Fire at Abandoned Studio City Lot Sparks New Bass-raman Clash

A fire at an abandoned property in Los Angeles has triggered a new clash between Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, with the mayoral rivals trading blame over a neglected lot that neighbors say has been a problem for years. The property on the 4000 block of Babcock Avenue in Studio City has been plagued by homeless encampments, piles of trash, vermin, and car break-ins since it was abandoned, according to neighbor Clint Ledsworth. He said dozens of calls and complaints were made to city departments and police but went unaddressed, with officials telling him they could not go inside the private property.

That changed by Friday morning after Bass and Raman clashed over the fire that broke out at the property Wednesday. Ledsworth said he woke up to sanitation workers 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," he said.

The showdown came as Bass and Raman emerged as the top vote-getters in the June 2 mayoral primary. A day after the fire, Raman issued a statement saying her office had flagged the property to the mayor's office 10 months ago, but nothing was done. Bass's campaign responded with edited news clips of Raman taking angry questions from residents in the Studio City neighborhood.

"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 on Instagram. After KTLA broadcast a segment on the lot, Bass called into the station Thursday and said Raman could have called her personally to address the problems. Raman shot back during a press conference Friday, saying she should not have to call the mayor about 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?

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. Bass told the station city departments were taking action Thursday to clear the property, saying, "I saw the story and immediately called our city departments to find out what was going on here." Raman 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," she said. We have called, we have emailed, we have escalated. We have used every avenue to sound the alarm and nothing was done.

Emails ith trash, standing rainwater, mosquitoes, and trash. Staffers for Raman's office reached out to the city's Department of Building and Safety, and inspectors replied they would look over the lot in person. Bass paused a traffic safety plan on Forest Lawn Drive after community pushback, a decision safety advocates and Raman say was bad following a fatal crash.