- At one point it looked as though Raman had a comfortable lead over Bass.
asserted
Raman → look → Bass
- The latest polling shows the race is close.
asserted
race → show → ?
Late one afternoon, at the intersection of South La Brea Avenue and Obama Boulevard, Shirley Dace cold-called fellow Angelenos and encouraged them to give L.A. Mayor Karen Bass a second term.
asserted
Dace → call → term
“I love Karen Bass because of all the experience she has,” Dace, a retired flight attendant, told me between phone calls.
asserted
Dace → love → calls
“Karen Bass was raised here.
asserted
Bass → raise → ?
She knows the city. ...
asserted
She → know → city
I’ve seen her around at different events.”
asserted
I → see → events
Meanwhile, roughly 10 miles to the northeast, Christian Perez and Marium Mohiuddin organized a night of door-knocking for Bass challenger Nithya Raman in Boyle Heights.
asserted
Perez → organize → Heights
“I think she’s incredibly intelligent and I want to give her an opportunity,” said Perez.
asserted
Perez → think → opportunity
Given the ICE raids and general denunciations of immigrants, Mohiuddin, a Muslim and Canadian immigrant, said he’s been impressed by Raman’s outreach to minority communities.
asserted
he → give → communities
“I want a mayor that’s going to protect me,” said Mohiuddin, who speaks out against Islamophobia and antisemitism, “and I really feel like Nithya would go to bat for us.
asserted
Nithya → want → us
You may have noticed a pattern here.
uncertain
You → notice → pattern
Years of delays for the SkyLink people mover at LAX have led to finger-pointing, litigation and a grand jury probe into how a $1.9-billion project has become a $3.3-billion boondoggle.
asserted
project → lead → pointing
I figured that with just hours to go before election day, you’ve heard plenty from me and others about City Hall dysfunction, about each mayoral candidate’s flaws, and about undecided and uninspired voters here in the land of budget-busting rent, broken sidewalks and blue tarps.
asserted
you → figure → rent
It appeared for a while as if Raman wouldn’t even make it out of the primary, and then it looked as though she had a comfortable lead over Bass in the runoff.
asserted
she → appear → runoff
But if the latest poll can be trusted, it’s hard to pick a winner.
asserted
it → trust → winner
So today I’m going to shed every cynical bone in my body — only temporarily, I promise — and hand the megaphone over to people who unabashedly like either Bass or Raman.
asserted
who → go → Bass
And to be honest, in connecting with these folks on the phone, by text and in person, I was inspired by their interest in civic affairs (if only there were more like them), and their belief that their vote matters.
asserted
vote → connect → them
So here goes, and I’ll start with the incumbent.
asserted
I → go → incumbent
Shirley Dace, as she worked the phones at Bass headquarters, referred to a five-page list of personal achievements and positive developments during the mayor’s first term.
asserted
she → work → term
Violent crime is down, solar street lights have been installed by the thousands, Metro rides are free for students, thousands of affordable housing units are on the way and thousands of homeless people have been brought indoors.
asserted
thousands → instal → people
“We have a homeless problem, and I realize that,” Dace said, but she believes there’s been progress.
asserted
she → have → that
“It takes a while to solve these problems.”
asserted
It → take → problems
One day I happened upon a social media post by Christian Green, who said he was driving by Bass headquarters and popped in to volunteer.
asserted
he → happen → headquarters
I reached him by phone, and the West L.A. College professor told me he volunteered for Bass four years ago, too.
asserted
he → reach → Bass
Green said he was once in the foster care system, and said Bass has supported foster youth initiatives dating back to her time in Congress.
asserted
Bass → say → Congress
Bass is the first Black woman, and first female, to be elected mayor of Los Angeles.
asserted
Bass → elect → Angeles
Given the history of the city’s power structure, economy and racial makeup, Green said, “that is not something we should take lightly.”
asserted
we → give → structure
One of Green’s students in African American studies, 23-year-old Kioi Shropshire-Maina, also works as a Bass volunteer.
“I’ve heard about her since I was a kid,” said Shropshire-Maina, a communications major.
asserted
Maina → work → her
One of the things he likes about Bass is that her career has followed a long and varied public service trajectory.
asserted
career → like → trajectory
She first worked in healthcare as a physician assistant at County-USC, then became a social justice activist and co-founder of the Community Coalition, followed by a leadership role in the California Assembly and 12 years in Congress.
asserted
She → work → Congress
“She’s always been kind of like the standard of public service,” said Shropshire-Maina.
asserted
Maina → say → service
He pushed back when I mentioned that Raman seems to be the candidate with more backing among younger and more progressive voters.
asserted
Raman → push → voters
“I definitely think Miss Bass has a lot of youth support.
asserted
Bass → think → support
I’ve seen it myself.
asserted
I → see → it
We organize events all the time, and people turn out,” said Shropshire-Maina.
asserted
Maina → organize → events
“She’s the most progressive mayor Los Angeles has ever had,” he added, saying he thinks that has played out in her approach to homelessness.
asserted
that → ’ → homelessness
She inherited a huge challenge, Shropshire-Maina said, but moved away from policies that criminalized homelessness.
asserted
that → inherit → homelessness
“It started with her executive directive ... which made government be more proactive and work across departments, and not just rely on police.”
asserted
government → start → police
At Bass headquarters, Shropshire-Maina worked at one phone bank table while Philip Rosen of Hollywood and Christina Schiepe of Westchester worked another table.
asserted
Rosen → work → table
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
