With the election of Zohran Mamdani in New York City, big-city mayors have once again become a focal point of national politics.

Now, in Los Angeles, the mayoral race in November is heating up with Councilmember Nithya Raman edging out reality TV star Spencer Pratt to secure her candidacy against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. And Raman, a democratic socialist like Mamdani, is zeroing in on housing and affordability as defining issues of local politics.

But beneath the promises to take on hot-button issues that plague Angelenos, a persistent question remains: Why can’t the LA mayor get anything done?

Part of the answer takes us back to the creation of the LA city charter, a product of the turn-of-the-20th-century progressive movement that emerged in response to the corrupt politics that plagued cities like New York and Chicago.

Despite the radical and experimental origins of LA’s decentralized governance approach, a weak mayoral office may no longer be the best way to serve the people of Los Angeles today. Even if LA elected a progressive, Mamdani-esque candidate, the mayor’s office still has an uphill battle with fragmentation and decades of mounting red tape designed to favor negotiators over visionaries for mayor.

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