LA Podcast - You Used to Call Me on My Illegal AI Bot Phone

Scott, Alissa, and David consider the challenges ahead for whomever is lucky (?) enough to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. Airbnb continues to pour millions of dollars into the city ahead of 2028. Alt-center PAC Thrive LA paid for an AI Nithya Raman hotline that’s almost certainly not legal. And do you have to pay your exorbitant DWP bill?

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Vanity Fair, The Guardian, and The New York Times recently profiled Mayor Karen Bass and the election as the world closely watches to learn who will become the next mayor of Los Angeles

Christmas in October? The city has recently been gifted some functionality vis-à-vis Bass’s plethora of executive directives, reminiscent of a night of cramming before a test

An al fresco dining directive was issued the day after Nithya Raman stumped at Los Feliz’s Ye Rustic Inn’s circle of hope and unity

We do know that the sometimes-exploding LAX People Mover will not be under any Christmas trees... maybe the 2027 holiday season

Is your DWP bill super expensive? Bass says “just pay what [you] can afford now”

(Raman promises an audit, public explanation of rates, and modernizing the utility system)

“Los Angeles is spending more but getting less” says Crosstown, so Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky entered a motion to allow volunteers do the city’s work (shout out to People’s Vision Zero)

(Raman offers plans to right the ship, but is that even possible?)

After previously declining to endorse her, Rick Caruso is going to vote for Bass (much to Spencer Pratt’s chagrin)

On the show, we said there hadn’t been any big right wing spending — then the Republican Central Committee of LA County spent $130,242 to oppose Raman in a confusing filing (in execution, not intention). They must have heard us

Less confusing is why Airbnb has spent millions of dollars in this election to support Bass, John McKinney, Jose Ugarte, and Tim Gaspar. The answer is, now and for the next two years, the Olympics

Airbnb is spending more millions to buy some good press. They’re probably just using the profits they received after price gouging during last year’s fires

Thrive LA, a super PAC who has endorsed Bass, created an AI bot that allows one to have a phone call with a “Nithya Raman” real estate agent (you can read their prompts to get the gist or Alissa recorded her entire 5 minute conversation with it for you)

Raman’s campaign filed a complaint against Thrive for various alleged disclosure violations 

(You might remember Bass once being very critical about Pratt’s use of AI during his campaign)

DSA National decided to wait to decide if they should rescind their endorsement of Raman. Does it matter if the election has already passed?

Final election polling suggests a “dead heat” between the LA mayoral candidates but a significant lead for Marissa Roy in the city attorney race

These results will depend on who makes it to the polls to cast their ballot. Make sure you’re one of them! Find your election information here (and the LA Forward voting guide if you need it) and join the election night watch party!

Thank you to Charlotte Landes for producing and to Bianca Cockrell for production assistance

A reminder you can find us on YouTube, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Threads, and Instagram

Scott Frazier is an original co-host of LA Podcast

Alissa Walker writes the newsletter Torched, tracking LA’s megaevent progress. Find her at @awalkerinla on Instagram and @awalkerinla.bsky.social on Bluesky

David Levitus is the founder and executive director of LA Forward. He’s doing his best to stay off social media