| I don't write a lot about Mayor Villaraigosa; I don't live in the city, and I get the sense that Antonio wants everyone to know he's there without necessarily knowing what he does, which makes it frustrating to try to gauge. But this is an interesting article about the promise that he had matched with the difficult reality of this last year. His eye appears to be off the ball of improving the lives of Los Angelenos, and toward the crystal goblet of higher office, and it shows in the work he's done. He's very active in pressing flesh (it's almost a permanent campaign) and tackling high-profile projects like the school takeover and LA Live development downtown. But substantively, I think this list of accomplishments are a little thin.
Villaraigosa and his senior aides acknowledge the recent disappointments but prefer to see them as minor bumps overshadowed by the mayor's accomplishments on education, public safety, mass transit, the environment and city budgeting.
They say, for example, that he deserves credit for balancing the city's books and dramatically reducing a $295-million structural deficit — by more than $200 million — amid declining revenues.
They also speak of his successful effort to win an increase in trash collection fees to hire 1,000 additional police officers, saying the city is well on its way to meeting the goal as the rate of violent crime — including gang homicides — drops.
They single out his efforts this year to tackle gang crime by devoting more money to suppression and prevention programs.
And they point to Villaraigosa's securing billions of dollars in state bond money for mass transit projects — including carpool lanes on the 405 Freeway — and an aggressive expansion of the Department of Water and Power's use of alternative energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A lot less than meets the eye here. There's still a deficit. The reports on gang violence and police protection has been tempered by the MacArthur Park riot and the fact that LA County still has 120,000 gang members. I resent the focus on carpool lanes on the 405, and mass transit projects are actually stagnating, plus MTA had to raise its fees last week.
Villaraigosa is succeeding in the sense of setting himself up for the Governor's mansion by taking on the big issues even if he doesn't really move on them. I don't know if residents of the city will look back fondly on this time, however, thinking they had a champion for them at City Hall. I'd welcome another perspective, however. |
