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Bass, Raman, Pratt square off in contentious 1st debate By City News Service
Mayor Karen Bass, at center, debates issues with challengers Spencer Pratt and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman. | Photo courtesy of NBCLA/YouTube
rate,” prompting Pratt to call Bass an “incredible liar.” Bass reiterated the issue was that former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley sent home thousands of firefighters despite having enough fire trucks. Crowley has sued the city, alleging Bass and other city officials engaged in a campaign to smear her reputation and place the blame for her disastrous response to the fire. Pratt’s home and neighborhood was burned down by the Palisades Fire. He relocated to a rental home owned by family located in the Santa Barbara area. Pratt later purchased an Airstream trailer and parked it on his property, where he says he lives in, according to a social media post he made. While the hourlong televised debate at the Skirball Cultural Center in Brentwood started off with an intense exchange between Bass and Pratt, the two made an unlikely pair of allies against the other candidate in the debate, Councilmember Nithya Raman.
“We need to enforce the laws on the street,” Pratt said. “She (Raman) doesn’t care about safety. She doesn’t care about anything. At least Mayor Bass pretends to care.” Raman said she wants to maintain the Los Angeles Police Department’s force at its current 8,550 membership and supports efforts to repair street lights and broken sidewalks to make the city safer. On several occasions, Pratt let Bass and Raman respond to one another’s rebuttals before taking his turn to answer questions from the moderators. Bass and Raman sparred on housing and homelessness, and affordability. Bass touted her efforts that have reduced street homelessness by nearly 18%, citing figures from the annual point-in-time homelessness count produced by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. She said See Debate Page 23
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the result comes from her signature program, Inside Safe, which aims to reduce encampments and move unhoused people inside. A Los Angeles Times analysis found the $300 million program, now in its third year, has had 40% of participants return to the streets. Bass has pointed to the program’s 60% success rate, a figure she said she is satisfied by. Raman says Inside Safe is too costly and argues there’s a more cost- efficient way to address encampments. The councilwoman has advocated for the use of time-limited subsidies, street medicine teams, and other initiatives as alternatives, which she also said is the way to fulfill her goal of reducing encampments across the city prior to the 2028 Olympic Games. Pratt criticized Inside Safe and blamed both elected officials for the city’s home-
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LA County Fair opens with theme of ‘Play Your Way’ By City News Service
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he first debate of the Los Angeles mayoral campaign involving each of the top three contenders was held Wednesday with reality television personality Spencer Pratt calling Mayor Karen Bass an “incredible liar.” In response to a question about the 2025 wildfires, Bass said Jan. 7, 2025, was “horrible.” She added that it was one of the “worst moments of my life to not be here when my city needed me.” Bass has faced criticism over her initial response to the wildfire that devastated Pacific Palisades, and her efforts to help rebuild the community. She had been absent during the onset of the emergency as she was in Ghana as part of the fourmember presidential delegation attending the inauguration of John Dramani Mahama as the nation’s president. Bass and the Los Angeles Fire Department faced criticism due to a lack of preparedness as a key reservoir sat empty and resources were not strategically deployed. Pratt pressured Bass over her response, saying that if he were elected mayor he would have taken proactive steps to reduce dry brush, and never would have ordered a reservoir to be drained, a reference to Bass’ appointment as Janisse Quinones to lead the Department of Water and Power. Quinones ordered the reservoir be drained for a maintenance project.\ Bass said the extreme winds that day prevented air support from dropping water on the flames. Pratt claimed the winds in Pacific Palisades never reached more than 40 miles per hour. The exchange became intense as Bass described Pratt’s claims as “inaccu-
LA County OKs $3.7M settlement for man wrongfully convicted in shooting
he 97th edition of the Los Angeles County Fair began its 17-day run Thursday at Fairplex in Pomona with the theme of “Play Your Way.” The fair’s attractions include: -- A carnival with more than 70 rides; -- A trick dog show featuring rescue dogs billed as the “cutest dog show on Earth”; -- Races with pigs, lambs, ducks and goats; -- A petting farm; -- Daily parades by the Budweiser Clydesdales at noon; -- A low-rider car show; -- Multiple daily performances by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater; This will be the final year for the fair’s Skate-R-Cade roller skating rink. New food options available include: -- Crispy shawarma wrap, grilled, marinated chicken or beef with house- made garlic paste, pickles, pickled turnips, onion, parsley, and a sumac blend, finished with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses and more garlic sauce, wrapped in a large pita, topped with light spicy oil and grilled until crispy. -- Fried mangonada, fresh mango sliced and dipped in house-made pancake batter, deep fried and topped with chamoy and Tajin, served with a slice of lime. -- Peanut butter and jelly cheeseburger -- All pork pizza a slice of New York-style pizza topped with pepperoni, sausage and crispy chicharron, finished with a drizzle of Sriracha sauce. The fair’s concert series begans Saturday with the funk/rock/soul band War. Other groups scheduled to perform Saturday were
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Banda El Recodo and Banda Los Recoditos. Additional performers include Brad Paisley (May 16), The Driver Era (May 17), Common Kings (May 23), Zapp (May 24) and comedian and ventriloquist Jeff Dunham (May 30) and Ramon Ayala (May 30). Tickets are on sale at ticketmaster.com. Concert tickets include admission to the fair. Opening Day was the cheapest day to attend the fair with tickets $12 if purchased online. Tickets for fairgoers ages 13-59 purchased in advance online were $20 Thursday through Sunday and May 15-17; $25 May 22-25 and May 29-31. Adult tickets purchased online for the other three Thursdays are $18. Tickets for children ages 6-12 and seniors 60 and older purchased in advance online are $15 throughout the entire run. Tickets at the gate are $32 for ages 13-59 and $17 for children ages 6 to 12 and adults 60 and over. Parking is $22.50 in advance online and $26 at the gate. Admission was $8 Saturday for tickets purchased by Los Angeles County residents at LACountyFair.com/ LACountyDay with use of the promo code LACOUNTY if purchased by 11:59 p.m. Friday. The price was $10 if purchased on Saturday. Admission will be free on the three Food Drive Thursdays — May 14, 21 and 28 for each fairgoer who brings in five cans of food and enters by 4 p.m. All canned goods will be donated to food pantries. Discounted tickets are available at Superior Grocers stores and participating Mattress Firm stores. Payment for parking, admission and concert tickets are cashless.