The Brief

A hedge fund manager who wants more bike lanes and a construction workers' union are the biggest donors in L.A. city elections over the past two months.

They put a total of $7 million behind City Councilmember Nithya Raman’s run for mayor, according to the latest campaign filings submitted by Thursday to meet a state deadline.

Aaron Sosnick, a hedge fund founder, and the construction workers union — the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters — each gave $3 million to the same committee backing Raman, city filings show. Sosnick gave another $1 million to the pro–Raman political committee of the street-safety group Streets for All.

Airbnb has pumped in more than $4 million into backing Mayor Karen Bass and three other city candidates. The filings also show the LAPD officers' union has spent nearly $3 million, money that went to oppose Raman, city attorney candidate Marissa Roy and city council candidate Estuardo Mazariegos, and to support council candidate Tim Gaspar. Most of that Airbnb and police union spending was before the June primary election, though police union spending against Raman has picked up recently.

Overall, the filings show Raman’s significant earlier disadvantage in outside dollars has narrowed significantly in recent weeks. So far, the amount of ad spending by outside groups for the general election is similar between the two candidates, with a total of $1.57 million supporting Bass and against Raman, versus $1.53 million supporting Raman and against Bass. Those groups still have millions of donor dollars on hand for future ads.

Ballots are set to start hitting voters’ mailboxes by the week of Oct. 5.

What to know about the mayor’s race

Sosnick runs the New York-based hedge fund A.R.T. Advisors, which uses computer programs to quickly buy and sell stock, to make money from short-term price changes. He is based in Reno, according to campaign filings, and splits his time between New York and L.A.’s Los Feliz neighborhood, according to Michael Schneider, Streets for All’s founder.

Sosnick has been a major donor to prior streets-focused campaigns in L.A., including 2024’s Measure HLA. That voter-approved initiative requires the city to add planned bike lanes, bus lanes and pedestrian upgrades when it repaves major streets.

Two years after voters approved it, the city had completed only about 300 feet of HLA improvements as of March, Streetsblog L.A. reported at the time. The city paused some repaving and shifted to smaller repairs that stay under the measure's trigger, Streetsblog reported.

The construction workers union — which has said most of its nearly 100,000 members are in Southern California — endorsed Bass in 2022, before switching to Raman in August. The union broke with Bass over her affordable-housing directive, ED1, which doesn't require union wages.

Another donor to pro-Raman ads, through the Streets for All committee, is real estate developer Todd Wexman, who gave $50,000. Last year the state issued a $2.3 million wage theft fine to him and other developers over allegations about 124 construction workers.

The LAPD officers' union has put more than $2 million into groups opposing Raman. A recent ad funded by the union highlights Raman’s remarks about opposing a city ban on homeless encampments near schools. In the ad, Raman is shown saying she doesn’t "think a kid’s gonna be safer because a tent is 500 feet away from a school."

The police union committee also received $525,000 from Douglas Emmett Inc., the landlord behind the largest attempted eviction from rent-controlled housing in the city in decades. The city declined to legally intervene on behalf of the renters, who ended up suing and winning a 2024 court ruling that found the evictions were illegal.

Airbnb has given more than $4 million to groups backing Bass, city attorney candidate John McKinney and City Council candidates Jose Ugarte and Gaspar. The city attorney's office has a current lawsuit against Airbnb over alleged price gouging after the January 2025 fires. Whoever wins in November will inherit the case. This year, Bass advanced a proposal backed by Airbnb to relax city regulations by letting Airbnb hosts rent out second homes and investment properties through 2028.

Dodger Stadium parking-lot co-owner Frank McCourt's real estate firm also gave $25,000 to a group backing Bass. McCourt needs approvals from the Metro board, which Bass chairs, for a proposed gondola project.

Much of Bass' other outside support comes from unions, including the SEIU union that represents most city government staff, whose pay is negotiated by the mayor and approved by the city council.

City attorney

Beyond $2 million from an Airbnb-backed committee supporting McKinney, the police union’s committee has spent $357,000 against city attorney candidate Roy.

Smart Justice California, a criminal-justice-reform advocacy group that wants to reduce incarceration, and a group of trial lawyers are major backers of a committee supporting Roy. The city attorney oversees the city’s misdemeanor prosecutions and defends the city against lawsuits, including those brought by plaintiffs' firms.

City Council: Gaspar and Ugarte far ahead in outside money

In Council District 3, Gaspar’s biggest outside supporters include about $550,000 from an Airbnb-backed group, around $230,000 from a major association for apartment landlords and $136,000 from the police union. His opponent, Barri Worth Girvan, has received a much smaller amount of outside backing, largely from unions, including one that represents construction workers.

In Council District 9, outside spending for Ugarte includes about $300,000 by Airbnb and about $230,000 by the landlords association. Among their many responsibilities, the city council votes on rent rules.

Ugarte’s opponent, Estuardo Mazariegos, has received much less outside support, largely from the main union for L.A. Unified School District teachers and a tenant organizing group known as ACCE.

How the biggest donations flow

Direct giving to the candidates’ campaigns is legally restricted to $1,800 per donor each election cycle for L.A. mayor and city attorney, and $1,000 for city council. So the biggest donors instead spend through “independent expenditure” committees, or “IEs.” Donors can give unlimited amounts to these committees, as long as the spending isn't coordinated with the candidates' campaigns.

