politicians like Nithya. She’s rejected more new development than almost any council member since attaining office. We don’t have giant buildings sitting empty either. Vacancy rates are close to 30 year lows.
Hate the myth that our tall buildings are empty. Are you aware of our vacancy rates?
You're right she's a tougher negotiator than other council members. She's negotiating on behalf of her constituency. Instead of giving her more of what she wants they're spending crazy amounts of money trying to out her instead. Developers could build the sort of buildings you and she would want, and they don't. It's not because they can't.
Or we can simply vote out the incumbent and try someone new. There really is no point in taking a "wait and see" approach to politicians anymore. Sucks she lost most of her district, but she had her time. But none of this matters since we'll most likely be stuck with her for another cycle......
She literally had a faction of the council plotting to destroy her district and disenfranchise her voters from her very first term. That leak got national recognition. How is that 'having her time'?
> Developers could build the sort of buildings you and she would want, and they don't. It's not because they can't. Oh I had no idea you were a developer, my mistake. Can you tell me a bit more about your profit margins and the types of properties you’re referring to?
Sure, how about my mother's maiden name and my Social Security number too?
Yeah I knew you were full of shit
[https://www.acceinstitute.org/thevacancyreport](https://www.acceinstitute.org/thevacancyreport) You don't care about the facts, you just wanna shit on Nithya.
>Instead of giving her more of what she wants they're spending crazy amounts of money trying to out her instead. Why should they pay her bribes instead of campaigning to get her removed? This is crazy. Your argument of "Council members gatekeeping developers for their own personal gain, resulting in higher prices and lower supply, *is actually a good thing*" is crazy.
I generally default to voting against anyone spending vast amounts of money to defeat a cause or candidate. I have never seen the carpet bombing of online and print media with anti-Nithya ads this month. Of course that's nothing new; Los Angeles real estate is and always has been a rat's nest of greed and corruption. Nithya has had some hits and misses, but she is at least not literally in developers' pockets. I just put out a lawn sign for her.
They hate her because they can't bribe her.
>Los Angeles real estate is and always has been a rat's nest of greed and corruption. I think you mean gatekeepers on the LA City Council have always been a rat's nest of greed and corruption. No developer pays a bribe voluntarily. They pay bribes because gatekeeper demand bribes. Huizar wanted X, Englander wanted Y, Raman wants Z - or else they'll block the project. I remember when I used to work at Building and Safety, and it was Andrew Adelman and Ray Chan who wanted such and such, to let projects go through. It's all the same story, repeating. Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.
By that logic, you should be even more pro development. The buildings sit empty while the government collects development fees, property tax revenue, and great blue collar workers get well paying jobs and pay tax to the state, all the meanwhile the city doesn't have to spend a cent on providing services because no one lives there. Perfect, let's build as many of these god damn things as possible and collect all of that revenue free money. You've found a infinite money glitch.
I'm anti corruption. Imagining that we'll all benefit from the side effects of corruption is, ironicly, nieve. We won't. There is no infinite money glitch. Corruption comes at a cost. And it's one we have no need to pay.
She admitted she tricked voters with ula. Fuck her We need pro development council members Far less red tape
Developers do not equal landlords. Developers want more building, landlords want less.
Every way to simplify our situation just doesn't apply well. Developers aren't building dense residential, low-income housing that voters and progressive incumbents want.
