Both Los Angeles mayoral candidates campaign in Nithya Raman’s Encino district days before election

ENCINO, LOS ANGELES () — It’s a tight race between incumbent Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman for Los Angeles mayor. According to Wednesday’s Berkley IGS/L.A. Times poll, the race is a dead heat, with both candidates polling at 40%.

The race brought both candidates to Raman’s own district on Friday, where Encino residents are divided over the job she’s done.

“We still have work to do on homelessness and public safety, but for the first time in years, Encino is moving in the right direction. We cannot afford to go backwards. That is why I support Karen Bass for mayor,” said Encino resident Roy Nwaisser, who supports Bass.

“I am very concerned about Mrs. Raman’s positions on the police and the police chief, and quite frankly, I’m concerned about her lack of experience with this and many other issues,” said Jodi Francisco, a Bass supporter.

“Nithya Raman in her district four has been the only one who has made that kind of progress. The rest of the city is not seeing that. We were promised something four years ago, that we would see progress. The only place we have seen it is in CD4, under the leadership of Nithya Raman,” said Laure Stevens, an Encino resident who supports Raman.

“I feel safer being in CD4 under Nithya’s leadership overall, not only because of homelessness, but because of the fact that she actually spent the time and heard the kids at Reseda High School who almost were getting run over, and her office focused on getting speed bumps installed immediately around the school,” said Encino resident Amos Marvel.

SEE ALSO: Nithya Raman says she looks forward to working with Rick Caruso if she’s elected LA mayor

Mayor Bass claims she had to step in to help Raman’s constituents with homeless encampments and a surge in home burglaries, but Raman denies this.

“There was a surge of crime in this area, and you called me. I called up Chief McDonnell right away and said, ‘Do everything we can. Increase patrols. Visibility. Bring out mounted patrols. Do everything you can, because I believe when crime occurs, you want to aggressively stamp it out,'” Bass said.

“There are real disagreements about the future of Los Angeles right now. One of the biggest disagreements that we’re having about the future of Los Angeles is about housing — whether we should be building more housing here in Los Angeles, whether we should be making this into a city that’s actually affordable for working families. Most of my fiercest critics in my district do not believe that Los Angeles should be building more housing,” Raman said.

RELATED: LA mayor race: Bass admits to mistakes on homelessness, slams Raman for wavering on key positions

The candidates blamed each other for what’s gone wrong as the negative attacks ramp up, with just days left to vote. Bass took credit for Raman’s success in clearing homeless encampments.

“The 49% reduction in homelessness in this district was Inside Safe operations. I think that one of the things that is also consistent, which is very dangerous in our city, is the inability to tell the truth. Affordable housing is central to her platform. She’s number 14 in terms of the least amount of affordable housing built in her district,” Bass said.

Raman maintains that improvements in her district are not because of the actions of Mayor Bass, but because of Raman doing her job. She urged voters to look at the data on homelessness and public safety in her district, which show improvement.

“In this mayor’s office, there’s no map of encampments, tracking of beds. I did that, not the mayor. If Angelenos are tired of a mayor who is not doing their job, I’m ready to take it on,” Raman said.