Mayor Villaraigosa, arguably one of the most visible Latino mayors in the US, has been the subject of some interesting commentary lately. Most notably, he has been in the news because of the departure of Police Chief Bratton, who was considered popular and successful.
I actually had an opportunity to meet Police Chief Bratton some years ago before Villar became mayor at an event that I organized, and I can say that Bratton lives up to the hype. He’s intelligent, can speak “policy,” is quick on his feet, and exudes confidence. Former Mayor Hahn made a great choice in bringing Bratton to Los Angeles, which was a big help to Villar.
Robert Greene, in this opinion piece for the LA Times, states that the real Villaraigosa era begins now, as many of the key people put in place by Hahn, including Bratton, have moved on.
Essentially, Villaraigosa followed the course that Hahn had established with public safety. And it served him well with Bratton leading the way, as Villar could continue to claim credit for something Hahn had started.
As Greene states:
“When Villaraigosa inherited Bratton, he had the political smarts not to try to outshine him, as difficult as it may often have been given Villaraigosa’s obvious relish for the spotlight. Villaraigosa also knew not to mess with Bratton’s successes — declining crime rates, a more professional department, vastly improved community relations. And although Villaraigosa had previously helped derail his predecessor’s bid to expand the Police Department to 10,000 officers, once he became mayor, he made the target his own and stuck to it tenaciously — and wisely.”
So now, the choices that Villar makes will have a more lasting impact on his legacy because the results will be attributed to those decisions. It is being reported that the new police chief will be named tomorrow. I know that there has been some mention of Villaraigosa possibly naming a Latino to the top cop job in the city, and some people have been upset that there were no Latino finalists named. However, it is interesting that one finalist Deputy Chief Michael Moore claimed to have Spanish heritage on his father’s side, which I don’t think would win too many points with a largely Mexican and Central American citizenry.
In other news with Mr. Mayor, a rail car deal that was supposed to bring a handful of jobs to LA fell through. You can read about it here. Basically, Villar wanted to reward one of his supporters, Steve Bing and his Italian rail car company, with the work, but there had been warnings about the company’s ability to deliver.
With the traffic situation in LA being as bad as it is, if Villar can deliver on half of what he has promised with transit, he could chalk up a win, but favoring companies that have already had problems delivering, as the LA Weekly documented, won’t help him get there.
17 responses so far ↓
1 PMG! // Nov 2, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Were TOTALLY cheering that the AnsaldoBreda fell apart… we thank goodness that in the times we’ve talked to Leahy that he seems to be just as smart and roll up the sleeves as Braton that we have hope that rail and bus improvements will continue albeit slowly with the constant delays…
2 Anna // Nov 3, 2009 at 11:16 am
Why do you call him Villar when his name is Villaraigosa?
3 webmaster // Nov 3, 2009 at 11:25 am
He started out as Tony Villar. After the way he treated Corina Raigosa, I have a hard time calling him Villaraigosa. Granted, some could say it was progressive of him to take his wife’s name and merge it with his own. But I think that if a man treated me this way, I would ask that he stop using my name. And besides knowing what I know about him and the way he conducts himself around women (especially young women), I find it appalling that he continues to use his wife this way. If you have ever been in a room with him, you will notice that he zeroes in on the ladies pretty quickly.
However, his name isn’t the point of this blog.
The main point is that he bungled the rail car deal and now has a chance to really make an impact with his appointments.
4 Anna // Nov 3, 2009 at 11:52 am
Didn’t she cheat on her decades ago as well? She should have dumped him back then. Sometimes people don’t want to see the truth.
5 webmaster // Nov 3, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Anna,
Yes, I believe you are correct that Mayor V did cheat on his wife previously, and if I remember correctly, she was ill at the time. I agree that she probably should have dumped him then, but children complicate these matters.
For me, this sort of carelessness in his personal life reveals some of his character flaws as a person.
Now he has a thing for “news” ladies or rather “news readers.”