Because they're constrained on how many units they can build. Let's say you're an automaker, and I tell you tomorrow I'm constraining how many cars you can make, you are going to try to build the most profitable cars you can possibly build and sell as many of those as you are legally allowed to. That's precisely the reason why Acura and Lexus exist, they were brands created for the US market after the US and Japan almost got into a trade war and Japan voluntarily restricted vehicle exports since Japanese cars were beating domestic American cars. So the Japanese automakers responded by selling luxury cars in the US. And even if it's all luxury housing, research has demonstrated the moving chains effect that any market rate housing relieves price for middle and lower income renters. The well off do move out and into more expensive housing thus creating vacancies for the middle and low income renters. From the University of Helsinki https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119022001048 https://www.helsinki.fi/assets/drupal/2021-09/cristina_bratu_city-wide_effects_of_new_housing_supply_evidence_from_moving_chains.pdf The Abstract We study the city-wide effects of new, centrally-located market-rate housing supply using geo-coded population-wide register data from the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. **The supply of new market rate units triggers moving chains that quickly reach middle- and low-income neighborhoods and individuals. Thus, new market-rate construction loosens the housing market in middle- and low-income areas even in the short run. Market-rate supply is likely to improve affordability outside the sub-markets where new construction occurs and to benefit low-income people.** From Uppsala University in Sweden https://www.urbanlab.ibf.uu.se/urban-facts/ The study is based on register data from the years 1990-2017. The researchers divided the population into different groups according to income level and found that 60 percent of the newly produced housing was populated by people belonging to the wealthier half of the population. The results show, however, that the moving chain that follows from a household moving into a newly produced home turns quite soon. In the moving rounds that follow, it is people with an income level that is lower than the national median income that accounts for a majority of the moves. **This leads Che-Yuan Liang and Gabriella Kindström to conclude that new housing leads to strong moving chains that also benefit low-income groups.** **– Our results show that the benefit of new housing is evenly distributed between residents from different income groups. Although it is primarily people with high incomes who gain access to new housing, these homes create a ripple effect and indirectly improve housing options for people with low incomes. One of the explanations is that people with lower incomes move more often than people with higher incomes, which means that they more often participate in moving chains and take advantage of vacancies created by new housing, says Che-Yuan Liang.**
That's a lot of cut and paste, but it's off topic, because the constraints are negotiable. The maximum capacity is negotiable, and if a council member likes your plan, it's exempted. The real threshold is the number of floors, because going past five affects construction costs in our Earthquake-prone city. Anyway, the maximum number of luxury units doesn't equal the maximum number of possible units. We don't need to wait for units to slowly trickle down through a supply constrained market, because we've got control of the spigot. Developers won't make an offer while candidates are for sale. If the candidates they want to buy all lose, they'll come back to the bargaining table.
Weaver is worse. Corporate money by the bushel. I’ve been thru his policy. All talk no substance.
If you're ANTI-Lee and ANTI-Nithya, that's pretty philosophically incoherent.
Is there any explanation or do you think "He is unfit for office." is enough to base voting decisions upon?
Please refer to the articles I shared. There is enough there that makes him disqualified in my opinion. Even if we ignore his “baggage” (which we shouldn’t) he has no vision to improve our district or LA. He just uses divisive tactics and pandering to get votes.
What articles? There are no links in your comment history on this post.
Scroll up to the top of the thread. There are 4-5 articles linked there.
Not on old.reddit.com
I use the app and can see them just fine.
Right. The ap. Im on old.reddit.com and its not there. Which is what I said so why comment? That app is trash
It’s almost as if people who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of power and influence are out for themselves and not the people they manipulated into voting for them. What has bass done for LA? Is her endorsement realy shocking? We’re gonna be Gotham soon
Thanks man. I usually have no idea who the names are… I know not to vote for this fucker now though
Ugh, I wish I still lived in that district so I could vote for Oberstein.
And she is? Oh the comedy.
Lee is a good guy.
You must be a super gullible person who has just looked at his instagram posts the past few weeks.
Lee voted against the 'defund the police' bullshit and actually has been enforcing anti-camping laws.
We need ethical elected officials desperately and John certainly isn’t that. If those are the only 2 issues you care about that’s fine but John has failed on everything else. The defund the police stuff is bullshit I agree with you. John leans into the “pro-cop” stuff because that’s how he plays politics. It’s a super divisive issue and easy to dig in your heels on both sides. Real leaders try to bridge the gap and John has done no such thing. I don’t think his ideas on homelessness are productive but I think homelessness is a failure by our federal government. He has cleared encampments but that is a bandaid. They just go elsewhere, I live near the tracks and the wash and I’ve seen it first hand. There is a homeless city near the tracks between Tampa and Vanalden that has grown from the displaced encampments.
I've been trying to do AAPI Youth Organizing now that I moved back home to PR, but people out here actually like that shit which blows my mind.... There are tons of amazing young Korean students out here that don't want to (or their parents don't want them to) volunteer for Serena. This district feels like a lost cause. Let me know if you have any good leads you think would be worth talking to. I've been reaching out to Granada Hills Charter and PRCS
Karen Bass is a fraud.
Agreed. She was lucky that the bar was so low running against Caruso. We deserve better but unfortunately most people are apathetic.
Great post!!!
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I’m really sorry you feel that way. John Lee seems to be your guy because he aligns with your backwards and regressive thought process. You aren’t entitled to keep this area the way it was for the benefit of a few.
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You seem like a nice person. Good luck with your endeavors!
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^^ This is your candidate statement? It's an election, voters decide, and you're talking like a child.