'Armageddon' Or Not, Nithya Raman Could Bring 4 Big Changes To LA

LOS ANGELES, CA — A day after a Los Angeles police union leader warned that Nithya Raman's election as mayor would bring "armageddon," the law enforcement labor group that spent millions trying to defeat her was congratulating her victory and seeking to establish a working relationship.

The reversal underscored the gulf between the dire warnings that accompanied Raman's campaign and the practical realities of governing a city where even her fiercest opponents now have a stake in her success.

But beyond the campaign attacks, ideological battles and political maneuvering, what would a Raman administration actually mean for Los Angeles?

Raman, an urban planner by training who takes office Dec. 14, has proposed significant changes to how the city approaches public safety, homelessness and housing. Some would challenge longstanding policies and political interests; others reflect goals shared by people across the political spectrum.

Whether she can deliver is another question. She'll inherit a strained city budget and a City Council dominated by colleagues who backed incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, many of whom have already resisted some of her proposals.

Here are four ways Los Angeles could change under its new mayor — and the obstacles standing in her way.

From 'Armageddon' To Common Ground?

On Wednesday, Los Angeles Police Protective League director Jamie McBride warned NBC 4 that Raman's victory would bring "Armageddon."

“She won’t have to defund the police; police officers will just leave the department," he said.

But a day later, after Bass had conceded the election, the union congratulated Raman, saying it "fully accepts" the election results.

"All Angelenos have a vested interest in her success," the union's board said in a statement. "Los Angeles police officers and others are filled with uncertainty and angst at the prospect of major cuts to the LAPD that will reverse the progress made in reducing crime.

"Mayor-elect Raman has stated that she does not want staffing levels to decrease from current levels, we share that goal and are committed to ensuring enough officers remain to keep our residents, the Olympics and our officers safe," the board's statement continued.

Despite repeated campaign attacks portraying Raman as intent on defunding the police, she has explicitly rejected that approach and said the understaffed department should not shrink further.

"We will not achieve the public safety Angelenos need through the binary choice of defunding the police or defending business as usual," Raman states in her public safety platform.

Instead, she wants to expand unarmed crisis response teams across the city, integrate them into 911 dispatch so police can concentrate on calls requiring armed officers, and improve emergency response times.

Her plans also include stronger civilian oversight, expanded violence prevention programs and an audit of LAPD compliance with the city's sanctuary protections. She has also called for replacing Police Chief Jim McDonnell, whom she has criticized over his handling of federal immigration enforcement.

Taking On The City Hall Establishment

Raman's victory puts her in charge of a City Hall political establishment that overwhelmingly opposed her candidacy.

All 14 other City Council members endorsed or said they planned to vote for Bass. Even Raman's fellow democratic socialists — Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martínez and Ysabel Jurado — backed the incumbent.

The opposition went beyond endorsements, as Raman saw it. In August, City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, a close Bass ally, removed Raman as chair of the powerful Housing and Homelessness Committee. Raman called the move political retaliation for challenging Bass; Harris-Dawson denied the accusation.

For Raman, such political maneuvering was nothing new. In the secretly recorded 2021 conversation that rocked City Hall Democratic council members discussed redrawing her district for political advantage. One declared that Raman was "not our ally," prompting another to suggest putting her district "in the blender and chop up, left and right."

That wasn't merely idle talk: Raman's district was subsequently redrawn, costing her roughly 40% of her constituents — more than any other council member, as ABC 7 reported — and replacing renter-heavy neighborhoods with more homeowner-dominated areas of the San Fernando Valley.

One notable exception to the establishment's support for Bass was County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, a frequent critic of the mayor who had considered challenging Bass herself. Horvath later endorsed Raman, making her the only county supervisor to do so.

"It's been said that she doesn't have many friends at City Hall, and I know what that feels like," Horvath said.

In a city where just 15 council members wield enormous power over budgets, development and local priorities, Raman will need to work with many of the same colleagues who opposed her election.

Can Raman Cut Encampments In Half Before The Olympics?

One of Raman's most ambitious promises is reducing the number of people sleeping in tents and encampments by at least 50% before the 2028 Olympics.

It's a tall order in a city that has poured billions into homelessness programs with frustrating results. After two consecutive years of declines, the city's unsheltered homeless population rose nearly 8% in the 2026 count, to an estimated 29,115 people.

Raman has argued that the problem isn't simply a lack of money, but a lack of accountability for how it's spent.

"One of the most persistent challenges with homelessness is that no one is in charge at City Hall," she told LAist earlier this year.

Her plans call for shifting spending away from expensive motel-based shelters toward rental subsidies and other less costly housing options, expanding teams that deliver health care — including mental health services — on the streets and improving coordination among agencies responding to encampments.

She also inherits a homelessness bureaucracy undergoing a historic restructuring. Los Angeles County has established its own homelessness department, while the troubled Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority is being stripped of major responsibilities following years of criticism over financial management and oversight.

The city and county recently reached an agreement that would give Los Angeles greater control over who is placed in its shelters, while the county takes over key regional functions.

Raman has promised greater accountability and transparency, but with the Olympics less than two years away, time is already running short to deliver what Angelenos have long wanted, but city leaders have struggled to achieve: fewer people living on the streets.

Are LA's Single-Family Neighborhoods About To Change?

Los Angeles, like California as a whole, is in the grips of a housing crisis, and the homes needed to ease it have to be built somewhere. State lawmakers have increasingly stepped in to force the issue, stripping away local restrictions that have long protected single-family neighborhoods from denser development.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last year signed sweeping reforms to speed up housing construction, including SB 79, which allows more apartments near major transit stops, even in neighborhoods traditionally reserved for single-family homes.

Bass urged Newsom to veto the law, and the City Council adopted a plan to delay its full implementation until 2030. Raman, meanwhile, was among the few council members who opposed the city's efforts to fight the legislation.

Raman also broke with her colleagues over Bass' restrictions on affordable housing projects near single-family neighborhoods, which courts subsequently found were improperly blocked, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Raman, an urban planner by training with a master's degree from MIT, has made expanding housing a centerpiece of her agenda, promising to triple annual construction and allow duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in single-family neighborhoods near transit hubs. But delivering on those promises could mean another fight with a City Council that has resisted changes to one of the defining features of Los Angeles: its sprawling neighborhoods of single-family homes.