(Pictured: Zuma Dogg proves that the mayor HAS been inside City Hall this past year despite rumors to the contrary.)I'm not sure why the Daily News categorizes this as "Breaking News" (LOL!).
What I find most interesting is that the new DN editor, Carolina Garcia doesn't appear to be a blind supporter of Villaraigosa, luckily, and perhaps the Daily News is helping to warm up the playing field for another Latino politician to challenge Villaraigosa. Perhaps Valley Councilmember Richard Alarcon feels he can take on Antonio since the mayor is so weak, these days.
Breaking News
Updated: June 29, 2008
Villaraigosa: Term that began with high hopes has seen share of hard times
EXCERPTS [Zuma's comments in brackets.]:
(Three years ago) an energetic and inspirational vigor, he outlined sweeping visions for a "subway to the sea," a cleaner and safer city, education reform and a raft of other new plans to fix a broad range of issues.
And for the first two years, he seemed to do no wrong.
But then came what would be dubbed the "Summer of Love," a sardonic reference to Villaraigosa's personal turmoil that included separating from his wife, Corina, divorce proceedings and the salacious disclosure that he was having an affair.
After hitting the campaign trail for Sen. Hillary Clinton earlier this year, he hopes to be equally involved in the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama. [Emphasis on "he hopes" after spending all those months neglecting his job as mayor while riding the loser horse. I TOLD ONE OF HIS PRIMARY CAMPAIGN CREW MEMBERS EARLY ON THAT ANTONIO WAS RIDING THE WRONG HORSE. Their reply was, "Hillary Clinton is un-stoppable and she's going straight to the White House!" (It wasn't and angry comment, but one of excitement and boastfulness.) Whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp...(deflated) Whooooooooomp. So now all that time was spent and the Mayor of Los Angeles pissed off someone who will likely be the next President of the United States. Way to go, dummy Antonio! Good use of your time as mayor at the taxpayers' expense.]
But he would give Villaraigosa average marks.
David Diaz, an urban studies professor at California State University, Los Angeles, says, "When he first came in, he tried to do too much. And it turned out he was one false step away from having problems. I'm not sure he did enough to engage the city and lay the groundwork for what he wanted to do."
Villaraigosa ticks off a number of successes for which he believes he has not received enough credit, including pushing ahead on major issues like gangs and crime programs.
He hired Jeff Carr as a city gang "czar." In a major coup his office now controls all of the city's anti-gang programs, and the controversial and troubled Bridges program has ended. [Yes, the mayor "now controls" -- but that doesn't mean any progress is being made or will ever be made under this program.]
He also cites his launch of numerous environmental programs - from renewable energy at the Department of Water and Power [what kind of impact has that made?] to a clean trucks program at the Port of Los Angeles [that SCAG (Federal) warned must be done. So that would have been done if Helen Keller was mayor.]
Then there's the hiring of more police officers - the LAPD should hit 10,000 sworn officers this year - and transit gains including synchronizing traffic lights and filling thousands of potholes. [YES, we know Villaraigosa "should" hit 10,000 sworn officers. Will they? And it's the people who had their trash collection fees tripled to pay for these hires that accomplished this goal. Not the mayor! The mayor didn't do anything innovative or leader-based except think of a new way to cover the costs.]
"People told me to concentrate on one or two things and get those done," Villaraigosa said. "You know who those people are? Political consultants and pundits. If I had done that, nothing would get done. ..."[No Antonio...maybe something would have gotten done. I AGREE WITH THE CONSULTANTS! But then again, it doesn't help when everything you try to accomplish ends up getting smacked down by a judge because you don't factor the law into your plans.]
Instead, he said, he serves all parts of the city, an approach that also serves him politically. [This is the reverse strategy of a leader and is the reason nothing gets done as his political consultants have tried to warn him, as he just admitted, that dummy!]
