Nithya Raman

Nithya V. Raman (born July 28, 1981) is an American urban planner, activist, and politician serving as the Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 4th District since 2020.

Ground Game LA, which formed following former Green Party-endorsed candidate Jessica Salans' defeat by Mitch O'Farrell in the 13th district in 2017, was credited with helping her campaign win.

Raman's platform included proposed reforms to Los Angeles' housing and homelessness policy, "a new approach to public safety," and a climate change plan that she claims will get Los Angeles to carbon neutrality by 2030.

She has signed the Participatory Budget Pledge, an initiative put forward by Black Lives Matter LA which expresses a commitment to "holding a participatory budgeting process each budget cycle I hold elected office."

Raman declared her candidacy for the Los Angeles City Council in 2019, citing the issue of homelessness as being central to her decision to run.

Raman's candidacy was largely fueled by grassroots volunteers, whom she claims knocked on more than 70,000 doors before the March primary.

Raman, a member of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, defeated incumbent Councilmember David Ryu in 2020.

Nithya Raman was born in Kerala, India, and moved to Louisiana at 6 years old.

She earned a bachelor's degree in political theory from Harvard University then a master's degree in urban planning from MIT.

After living in the United States for many years, Raman returned to her home country of India and founded the research firm Transparent Chennai.

The firm's goal was to improve sanitation in the city of Chennai.

Prior to entering politics, Raman founded and headed a homelessness nonprofit in Los Angeles and was the executive director of Time's Up Entertainment.

In the March 3, 2020 primary, Raman faced incumbent David Ryu and screenwriter Sarah Kate Levy.

Ryu received 32,298 votes (44.4%), Raman received 31,502 votes (40.8%), and Sarah Kate Levy received 10,860 votes (14.1%).

Because no candidate received over fifty percent of the vote, Raman and Ryu advanced to the runoff election, scheduled for November 3, 2020.

In the November 2020 runoff election, Raman defeated Ryu by a 52.87% to 47.13% margin.

She will serve a four-year term as member of the City Council.

Raman's victory was described as a "political earthquake" by the Los Angeles Times.

In April 2021, Raman proposed amendments to a draft ordinance on tenant harassment.

The amendments classified cash buyout offers and threats to report false information to law enforcement as forms of harassment, and included a rent adjustment penalty, which would prevent landlords who violate the ordinance from raising a unit's rent.

The ordinance was passed in June 2021.

In June 2021, Raman was served with a recall notice after only six months in office.

The Los Angeles Times referred to the notice as part of a "recall fever" striking California, as at least 68 other active recalls were then ongoing in the state, including the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom.

In September 2021 the recall campaign collapsed when proponents announced that they were unable to collect the required number of signatures within the allotted time.

On February 1, 2022, Raman was appointed to the board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District by Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti.

She replaced councilmember Joe Buscaino.

She pledged to prioritize public health and environmental justice from that position.

In 2021 and 2022, Raman was one of three councilmembers to vote against "41.18", a city ordinance that banned homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers.

41.18 was adopted by the City Council by a vote of 11-3, over the objections of activists who protested the measure in the Council chamber.

In remarks in a City Council meeting, Raman argued that the measure "creates a district by district arms-race, where people will get pushed around from district to district instead of having a citywide strategy that prioritizes intervention in encampments by need, by safety, by fire risk, by all of the things that we are claiming to be so concerned about. In the end, this will just push people around again. It’s not going to solve homelessness or get anybody into housing."

A leaked recording between Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, as well as Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera revealed the group's plan to use redistricting to oust Raman.

Speaking of Raman, Cedillo stated that "There's certain people who don't merit us rescuing them...She's not our ally, she's not going to help us" and de León proposed to put her district "in a blender, chop it up left or right."

The group planned to split the Koreatown neighborhood, a voting block for Raman, so that minority voters in her renters' district would be divided and she would face a tougher reelection.

After the conversation was leaked, Raman introduced a measure to ask voters to change the city charter so that redistricting would be handled by an independent commission.

In June 2023, during a protest led by UNITE HERE Local 11, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Raman after she refused to disperse.

Raman identified herself as a "homelessness nonprofit leader" when she first ran for office in 2020.

In 2024 Karen Bass, the Mayor of Los Angeles, endorsed Nithya Raman's campaign for reelection, and her work on homeless issues.

"Raman has made her work on homelessness a cornerstone of her reelection campaign, drawing praise from advocates, nonprofit groups and many of her colleagues."

In Raman's view the situation of the homeless is directly linked to the housing shortage.

Specifically responding to citizen complaints about the homeless encampments in the Cahuenga area of Hollywood, she acknowledged the difficulty of finding a room indoors acceptable to the homeless, later stating, "We do not have the shelter resources we need for our homeless population."