Neither Mayor Karen Bass nor Council member Nithya Raman really won the first mayoral debate of the general election, which was hosted by the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association (SOHA) on Wednesday night.
The audience of homeowners, mostly whiter and older than the majority of the city, were the real winners, as both candidates tried to assuage the crowd’s fears of the horrors of encroaching apartment complexes, unhoused people, taqueros, and the possibility that their political power might be waning as the city changes.
“The food of Los Angeles is incredibly important. Street vendors are a vibrant part of our community as well, if regulated appropriately,” Raman said in response to a question posed by one of the moderators of the debate about what she would do about a taquero who sets up in the parking lot of a restaurant in Sherman Oaks.
The audience of homeowners, mostly whiter and older than the majority of the city, were the real winners, as both candidates tried to assuage the crowd’s fears of the horrors of encroaching apartment complexes, unhoused people, taqueros, and the possibility that their political power might be waning as the city changes.