Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2011: 'I am dogged ... I don't give up'
Posted: 12/27/2011 07:31:12 PM PST
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa talks about his accomplishments in 2011 during a Dec. 21 interview. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News Staff Photographer)
Heading in to his final full year in office, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said he refuses to let the soft economy stop him from pushing for bold initiatives as the city continues to fight its way out of the recession next year. |
"I am dogged," Villaraigosa said in an interview in his City Hall offices after his return from a trade mission to China. "When I say I'm dogged, I'm like a Chihuahua. I don't give up. I keep after it until I get something done."
Villaraigosa said he is now focusing only on what can be accomplished in his final 18 months in office, and is not motivated by anything that would position himself for a future political office. He will continue to push for development and tax reform, seek to finalize funds for the 30/10 plan, and continue work on green reforms for the city.
"I told you a year ago that I am working up to 11:59:59 on June 30, 2013," Villaraigosa said. "The way I see it, and I tell my staff, is that we are making decisions as if I will never run for public office again.
"If I was going to run for office again, I wouldn't be making the cuts we have made. And I certainly wouldn't have taken on Proposition 13," Villaraigosa said, slapping his forehead. "I put a target on myself."
In contrast to the economic boom years he enjoyed when he first was elected mayor in 2005, Villaraigosa continues to oversee a city where unemployment staggers at nearly 12 percent and where the worst foreclosure crisis in the nation dramatically reduced city tax revenue.
During the last few years on the job, he oversaw a reduction in the city workforce by 25 percent, balancing some $2 billion in budget cuts and forcing workers to pay more for their pensions as they also took pay cuts.
Also, several city departments have been embroiled in scandals this year, including Department of Building and Safety, Animal Services, and the Department of Transportation.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa during a light moment in his Dec. 21 interview about his accomplishments in 2011. (Photo by David Crane/Los Angeles Daily News Staff Photographer)
"He's been in office for six years and year after year, there is no solution to put our fiscal house in order," Humphreville said. "He has been unwilling to come up with any long term plans and, instead been making cuts in services or looking to sell off assets.
"And you have all these shenanigans going on in city departments, while he's traveling the world."
As a result, Humphreville said there is no attention paid to the details of governing.
"If the mayor really wanted it, we would have had a ratepayer advocate hired at the DWP," Humphreville said. "Instead, he left it to the City Council and nothing got done."
But Villaraigosa said he is proud that the crime rate in Los Angeles remains at historic lows and praises local residents for pulling through the tough times.
Villaraigosa also took a 16 percent pay cut to set an example for workers.
"I am proud of the resilience of Angelenos," Villaraigosa said. "This has been a tough economic year. I think everyone expected crime to soar after three years of high unemployment. It hasn't."
The city is about to close out the year with 285 murders for 2011, a 50 percent drop from 2005.
Overall, violent crime is down 17 percent since 2009.
Additionally, the Los Angeles Police Department's reputation has also been transformed.
Villaraigosa points out that the LAPD was able to sweep out Occupy L.A. in a relatively peaceful manner compared to other cities, such as Oakland, where there were violent clashes between police and protesters. He termed the department's operation to clear out the protesters Nov. 29-30 "perhaps the finest moment in the history of the LAPD."
Additionally, the city's anti-gang initiative - adopted when Los Angeles was considered the gang capital of America - is now looked at as a model by other cities, he said.
Still, those who closely watch City Hall say they have been surprised at what a low profile the mayor has taken over the past year.
Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst and professor at USC's Price School of Public Policy, said the mayor was less visible in 2011.
"He was on that trade mission to Asia and he has spent an awful lot of time in Washington, D.C.," Jeffe said.
"I suppose you could argue that's where he needs to be and he has done a good job in bringing federal money to Los Angeles."
Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus at California State University, Los Angeles, said he believes the mayor has done "a fair job," this past year.
"I think you have to look at the state of the economy and the money the city has to play with," Regalado said.
"The city has had to retrench. And, part of the problem the mayor has is he does not have a council that works with him."
Villaraigosa has not had any major differences with the City Council in the past year, but the relationship is not as close as it was during his first years.
Instead of working through the City Council, the mayor has proposed various initiatives and left it to the council to work out the details, such as with the budget.
He's also been criticized by those who believe his grand visions overshadow his ability to focus on managerial issues.
Still, observers and activist note that the mayor has made progress on some fronts, including in the long-held desire by the business community to encourage economic growth.
"In the last year, he's made a real push to make Los Angeles more business friendly," said Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association.
Waldman pointed to the mayor's proposals to reduce the business tax, and successes by the Office of Economic and Business Policy, which lured Farmers Insurance to Woodland Hills and helped bring a Target to downtown Los Angeles.
"The mayor made some great strides when he hired Austin Beutner," said Waldman, referring to the former investment banker hired to run the mayor's Office of Economic and Business Policy.
Beutner stepped down to run in the 2013 mayor's race.
As far as pension reform and his schools initiatives, Villaraigosa's decisions "weren't always the popular ones, but the right ones."
"The mayor has definitely made choices that pushed his friends and his enemies alike," Waldman said.
Meanwhile, some wonder whether the media attention on the 2013 mayoral election will overshadow Villaraigosa's own initiatives.
He disagrees, arguing the presidential election next year will first be the focus of public attention.
"After it becomes 2013, the public will look more closely at the mayor's race," he said.
Potential candidates in that race include City Controller Wendy Greuel, City Council President Eric Garcetti, Councilwoman Jan Perry, Beutner, talk radio host Kevin James and possibly billionaire developer Rick Caruso and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
As for his successor, Villaraigosa said he is not sure he will make an endorsement and, if he does, it will only be if there is a runoff. He has several friends who are candidates, he said, and his political consultants are all working for different campaigns.
If there is a benchmark for the mayor to look back on, it may be 18 months ago, when critics predicted bankruptcy for the city.
It hasn't happened.
"What would the city be like if we had declared bankruptcy?" Villaraigosa asked. "We had to make a ton of tough decisions and we will again this year.
"I'm going to have to push to get things done. That's why I say if there's an end of the line it will be when you make decisions that aren't popular. When you order furloughs and cuts in programs, it doesn't make people happy."
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