And he has persevered in a long political battle that means he finally this year will get control of 10 schools from Los Angeles Unified that will be part of his long-touted "Partnership for Los Angeles Schools," a five-year pilot program designed to reform education for the city's poorest children. [He lost AB 1381 (Mayoral takeover of LAUSD) because a judge smacked it down due to being illegal. So now he has this new "partnership" scheme that is in violation of the City Charter and completely illegal.]
"It would have been easy for me to walk away from that after we were defeated in the courts, but this is too important," Villaraigosa said. [Yes, it IS too important. It's over $20 Billion in school construction and repair money to be handed out to cronies with patronage (front-end loaded) management contracts. AFTER ALL...he said it was "important" -- he didn't say to who.
OH...you thought he meant the kids? YOUR BAD!]
Now, as part of his re-election efforts, Villaraigosa has been on a round of fundraisers trying to raise more than $1 million for his campaign next year. [So he can suck up all the money for other candidates, which isn't a bad strategy. But all the money isn't going to help. It's like spending money on an ad campaign promoting a restaurant that everyone already knows has bad food and bad service. All of his ads will only be remind people who he now sickens that they better get out and vote against him. At this point, Villar should run NO ADS and win the election quietly behind the scenes with his political negotiations with big organizations and not remind people about him, cause he will rally people to come out to vote for "Anyone But Antonio '09!"]
But there also is the question expected to dog Villaraigosa throughout his mayoral campaign: Will he run for governor in 2010?
"I am focused 100 percent on being mayor of Los Angeles," Villaraigosa said Friday. [JUST LIKE HE SAID HE WASN'T GOING TO RUN FOR MAYOR WHEN HE WAS RUNNING FOR CITY COUNCIL!]
"We have laid a foundation for education, public safety, gang reduction and youth development, economic development, cleaning and greening the city, affordable housing, the homeless, traffic. We have made a lot of progress. [YES, you have made progress in laying the foundation (consolidating all the power under one roof and one office, but you haven't budged the meter on a single one of these issues. BUT AS SOMEONE WHO MAY BE RUNNING FOR MAYOR IN THE NEXT ELECTION, I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR EFFORTS INTO HANDING ALL THE POWER AND ACCOUNTABILITY INTO THE MAYOR'S OFFICE AS SOMEONE WHO HOPES TO BE THE NEXT MAYOR! Thanks, bro!]
"I think the best thing I can do is the best I can do." [Aw, Hell Naw. That ain't even CLOSE to being good enough. You need to stay home and stay out of spotlight so you don't make things harder for Robin Kramer and everyone else who is stuck cleaning up your do-do.]
And to some homeowners, there's also a sense that the mayor isn't considering them enough as well.
"It is not that he's out of touch. He has a reasonably good network to get input," said Gerald Silver, head of Homeowners of Encino. "But the problem is he doesn't agree with us." [Gerald, that's the best line in the article and I totally agree. I have always said the mayor of L.A. has access to all the top minds and top resources. But it doesn't do any good if you have ulterior motives that conflict with the everyday members of the community.]
Silver said he and others have long been concerned about over-development and the resulting impacts. ["Concerned" is too mild. That's like reporting on the Hindenberg and saying, "It appears there may be a glitch."]
[COMEDY RELIEF]: Jaime Regalado, director of the Pat Brown Institute of Politics at California State University, Los Angeles, said, "I think he has done a reasonably good job in recovering from his problems last year. Maybe he's two-thirds recovered," Regalado said. [Houston, we have a problem! This person thinks the mayor has done a "reasonably good job in recovering." Two-thirds, huh? L-M-F-A-O...Call an ambulance...I can't catch my breath from laughing too hard! From where the mayor is at, two-thirds would be a bigger miracle than Kobe winning a championship without Shaq.]
Full article
ZumaTimes.com
(Hey, LA Times, how about a little local coverage on the front page once a year, or so?)
(Hey, LA Times, how about a little local coverage on the front page once a year, or so?)
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