I’m going to start this story on a quiet tree-lined street in Mar Vista, where a couple I met on Thursday \u2014 the day after the L.A. mayoral debate \u2014 had a problem.<\/p>\n
Its nothing unusual<\/u>As things are going in Los Angeles. The footpath on both sides of the road is rutted, rutted and broken by shallow roots as the trees were not properly looked after for many decades.<\/p>\n
John Conda, 61, who grew up in Los Angeles, never had to deal with broken sidewalks as a child.<\/p>\n
“In fact,” he said when he first emailed me about his plight, “my friends and I sometimes used the ramped sidewalks as jumps for our bicycles.”<\/p>\n
But his wife Barbara was diagnosed with ALS in 2024 and uses a wheelchair. When John pushes him, they can’t use the sidewalk if they want to go to the store or meet friends, or just enjoy a nice walk through the neighborhood without getting into a vehicle.<\/p>\n
So John pushes Barbara’s wheelchair out into the street, creating an obvious safety problem. And despite John’s best efforts to get the sidewalk fixed at City Hall, he doesn’t expect help anytime soon<\/u>.<\/p>\n
I’ll come back to this story in a bit, but first about that debate.<\/p>\n
I recruited half a dozen LA residents to observe and send me their thoughts on how the candidates tackle important issues. And then I felt guilty for doing it, because the candidates didn’t behave much at all.<\/p>\n
Candidate Spencer Pratt is shown on a television while reporters work during the 2026 Los Angeles mayoral debate at the Skirball Cultural Center.<\/p>\n
(Jason Armand\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
They certainly made their point, and Mayor Karen Bass, Council Member Nitya Raman and TV personality Spencer Pratt also expressed their views. But by the end of the debate, and two consecutive nights of gubernatorial debates, I came back to thinking there was no clear winner, but a sure loser.<\/p>\n
Voter.<\/p>\n
This is more the fault of the format than the candidates. The deck is full of meaningful, solid discussions, especially when the moderators ask \u2013 as they have done several times \u2013 for one-word answers.<\/p>\n
Longtime political sage Darry Sargo said, “The moderator’s questions are pretty meaningless…and they make it easy for the candidates to take jabs at each other.” “This format guarantees that nothing important will be revealed.”<\/p>\n
It would be better to have single-issue debates, and have candidates pressed for details by journalists who cover those issues and can push back against unrealistic promises and expose a lack of depth.<\/p>\n
My debate watchers did some of that themselves. CSUN librarian Yi Ding had praise and criticism for each candidate, but he was looking for concrete plans and didn’t find much.<\/p>\n
Ding was also disappointed that two other mayoral candidates \u2013 Ray Huang and Adam Miller \u2013 were not invited to the debate, and I agree with her. Both polled low, but with so many undecided voters and such high unfavorable ratings for Bass, they should have been in the mix.<\/p>\n
Mike Washington, a retired pharmacist and West Adams resident, said Bass has done a better job than previous mayors on homelessness and he did not think Raman or Pratt were worthy of ousting them from City Hall.<\/p>\n
“The public would benefit from more questions related to the challenges young people face,” said Juan Solorio Jr., president of the National Youth Congress. San Fernando Valley Young Democrats<\/u><\/a> Club. His colleague David Ramirez agreed, saying he was hoping for “more discussion about the cost of living for young adults”, but both he and Solorio are supporting Bass.<\/p>\n West LA software developer Mike Aveloff asked the million-dollar question in one of his many comments during the debate:<\/p>\n “Why is L.A. spending record amounts on homelessness, fire, police and infrastructure while the results are worsening? Roads and sidewalks are crumbling. Even the city symbol right in front of City Hall is in disrepair. With the World Cup and Olympics approaching, voters need to know: Do these leaders have the fiscal discipline and operational capacity to manage a fourteen billion dollar city?”<\/p>\n Venice resident Dennis Hathaway, author of “An Octogenarian’s Journal,” <\/u><\/a>He said he believed “these types of debates are very non-instructive.” And, as I wrote almost two years ago broken sidewalks in his neighborhood<\/u>He shared this sadness about Thursday’s debate:<\/p>\n “There is no mention of broken sidewalks, potholed roads, other poor infrastructure. To me, this is a much more important topic than non-citizens voting in city elections.”<\/p>\n (Bass said during the debate that there was a new infrastructure plan, and that it’s a step in the right direction. But there was no discussion, and when you read the description,<\/a> 2028 Olympic projects will be prioritized, and it will take years to figure out how to fund thousands of additional needed improvements.)<\/p>\n
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