Bass concedes to Raman as DWP appeals Malibu permit denial Play

Some might say that the worst L.A. mayor in Malibu history has been defeated. Karen Bass on Thursday conceded defeat to Nithya Raman.

Bass was widely viewed in Malibu as responsible for the biggest catastrophe in our city's history, through her mismanagement of the L.A. City Fire Department and the Department of Water and Power. When the small Lachman Fire broke out in Pacific Palisades, nobody at City Hall was keeping tabs on the L.A. City Fire Department to make sure the embers were put out, or that enough firefighters were on duty, as hurricane-force winds were clearly in the weather forecast.

After the big fire was put out, Bass congratulated the L.A. City Fire Department for a job well done. Then a week later she fired the fire chief for major blunders committed by the department's leaders.

Just this week, the L.A. Department of Water and Power is doubling down — adding L.A. insult to Malibu injury. DWP has filed an appeal against a Planning Commission decision here in Malibu denying its request for an outdoor industrial warehouse. DWP is asking the City Council to overrule the Planning Commission.

It wants a permit to store electrical equipment outdoors in the center of Malibu, on Latigo Canyon Road above the Malibu RV Park. DWP happens to own land there from a nuclear power plant it planned to build 50 years ago.

Like the fire department fiasco, Bass is not directly in charge of this latest DWP action against Malibu, but her underlings are. Thursday, Bass conceded. L.A. has a new mayor: Nithya Raman. Meanwhile, lawsuits against the City of L.A. from Malibu residents continue, as does the City of L.A.'s disregard for Malibu.