Congratulations, Nithya Raman, As Our New Olympics, Pro-Unity Mayor!

ALPERN AT LARGE - The uncertainty is OVER. We now know who will be our next Mayor, and we need a Leader, and a Uniter, and someone who is both brave enough to listen to (and take heed to) opposing viewpoints, and who is also brave enough to stand tall and tell Angelenos what we both WANT and NEED to hear.

Mayor-Elect Raman, you will be the 2028 Olympics Mayor, and after all the electoral debates (both public and private amongst Angelenos who voted for, or didn’t vote for, you), only YOU are the Mayor to lead a fractured and stress-out City of the Angels for the next four years, and through out [the] 2028 Olympics.

My personal suggestion is to run your Mayoral leadership with the same message that our city, nation, and world needs to hear in those aforementioned 2028 Olympics:

“We need to work together in civility and mutual respect, and even with those who we may resent, dislike, or even oppose, because we are all one people who live side by side in our cities, nation, and world.”

This means, Mayor-Elect Raman, that you are as much a world leader for the next two years as any other political leader (scary, perhaps, but true—don’t think about it too much so much as get the work done, and ask for help from those who offer it).

Your election was as much a refutation of the Republican Party as it was of the Democratic Party that has dominated politics for the past century or more—a lot of people are initially opposed to your new role as L.A. Leader, and despite the fact that they will thrive best if you succeed.

I very much want you to succeed!

While I don’t think that the populace and/or leadership of our City has always confronted or performed the pragmatic (and sometimes frightening and/or painful) things necessary to achieve true Affordability and Sustainability, it is up to you to hear, learn, and express things to your city in ways that Joe/Jane Angeleno can understand.

And in ways that Joe/Jane Angeleno can relate to, and respect.

1. Whenever you are in union negotiations, you might do well to have a “posse” of sorts of Neighborhood Council and other grassroots representatives so that the wrong parties don’t suck all the oxygen out of the room—we all LOVE our police, fire, first-responders, etc., but can we AFFORD unsustainable contracts?

2. You’re a fighter for small businesses—DO that MORE, and perhaps keep those small business leaders as part of your “posse” so that restaurants, small businesses, and the like can survive in these unaffordable times, cruel rents, and entirely-unnecessary regulations.

3. Parking is both expensive and necessary at times—variances for parking structures or floors every few blocks gets rid of streetside parking and enhances access to both residences and businesses. If businesses allow afterhours parking to enhance nighttime activity, then incentivize and reward them.

4. You like public transit? I LOVE public transit (Google me if you want, since I helped our train system become a reality)—and I want it to be safe and convenient for any individual woman, man, or child to ride our trains and buses, and that means LOTS of reliable and protected trains with security presence.

5. It’s high time that the LAX People Mover get fixed and built, and if the state and federal justice systems are needed to encourage that to be done right by its underperforming contractors, then DO it. Sometimes we need JUSTICE.

6. This is a TOUGHIE—I’m one of those who fought for the California High-Speed Rail project, only to discover shortly after it was built that it was a horrible bait and switch siphoning of transportation funds from other much more worthy projects. As with the LAX People Mover, this project makes voters HATE trains.

   Would working with Sacramento and the new Democratic Congress Majority to create an accelerated Wilshire and Sepulveda Subway budget, and putting the High-Speed Rail project (hated by many across the political spectrum) on hold be such a bad idea at this immediate time?

7. Physics, science, and economics are cruel, cold, and don’t care about human feelings. I have grave concerns about refineries throwing soot and pollution into the air, and Los Angeles is going to cap its refineries in our urban, residentially-oriented city…but inflation HAS to be stopped cold!

   If diesel refineries, AI, and energy/water reservoirs are needed in “the boonies” to enhance our economy (inland, not coastal- or residentially-located), then work with the governor and advocate that California residents benefit financially from any profits these long-overdue infrastructure projects will generate for the state.

8. If energy isn’t affordable, then inflation and unsustainability will be our inevitable future. Solar needs to be much, much, MUCH cheaper and more advantageous from an energy-efficient standpoint than it now is. And if fossil fuels turn many off (we’ll still painfully need diesel), then the 21st Century way of getting off fossil fuels will be (as evidenced by nations all over the planet) with nuclear energy facilities that are safer, more foolproof, monitored, and located AWAY from people.

But enough with the proclamations—get the right economists, physicists, and neighborhood leaders to support you as our City’s new leader. Many want you to fail for their own trivial and mean-spirited purposes…but I am not of them.

Good luck, Madame Mayor-Elect, and I hope you succeed!

(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)