That IE money often flows through multiple committees — many of which combine money meant for candidates in multiple races — on its way to election ads, which can make the money hard for the public to easily track.

The general election will take place Nov. 3.

For the last three years, the record store and music venue Healing Force of the Universe has been operating on a sleepy street corner not far from Pasadena City College. Nearby businesses include a shoe repair store, a nail salon and several auto shops.

“We're kind of in a dead corner,” owner Austin Manuel said. “No offense if anybody lives here, but not a very foot-trafficked area, kind of a hard place to have a store.”

In spite of the location, Manuel said Healing Force has become a home away from home for musicians and music fans. One of them is Bobby Bradford, a jazz trumpet legend who lost his house and personal archive in the Eaton Fire. He performs regularly at the venue. (Healing Force has also partnered with LAist on fire recovery events.)

Its current location is set to close this month, but Manuel and his team are already raising funds to cover a move to another space: G-Son Studios in Atwater Village. The repurposed ballroom was the Beastie Boys' home base when they recorded their classic albums Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Run-DMC and Biz Markie stopped by at one point, and Beck also laid down tracks for his album Odelay there.

Inside Healing Force's space in Pasadena.

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The vibe

Healing Force sells records, of course, but these days it’s more of a nighttime performance space. Manuel said he wants people to feel comfortable striking up conversations after a show.

“I grew up in the church in the South, and I was like, ‘How do I design this so that it feels like a Southern church lady could come in here and feel welcome?’" Manuel said. “ I didn't want it to be too cool.  I wanted it to feel kind of suburban in a way.”

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Though the name might call to mind a cult slogan — and Manuel said they lean into that aesthetic on purpose — it’s actually a reference to the 1970 album Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe by saxophonist Albert Ayler.

At the venue, “people can kind of get … into a meditative zone,” Manuel said. “After the [January 2025] fires, it felt so good to come back together in this room and feel the healing of community.”

Healing Force's stage setup.

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The performances

The shows Healing Force puts on share a common thread: They’re meant to promote peace and relaxation, as well as deep, careful listening on the hi-fi sound system. But they’re an eclectic mix of genres. On one night, you might see L.A. spiritual jazz band Phi-Psonics, who turned a residency at the venue into a live album, Expanding to One.

On another night, you might catch a spaced-out electronic set, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter or a group of session musicians who’ve played with the likes of Paul Simon, Elton John and Lucinda Williams.

About the fundraiser

With the new space on Glendale Boulevard, Manuel said, Healing Force would triple its capacity for concerts, get a bar space and be closer to other venues in Northeast L.A.

“If 1,000 people gave $25, we would get there,” Manuel said – though he also said most people have been giving more.

You can read more about the fundraiser and donate at Healing Force’s GoFundMe.

See the Pasadena space before it closes

The venue is still open at 1200 E. Walnut Street and is holding events through this Halloween weekend. You can see their events calendar on their website.

The racist DNA of Jim Crow discrimination may be embedded in your housing documents.

The language in housing documents that restricts sale or use of a property only to a person of the white race is called a “restrictive covenant,” and in California the practice goes back to the 19th century and continued into the mid-20th century. While housing discrimination persists, the practice was found unconstitutional in 1948.

California counties are reporting mixed progress in meeting the demands of a 2021 law to excise the language from property records.

According to Sylvia Manzo, deputy recorder in the Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s office, the county finished the job in March of this year, removing racist language from more than 27,000 property documents with the help of computer software.

This 1924 property document from Bakersfield includes racist language limiting use of the property in question to people of "the white or Caucasian race."

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L.A. County is far from done. It says that with the help of an outside company hired in 2024, 50 million pages will be examined yearly, which would take about 10 years to finish the job.

Public agencies could use the public’s help.

Language examples

Here’s a 1924 example from a property in Bakersfield. The text reads, “That the lands herein conveyed shall never, at any time, be sold to or rented to or occupied by any person not of the white or Caucasian race.”

Or this language from a 1936 document relating to a Costa Mesa property: “That said premises shall not be sold, conveyed, rented, or leased to, or occupied by any person of African, Mexican, or Asiatic descent.”

How to get it taken out

The Restrictive Covenant Modification Form is at the heart of the effort to remove the racist language from housing documents. Each county has its own process. Some charge a fee; others don’t. Some require a notary certification for the signature; others don’t.

L.A. County:

Registrar-Recorder officials recommend these steps:

• Highlight or underline the unlawful provision on the recorded document
• Complete the Restrictive Covenant Modification Form
• Submit the form and the recorded document by email: RCM@rrcc.lacounty.gov or in person at the Norwalk headquarters at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk
• Mail instructions are here.

Orange County:

The Orange County spokesperson says there may be some properties not caught by its software and urges the public to report them. Here’s the form

Riverside County:

Here’s the Riverside County form

San Bernardino County:

Here’s the San Bernardino County form

San Diego County:

Here’s the San Diego County form

Santa Barbara County:

Here’s the Santa Barbara County form

Ignoring the racist language in property documents, some say, reinforces the legacy of segregation, while taking steps to remove restrictive covenant language is a way individuals and organizations can repudiate policies that sought to discriminate.