CONSTITUENT AND CORE SERVICES
Throughout our campaign, we’ve heard a lot of complaints from residents about constituent services going neglected.
Calls from residents go unreturned, concerns are slow-walked, and unaddressed issues get worse. In some neighborhoods, neighborhood-level staff in Councilmember field offices cycle in and out with frequency, all but ensuring they lack deep knowledge and ability to address pressing neighborhood-level issues.
My campaign has put forward a number of big, new ideas about what City Council can and should be doing to help Angelenos weather the growing crises of homelessness, housing affordability, and environmental destruction. But getting the basics right is just as important. Constituent service, to me, means:
Taking the time to invest in the institutional knowledge of city government and how things actually get done
Hiring a field team that builds deep ties to the areas they will represent
Creating a rapid-response system for resident concerns
Forming strong relationships with the city departments responsible for everything from trash removal to the maintenance of our tree canopy to ensure they meet the needs of our district
I pledge to center constituent service in every decision I make, and employ dedicated field staff who are knowledgeable about and invested in the neighborhoods they serve — for the long haul. Not only will their responses be timely, but they will be instructed to spend quality time in the neighborhoods they serve: walking and driving in their neighborhoods, showing up, participating, and actively listening at as many and as diverse a number of local events as possible.
I will also fight to preserve full funding for city departments responsible for street and sidewalk repairs, tree maintenance, trash collection, and other essential services. While the city is entering a difficult fiscal period, deferred maintenance now will only expose the city to increased legal liability and costs down the road.
Our campaign is also blessed with the energy of more than a thousand active volunteers. If we’re elected to office, we’d harness that volunteer energy for cleanups and other neighborhood service activities, getting Angelenos engaged and active in improving our own communities.
If you have a neighborhood issue that you’d like to see addressed, please reach out to our campaign! You can email contact@nithyaforthecity.com or call 323-300-4872.
Here are some additional neighborhood-based concerns that have been raised by a number of residents and for which we’ve been working on solutions. We’ll be adding to this document as we go!
Supporting neighborhoods in the hills
The neighborhoods in CD-4 that collectively comprise the Hollywood Hills are a unique area and must be treated as such. The combination of steep hillsides, aging infrastructure, narrow winding roads, and extreme fire risk pose unique dangers to residents, drivers and pedestrians alike. And the competing demands on space — including resident ingress, egress, and parking, LADWP and Rec and Parks ongoing maintenance, and access to Griffith Park for Angelenos and tourists alike — require careful and comprehensive planning that balances the needs of all parties, with safety remaining a top priority.
Neighborhoods surrounding the Hollywood Sign (Bronson Canyon, North Beachwood Canyon, Lake Hollywood, and Vermont Canyon)
Tourism surrounding the Hollywood Sign has placed an undue burden on a small subset of neighborhoods that lack the capacity and infrastructure to properly accommodate it. As a councilmember, I will develop and implement a comprehensive plan that expands access to Griffith Park while minimizing harm to affected neighborhoods through reinvesting tourism dollars in conservation, safety, and infrastructure. Our approach is guided by three core principles:
Limit the flow of vehicles and pedestrians in affected Hollywood Hills neighborhoods for the sake of pedestrian and fire safety.
Promote public safety and limit fire hazard through the addition of a full-time Parks presence at trailheads in affected neighborhoods and other high-impact areas.
Expand access to Griffith Park while minimizing vehicle traffic and environmental impact by instituting Electric Shuttle Bus stops and Rideshare Drop-off Zones in areas OUTSIDE the park and affected neighborhoods.
There have been discussions for many years about creating a Hollywood Sign Visitor Center, and I am committed to working with local business partners and with Council District 13 to help realize this project.
Plans for the Griffith Park aerial tramway
I don’t believe an aerial tram is the most effective, environmentally sensitive, or cost-efficient way to address the issues with access to the Hollywood Sign. That said, I will read the results of the study currently being conducted with an open mind.
Neighborhoods experiencing traffic impacts as a result of the Hollywood Bowl and Universal Studios
Residents of neighborhoods around the Hollywood Bowl and residents of neighborhoods around Universal Studios (Toluca Lake, Lake Hollywood, and others) have faced increased pressures from traffic coming to live events or changes in traffic patterns to accommodate the growth of the studios.
These companies (most notably, at this moment, Universal) are once again looking to expand, and their corporate and senior leadership are donating heavily to incumbent politicians. I was surprised to find that between behested payments and direct donations, our current councilmember has received over $100,000 from Universal and its parent company, Comcast — as well as tens of thousands of dollars from the concert promoter Live Nation, which operates the Hollywood Bowl and seeks to operate the Greek Theatre.
