The city of sprawling neighborhoods, deathly traffic and Hollywood, nestled between the mountains and the Pacific, has elected itself a mayor that plans to make Angelenos proud.
Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was sworn into office on July 1, 2005. The first Latino mayor of the city, Villaraigosa is breathing life into a city accustomed to invisible leaders. In my twenty years of living in Los Angeles County, I have never known the Los Angeles mayor’s name, have never read an article about him and have generally not thought twice about the position. But this mayor, who has set the initial goals of improving the schools, the environment and public transportation, is now on the radar of the general public.
On his inauguration day, the mayor attended an all-faith service at the new city cathedral before marching down the street to City Hall, where a crowd of people awaited his kickoff speech. Political figures, inclduing Governor Schwarzeneger himself, and citizens from all walks of life filled the seating area behind crowd-controlled gates. There were dread-headed youth in tie-dye holding signs with slogans against Arnold, homeless folk in wheel chairs and Latino families spanning from infants to great grandmothers.
Standing at the front of the grass run, pushed up against the railing, there was an energy buzzing through the crowd. This mayor-elect had the potential to be something to talk about-not just another face to front an ambiguous term.
“LA will be the next global city-it is the city with the largest economy, in the state with the largest economy, in the country of highest power,” Mayor Villaraigosa exclaimed to supporters’ goose-bump-instilling cheers in Spanish.
I thought of my friends from New York and how they would guffaw at such a statement-it was simply a given in my mind that of U.S. cities, New York was the embodiment of a global city, especially after mayor Giuliani made history with his proactive improvements.
Mayor Villaraigosa aims to change Los Angeles much in the same way that the New York mayor was able to face-lift his city. What really holds the city of Los Angeles and its surrounding suburbs back from geophysical unity is the lack of public transportation. A bus system and a light rail system seems ample enough on a map, but with the widespread geography of the area, the subway does not reach many destinations.
Mayor Villaraigosa has a vision of a subway line extending from downtown L.A. right to the Pacific Ocean, and while methane pockets and surface structures may limit this potential, there are plans for an above-ground light rail which will follow Wilshire Blvd. to Santa Monica.
On the day of the inauguration, my mother and I, wide-eyed and idealistic, decided to take the Metro downtown to avoid traffic. As we awaited the arrival of the train, I felt a surge of civic pride. I was going to see the new mayor who promised great things for the city. More importantly, we were utilizing the metro side-by-side with other Angelenos, free from the barricade of car doors that usually separates us. The ride was novel, and we enjoyed the conductor’s tour-guide narration over the loud speaker.
Arriving downtown by train, however, we noticed that the traffic was not as bad as we had expected, and after parking the car, waiting for two trains to arrive and stopping for passengers, the time spent in transit was more than double what it would have been driving-even with rush hour traffic.
The mayor has much to accomplish if he is to meet his own goals and the expectations of his metropolis. In his first 100 days in office, he has built up his political and celebrity image. He has appeared on the George Lopez show, ridden the metro after the London bombings, operated construction machinery in Burbank and visited the downtown slum Skid Row to see for himself the poverty and detriment just blocks from City Hall. And he has not abandoned his civic responsibility of jury duty. The next four years will tell which goals have materialized, but even at this point, there is no arguing that Villaraigosa is redefining the mayor’s seat in Los Angeles.
