Antonio Villaraigosa reflects on eight years
Plans on a run for governor
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_23519791/antonio-villaraigosa-reflects-eight-years
By Rick Orlov, June 22, 2013
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa discusses his 8 years as mayor of Los Angeles June 12, 2013.
After eight years as America's celebrity mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa says he has mixed feelings about leaving.
"I do think for a mayor of a big city, or a governor
or president, two terms is enough," Villaraigosa said in his third floor
City Hall office where aides are beginning to pack up the papers and
memorabilia of his time in public service.
"But I am leaving here with a smile on my face. I am
incredibly grateful to have had this job. No matter what else happens to
me, I can always say I was mayor of Los Angeles."
It has not always been easy for the 60-year-old
Villaraigosa, who was subject to increasingly critical scrutiny, much of
it deemed unfair by supporters.
"When you are mayor of Los Angeles, a city where the
entertainment industry is so strong, a mayor has to be an advocate for
film and music, the creative industry," Villaraigosa said. "Just as the
mayor of New York has to be an advocate for Wall Street."
His drive to promote the entertainment industry
stirred criticism that he sought the spotlight too often and attended
too many free events, including the Oscars and Emmy awards and Lakers
and Dodgers games. His divorce and subsequent involvement with TV
reporters only fueled the criticism.
"Mayors, wherever they are, get hit," Villaraigosa said. "That's why it's hard for them to go on to other (political) jobs. Particularly, mayors of big cities rarely move up to jobs like governor."
Ever since his election in 2005 when speculation about
other political aspirations would surface, Villaraigosa would
repeatedly say he had no plans to leave his job as mayor.
"I said I would serve a full eight years and I have,"
Villaraigosa said. "Early on, there was talk about me running for
governor, but if
anyone
had looked at my schedule, they would have seen that was not the case. I
made only two trips to San Francisco and no others around the state.
That's not a campaign for governor."
Last week, he sparked new speculation about his future
plans when he said in an interview with Larry Mantle on KPCC that he
wants to run for governor -- some day.
"In fact, I fully expect I will," Villaraigosa said.
But, Villaraigosa said he has no timeline and would not run against Gov. Jerry Brown.
He also has talked about writing a book on the state of modern politics or of working for a university or a think tank.
"There is no rush," Villaraigosa said, who leaves office on July 1. "I'm going to take my time to decide."
He is looking for a new residence -- his ex-wife has
their Mount Washington home -- and he has been living at Getty House,
the city's mayoral residence. His most likely relocation spot is the
Venice area because of its proximity to Los Angeles International
Airport, he said. When he retires, Villaraigosa will be eligible for an
annual pension of $122,489.
Cites many successes:
Villaraigosa
said the political speculation regarding his future has minimized his
administration's accomplishments in public safety, transportation, the
environment, education, pension reform and city services -- all during
the nation's worst economic climate since the Great Depression
.
One of the his most significant accomplishments was
passage of Measure R, the half-cent sales tax approved by more than
two-thirds of the voters in the county to fund transportation projects
just as the recession was being felt.
"That was not an easy thing to even get on the
ballot," Villaraigosa said. "We had a lot of opposition on the MTA board
and from the other cities who didn't want to sign on."
Villaraigosa was able to use the concept of leveraging
the $30 billion to be raised from the tax into his 30-10 plan to get
federal loans against the money to be raised. That later became the
America Fast Forward national plan where localities agreeing to tax
themselves were able to get the federal government to advance them
money.
Most of his tenure was marked by the economic problems confronting the nation.
"If you would have said to me: 'Mayor, are you
prepared to furlough, lay off or reduce the workforce by one third?' I
would have said, 'Are you crazy?' Yet, I led the effort to cut the
numbers of workers.
"People were saying we would have to declare bankruptcy and I said, not on my watch. And we didn't."
To mark his time as mayor, his staff put together a
60-page book, titled "Straight from the Heart of L.A." that details his
accomplishments over the past eight years.
Among the accomplishments: 20 percent of energy coming
from renewable sources; 75 percent increase in recycling; adding 669
acres of open space; installing LED streetlights; reducing port
emissions; adding 1,549 miles of bikeways; reducing violent crime by 50
percent; and reducing gang crime by 43 percent while expanding the LAPD
to 10,000 officers.
Despite his many accomplishments, even longtime supporters said it was the right time for him to move on.
"To me, he was the best mayor since Tom Bradley, but
that isn't saying a whole lot," said Jaime Regalado, former director of
the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State, L.A. "What we had in between was
mediocrity. Dick Riordan couldn't get along with the City Council and
Jim Hahn was busy fighting secession. Hahn did get rid of Bernard Parks
as police chief and did bring in (Bill) Bratton, which was absolutely
the right thing to do.
"The problem for Villaraigosa was the economy."
Villaraigosa kept Bratton in charge for a time, and
oversaw the expansion of the Los Angeles Police Department to 10,000
officers, a move that dramatically reduced crime.
"I thought he did a good job on transportation but he
got bogged down with the schools," Regalado said. "He wanted to be like
(New York Mayor Michael) Bloomberg or (Chicago Mayor Rahm) Emanuel, but
he couldn't get control of the schools."
Villaraigosa said he tried to take over the schools, winning passage of a state law that was later overturned by the courts.
Like Riordan, Villaraigosa changed his tactics from
trying to take control to helping seat a new Los Angeles Unified Board
of Education that agreed with his views on educational reform. He also
took direct control of 22 poorly performing schools, which he said have
turned around.
Also, his added focus on graduating students helped the district reverse its drop out rate, he said.
"In 2005, there were only 48 percent of kids
graduating," Villaraigosa said. "Last year, it was 64 percent. Almost
two-thirds of the students."
More critical of Villaraigosa's eight years is Joel
Kotkin, professor of urban development and a fellow at Chapman
University in Orange.
"You show me what has improved," Kotkin said. "L.A.'s
unemployment is the highest in the county and state. Does anyone think
Los Angeles is in a stronger position now than it was 10 years ago?
"I travel all over the country and what I see is
cities like Austin and New Orleans, and I can see L.A.'s diminishing
footprint. At one time, this city was leading the way for all other
cities."
Kotkin does credit Villaraigosa with convincing
Bratton to remain as chief of police, but questions the value of the
transportation program being developed or the cost of environmental
gains.
"They are looking to spend all this money on solar
when we have natural gas that will be less expensive," Kotkin said. "We
are building a subway system that is marginally effective and takes a
huge public investment."
He also faults the mayor and other city leaders for failing to prepare for the economic downturn.
"There are circumstances beyond what a mayor can do,"
Kotkin acknowledged. "But, neither he nor other leaders recognized at
the start just how bad the situation was."
Richard Close, founder of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners
Association and an early Villaraigosa supporter, said the economy doomed
the administration.
"He is a man of great promise, but had limited
results," Close said. "He did try to improve transit, but we have more
gridlocked streets than ever before. He did a small amount of pension
reform, but we still see a drop in city services.
"The economy gave him only limited resources and he
had more ideas than results. As you look at cities across the country,
they are innovating, using more technology. What we get are more
left-turn lanes and LED lights."
Whatever his legacy may be, Villaraigosa said he is
ready to move on, and he believes he was right to defer on efforts to
change the law that would have allowed him to serve a third.
"Six years ago, I had an
opportunity to extend term limits for this job and I decided not to,"
Villaraigosa said. "I believe two terms is about right. Mayors do their
best work in two terms and then it's time to move on."