Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman unveiled a plan Wednesday to support the rebuilding of Pacific Palisades and reduce the risk of devastating wildfires throughout Los Angeles.
The plan includes financial and procedural proposals widely supported by recovery organizations in the Palisades, including creating a “recovery district” headed by city officials and Palisades residents to oversee the rebuild and redirect some property tax in the Palisades to local infrastructure projects. Those funds could potentially go to putting electrical lines underground, supporting local businesses or helping residents rebuild their homes to fire-resistant standards.
Raman, a Los Angeles City Council member, called for further streamlining of the permitting process for rebuilds as well, including by creating a wide set of preapproved, fire-resistant building plans.
Raman announced her plans amid burned-out lots north of Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades. A few curious residents gathered at an empty dirt lot where a home used to stand, now adorned with “Nithya Raman for Mayor” signs.
“The fire that happened here last January, the devastation to our city and to the Palisades community was really unimaginable,” Raman said. Now, residents are dealing with “insurance companies that wear families down until they give up, permits that take months to clear, homes contaminated with ash and lead that families feel like they’re forced to return to … and speculators knocking at doors.”
Her plan includes many of the demands Palisades residents have repeated for months at community events and on social media, such as keeping city reservoirs full during fire season and clearing flammable brush from the surrounding wildlands.
To prepare for future fires, Raman plans to build a more reliable emergency communication system and hold the Los Angeles Fire Department accountable by publishing neighborhood-level performance data.
For Raman, the wildfire initiative is an effort to stake out her own ground on an issue that has defined her two leading rivals: Former reality TV personality Spencer Pratt, who launched a campaign after his home burned down in the 2025 Palisades fire, and incumbent Karen Bass, whose handling of the disaster has become a significant political liability.
As many fire survivors still struggle to find money for rebuilding and maintain their home insurance, Raman called for the city to push back against insurance claim denials for survivors and adopt clear standards to help homeowners reduce their home’s susceptibility to fire and, consequently, stay insurable. These insurability standards, the plan says, should include best practices outlined by insurance industry research.
That industry research notably includes a recommendation to clear all flammable material within the first five feet of homes in high-risk areas, including trees, plants, grasses and wooden fences.
Raman has previously joined an effort by her colleagues to push back on making these guidelines requirements for areas that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection deems as having very high fire risk.
During a recent televised debate, Raman stayed mostly on the sidelines as Bass and Pratt traded barbs over wildfire issues. But she has faced criticism on the council in recent days for wildfire safety measures she proposed last year.
One of Raman’s measures, introduced shortly after the January 2025 fires, proposed banning outdoor barbecues during times of high fire danger. Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who voted with the rest of the council to explore the proposal last year, dubbed the policy a “carne asada” ban and argued it unfairly targeted “certain communities” at a council meeting last week.
Raman voted with other council members at the meeting to strike that measure.
It didn’t stop a wave of criticism for Raman, though. Developer and 2022 mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, who has not endorsed in the mayoral race, called the ban “probably the dumbest idea I have ever heard.” Pratt poked fun at the proposal by posting a video on X of him cooking outside, with the caption “COME AND TAKE IT.”
“I’m not trying to ban backyard barbeques,” Raman said at her event Wednesday. “But I do think, yes, in the very highest fire severity zones, on red flag days — the days of highest risk, which happen about seven days a year — I think a conversation around how we minimize wildfire risk in Los Angeles is worth having.”
