A fire on an abandoned Los Angeles property sparked another clash between Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, with the mayoral rivals blaming each other for not stepping up and tackling a problem lot neighbors say has languished for years.
Homeless encampments, piles of trash, vermin, and car break-ins have bedeviled the 4000 block of Babcock Avenue in Studio City since the property was abandoned, said neighbor Clint Ledsworth. Dozens of calls and complaints were made to L.A. city departments and police, he said, but went unaddressed — with officials telling him they couldn’t go inside the private property.
That had changed by Friday morning, after Bass and Raman clashed over a fire that broke out at the property earlier this week. Ledsworth said he woke up to a flurry of activity. Sanitation workers were cleaning the area, cutting down trees, and erecting a new fence and lock to keep out trespassers.
“I’m glad it’s taken care of, but it’s too bad that it took a fire to finally get them out here,” Ledworth said.
A day after the fire broke out Wednesday, Raman put out a statement saying her office had flagged the property to the mayor’s office 10 moths ago, but nothing was done. Bass’ campaign responded with edited news clips of Raman, who represents the area, taking angry questions from residents in the Studio City neighborhood Friday.
“Nithya Raman wants to lead the whole city, 6 years in office she can’t even get a single lot cleaned up in her own district,” the campaign wrote in a caption along with the video on Instagram.
After KTLA broadcast a segment on the lot and the fire, Bass called into the station Thursday and said Raman could have called her personally to address problems with the property. But Raman, during her press conference Friday, shot back — saying she shouldn’t have to call the mayor to address every issue in the city.
“I cannot call her about the 200-plus issues that we’re dealing with that are at this level of risk,” Raman said. “Does she want me to call her about every encampment? Does she want me to call her about every single fire risk? Or do we actually deal with a functional city where departments can actually solve issues and where I use the policies that her office has sent me to identify the priority locations for nuisance abatement?”
The political flareup came after firefighters were called to the property Wednesday, where Ledsworth said he saw flames as high as 20 feet.
Video obtained by KTLA showed the fire burning a makeshift structure and overgrown vegetation.
After KTLA’s segment, Bass told the station city departments were taking action Thursday to clear the property and address residents’ concerns.
“I saw the story and immediately called our city departments to find out what was going on here,” Bass told KTLA. On Thursday, she was at the site and told the station temporary chain link fencing was being put up, with a more permanent fence being installed Friday.
Raman, who represents the area, said in a statement Thursday that her office had reached out to the L.A. Department of Building and Safety for years to secure and clean up the property, without success.
“It is absolutely inexcusable that residents on Babcock Avenue have been living next to this abandoned, unsecured private property for years,” Raman said in the statement. “We have called, we have emailed, we have escalated. We have used every avenue to sound the alarm and nothing was done.”
Emails provided by Raman’s office show complaints from residents going back years, raising issues with trash, standing rainwater, mosquitoes and trash. Staffers for Raman’s office reached out to the city’s Department of Building and Safety, the emails show, and inspectors replied they would look over the lot in person.
Neighbors said the problems continued.
Raman said her office also flagged the property directly to the mayor’s office in November, but no action was taken then.
“We are glad the Mayor is finally answering the call,” Raman said in the statement. “This property should have been proactively secured and abated long before a fire made the danger impossible to ignore.”
Emails reviewed by The Times show that staffers for Raman’s office in November identified the Babcock property as the second-most urgent of five nuisance properties in need of attention in her district.
The emails also show that Raman’s office compiled the list at the request of Bass’ infrastructure team.
“This request is part of a broader effort to help us assess and prioritize nuisance properties citywide,” read the email request from the mayor’s Public Works Deputy Deion Barrientos.
A spokesperson for Bass said such requests were made to all council offices, and issues have since been resolved at more than 25 properties citywide.
Bass confirmed in the call to KTLA that Raman’s office had flagged the property.
“She said that they were handling it through the legal process,” Bass told the news station.
In a statement to The Times Friday, Bass said the problems at the property were addressed when they were brought to her attention.
“Residents are right to be frustrated,” she said. “They should not have to live next to a dangerous property. When the severity of the situation was brought directly to my attention, I took action the same day.”
But Raman criticized Bass’ comments, saying the property should have been addressed sooner.
“No resident should need their councilmember to personally call the mayor to get a public safety hazard addressed,” she said at the press conference. “That’s not how a functional city should operate.”
By Friday afternoon, Ledsworth said the long-ignored property was suddenly abuzz.
“The city sent a bunch of workers and they cleared it all out,” Ledsworth said. “Finally something is getting done.”