In exchange, our local electeds have directly or tacitly supported Universal’s expansion efforts, removing opportunities for input from local residents, such as in the closing of the 101’s Barham offramp.
As a councilmember, I will push the city to formulate a plan that adequately addresses traffic, high-fire risk, and emergency vehicle access in these affected areas, and I promise to be a strong voice for residents in discussions with Universal or with the Hollywood Bowl to proactively address these issues.
Flight Paths over Sherman Oaks
Since 2016, the annual number of departures and landings at Hollywood Burbank Airport have risen sharply — from 43,846 in 2016 to 61,643 in 2019.
Facilitating that rise in total volume is a flight program called NextGen, which was designed to improve efficiency for airlines, but has also been responsible for a marked rise in flights that cross further south — flying low over the neighborhoods of Sherman Oaks, Studio City, and the Santa Monica Mountains, and with concentrations of routes instead of more dispersed ones.
As a result of this change in flight paths, previously quiet neighborhoods have been significantly impacted by increased pollution and alarming noise from the large number of planes flying over their homes and backyards. With growing business at the Van Nuys airport and plans for expansion at Burbank, these problems, if left unaddressed, will only grow worse.
I was disappointed to hear from residents that our current Councilmember did not attend most of the meetings of the Southern San Fernando Valley Airplane Noise Task Force. As a Councilmember, I’ll show up for my constituents, hire consultants with expertise on FAA and aviation issues when required, and encourage the neighborhoods of the Southern San Fernando Valley to work together and in concert with the City of LA to fight this act of federal overreach designed to benefit airlines. The city of Phoenix successfully fought back against similar flight path changes, and we can model our strategy on their efforts. Southwest Airlines, which uses Hollywood Burbank Airport as a primary hub, has been a campaign donor to many city councilmembers in districts that are affected by airplane noise, including my opponent. I have refused all corporate donations, and I promise I’ll represent resident interests in navigating this process.
Short-term rental regulation and the “Party House” Ordinance
Illegal short-term rentals are hurting renters by removing rent-stabilized units from the market and driving up rents in Los Angeles. “Party houses” are also disturbing the peace across a wide variety of neighborhoods. Our city desperately requires better regulation and enforcement of both its short and long-term rental markets.
Increased penalties for repeat offenders contained in the “Party House” ordinance passed in 2018 are a step in the right direction, but in order to be effective we must invest in a comprehensive registry of rental properties in Los Angeles and a proactive method of enforcement of tenant and landlord rights and obligations, including for short term rentals. Whether it’s violations of tenant rights or noise ordinances, we need a system that proactively investigates these violations, and holds landlords who flaunt city ordinances accountable.
Proposed Wilshire Project in Miracle Mile
After careful study and consideration, I have serious concerns about the Mirabel project at 5411 Wilshire as it is currently proposed.
To begin, the percentage of affordable units (38 out of 348, or 11 percent) is simply too low. We should, at a minimum, require commitments of 20 percent affordable, deed-restricted units in large, market-rate developments of this nature along transit lines.
But more importantly, market-rate units in luxury towers with amenities like golf simulators and bowling alleys will service residents of only the highest income levels -- residents who are likely to own multiple vehicles that will put more pressure on our city streets, and who are less likely to take advantage of the site’s convenient proximity to major bus routes and a new Purple Line station.
It’s tough to oppose any project that adds rental units when our city is in such desperate need of additional housing. And unlike some other luxury projects, the Mirabel is moving into a formerly commercial space, so it will not displace any residents. There is also some evidence showing that if you build market-rate housing in neighborhoods where prices are already high and inventory is limited, you can slow gentrification in vulnerable areas of the city -- though no studies are conclusive on this matter.
But we shouldn’t be forced to settle for what is currently the only item on the city’s housing menu: huge luxury towers with very few units set aside for low-income residents.
City leaders have abdicated their responsibility to help the city grow affordably and sustainably, creating a set of conditions that allow only the most expensive housing developments, with a small fraction of affordable units, to get built.
Instead, we need to change the rules and incentives so that mid-size affordable projects -- both those that are deed-restricted as well as market-rate "naturally occurring" affordable housing -- are able to compete for valuable lots.
We also need to make it significantly easier for 100% affordable housing projects to get funded and built, and we need to explore responsible increases to zoning density so that we meet our housing goals equally across the entire city.
I believe we can encourage the building of a housing development at 5411 Wilshire that better reflects our values and our needs in Los Angeles. I’d be in favor of a project that would better provide housing to the Angelenos who need it the most and who would take advantage of the site’s amazing proximity to public transit. That’s the vision of LA that I will work for when I am on City Council.