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PLANNING WATCH - The differences between New York City and Los Angeles should not be minimized, but if elected Mayor, what would a Zohran Mandami-type do in Los Angeles? Like New York City, real estate developers play a major role in local land use decisions, but that does not answer the question of what a Mandami-type would attempt in Los Angeles? While we don’t know the end of the Mayor Mandami story in New York City, we know the following about Los Angeles.
In LA three members of the nonpartisan City Council are members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Mandami’s party. If one of these three, or another DSA member, became LA’s mayor, this is some of what my crystal ball says he/she will pursue.
Foreign policy. There is precedent in the form of former Council Member Michael Woo. When he was a member of LA’s City Council, his office prominently displayed journals about US foreign policy.
As NYC’s Mayor, Mandami has generated opposition to his calls for a major policy reversal in the US government’s bipartisan support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We can assume a Mandami-type mayor in Los Angeles would do the same, despite the vitriol heaped on him or her by local Netanyahu supporters.
Housing and overcrowding. Like NYC, LA is plagued by homelessness and overcrowding, despite NYC’s policy of providing short-term shelter to the homeless. In greater LA there is no shortage of apartments and homes that the homeless and overcrowded could move into – but they can’t afford them. To solve this barrier, a Mandami-type mayor in LA would pursue the following:
- Lobby the Los Angeles City Council to eliminate the Vacancy Decontrol provisions in the city’s Rent Stabilization ordinance. Each year Los Angeles has fewer rent controls on apartments because the ordinance’s cutoff date is 1978. This exempts all apartments built during the past 48 years.
- Change the rent control cutoff date, such as a sliding scale of the 15 previous years. For example in 2026 this would mean that apartments build before 2011 (not 1978) would be subject to rent control. This major change would maintain affordable rents when a new tenant moved in.
- The end of HUD public housing, which began under the Nixon administration, must change. For example, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have proposed legislation to, in part, restore public housing.
Climate Change. Under Mayor Bass, there is virtually no active planning regarding climate change, even though LA’s changing climate already makes the region’s wildfires 35 percent more destructive. Considering that City Hall’s priority is rebuilding houses and apartments, not restricting housing in these area, this would be a major challenge for a DSA-type mayor in LA. Those who have worked at City Hall know the political power of the real estate industry, which means this would be a tough battle. Luckily there are major resources the new Major could tap:
- The State’s Climate Change Assessment Report is easily accessed and contains a detailed implementation chapter.
- The City of Los Angeles has a dormant climate program, LA’s Green New Deal. It should be updated and adopted as a General Plan Element. These changes will require the new mayor to actively participate in public hearings and lobby for an LA City Council approval vote.
Streets and sidewalks. This will be a major challenge for the new mayor. It will require an update of two 50 year old General Plan elements and subsidies from the Federal government. It may even require reductions in programs for new nuclear weapons and foreign wars. Since most of the US population supports these budget changes, it might be easier to achieve that most people imagine.
Parkway trees. The best document I know about LA’s urban forest is from 2017: “Urban Tree Canopy must be saved to fight the Heat Island Effect and Climate Change.” Unfortunately it is no longer on-line, so drop me a request for a copy ([email protected]). This document stresses the need for a General Plan Urban Forest Element.
In the meantime, another online document will have to suffice. It has been prepared by USC, and it identifies the best tree species for LA’s most tree-deficient neighborhoods. To implement this document, Los Angeles must offer a reliable funding source to make the proposed urban forest a reality for a new Mandami-type mayoral administration.
This exercise identifies only some of the expected priorities of a DSA-aligned Mayor in Los Angeles. If/when this happens, we shall see how accurate my crystal ball is.
(Dick Platkin ([email protected]) is a retired LA city planner. He reports on local planning issues and serves on the board of United Neighborhoods for Los Angeles. Previous columns are available at the CityWatchLA archives.)
