A fire at a long-neglected abandoned lot on Babcock Avenue in Studio City has reignited a public feud between Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, who have traded blame over why the property was left unsecured for years.
A fire at an abandoned property in Studio City has become the latest flashpoint in the political rivalry between Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, with each blaming the other for failing to address a neighborhood hazard that residents say has plagued them for years.
Firefighters responded to a blaze Wednesday morning on the 4000 block of Babcock Avenue, where flames reportedly rose as high as 20 feet through overgrown vegetation and a makeshift structure. The fire prompted Bass to order the site cleared within 48 hours, but the speed of the response has not stopped the political sparring between the two mayoral rivals.
Neighbor Clint Ledsworth said his household has endured homeless encampments, piles of trash, vermin, and car break-ins since the property was abandoned. He said dozens of calls and complaints were made to city departments and police, but officials told them they could not go inside the private property.
"I'm glad it's taken care of, but it's too bad that it took a fire to finally get them out here," Ledsworth said.
Raman, whose district includes the property, said her office flagged the site to the mayor's office in November of last year. Emails reviewed by the Los Angeles Times show Raman's staffers identified the Babcock property as the second-most urgent of five nuisance properties in her district. The list was compiled at the request of Bass' infrastructure team.
"I cannot call her about the 200-plus issues that we're dealing with that are at this level of risk," Raman said at a press conference Friday. "Does she want me to call her about every encampment? Does she want me to call her about every single fire risk?"
Bass' campaign struck back with edited video clips of Raman taking questions from residents in the neighborhood. "Nithya Raman wants to lead the whole city. Six years in office she can't even get a single lot cleaned up in her own district," the campaign posted on Instagram.
Following a KTLA news report on the fire, Bass called into the station Thursday and said city departments were immediately taking action. On Thursday she visited the site and confirmed temporary chain link fencing was being installed, with a permanent fence going up Friday. Sanitation workers cleared the area, cut down trees, and erected a new fence and lock to keep out trespassers.
"It is absolutely inexcusable that residents on Babcock Avenue have been living next to this abandoned, unsecured private property for years," Raman said in a written statement Thursday. "We have called, we have emailed, we have escalated. We have used every avenue to sound the alarm and nothing was done."
Bass, in a statement Friday, acknowledged the frustration of the neighborhood. "Residents are right to be frustrated. 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," she said.
A spokesperson for Bass said her office had received the flag from Raman's office and noted that more than 25 nuisance properties citywide have been addressed through similar requests from council offices.
For Ledsworth and his neighbors, the political wrangling was less important than the result. "The city sent a bunch of workers and they cleared it all out," he said. "Finally something is getting done."
The Babcock Avenue property dispute is the second major public confrontation between Bass and Raman, who are both running for mayor. The clash underscores tensions over how city resources and enforcement priorities are distributed among council districts in a city where residents say they often feel ignored by the bureaucracy.
This article was generated with AI assistance.