6 Anna // Nov 4, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Re: “Were TOTALLY cheering that the AnsaldoBreda fell apart”
Why? Wouldn’t that have brought jobs?
7 PMG! // Nov 5, 2009 at 11:36 am
First, I should note I am a transit advocate. My husband and I (The We) regularly attend both community and MTA sponsored meetings on issues of Transit, Bike and Pedestrian Planning. So I’m probably a little closer to the situation than most….
Yes, the deal would have brought jobs, but who’s to say that a deal with Siemens wouldn’t? But this deal was never really about the jobs. Its goal is to get L.A. moving again and as quickly as possible, and Breda’s track record on delivering on that has been DIPLORABLE. Their rail cars have lacked in both quality and timeliness not only in their past dealings in L.A., but in other cities. Here’s a post on the Transit Coalition’s board that has several articles on why so many people in the transit community were not only skeptical but against the deal from the very start of negotiations…
http://transittalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=news&thread=761&page=1
Breda and the Mayor knowing this, tried to appease us by writing in a whole bunch of guarantees into the deal and in the end, that is what is what drove the deal apart… They fessed up to what we have known all along, they just aren’t up for the task…
8 Anna // Nov 5, 2009 at 8:18 pm
re: “But this deal was never really about the jobs.”
That’s the top priority right now–jobs. This company was going to manufacture these cars in Los Angeles.
Who stands to benefit from this deal falling through?
9 webmaster // Nov 5, 2009 at 11:10 pm
“Who stands to benefit from this deal falling through?”
The people of the greater Los Angeles metro area. Why should LA do business with a rail car company that doesn’t deliver what is promises? Don’t you think that the people deserve the most bang for their tax payer buck?
Maybe this article will help you:
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2009/11/downtown_rail_car_deal_dead_at_the_very_last_minute.php
This company builds rail cars that end up being too heavy (therefore requiring more structural costs to accommodate the heavier cars), and they also have a problem with delivering on time.
But Villar stands to benefit from using this company, since Steve Bing is one of his supporters.
10 Anna // Nov 5, 2009 at 11:22 pm
In any case, I hope the compnay that eventually gets the contract actually manufactures the cars in Los Angeles. It would be awful if we spent our tax dollars on cars that were manufactured somewhere else.
11 El Cholo // Nov 6, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Its beginning to sound like Anna the Latino Apologist and Loretta Sanchez are both plugged into the same small brain. Anna…what’s in your purse?
12 DoctorH // Nov 6, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Give tax monies to a collusive vendor who can’t produce an acceptable product solely because it will provide local citizens with jobs? Now that’s thinking that’s right on par with Rosario Marin.
13 Anna // Nov 6, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Do you know how to read? Nowhere did I endorse that.
Furthermore, you’re a fool if you don’t think that this is first and foremost about jobs. The fact is that we don’t need those cars. Most poor people take the bus and it would be much more cost efficient if the city just improved the bus system. Get new buses and make them double decker. Problem solved.
14 DoctorH // Nov 6, 2009 at 10:49 pm
You write a lot of things that you deny two comments later. That’s why you are what you are, and why everyone likes to tear into you. Now it’s time for you to play, “What’s in your purse,” drippy.
15 Anna // Nov 6, 2009 at 11:08 pm
As I said, you don’t know how to read.
16 theKaiser // Nov 7, 2009 at 2:05 pm
And you don’t know how to write, think, and probably walk and chew gum at the same time, Ms. Anna, city of Los Angeles municipal transportation infrastructure expert. Let’s see if you can name 5 things Villar has done to elevate the city of Los Angeles? And funneling taxpayer monies to his developer friends and manufacturing cronies is not one of them.
17 Anna // Nov 7, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Another moron who can’t read.
I said that I hope whoever gets the contract manufactures the cars in Los Angeles because people here need jobs, and it would be awful to use our tax money to build the cars somewhere
else. I never said that the contract should go to a company that makes a bad product. Asking
about why the deal fell through is not a demand that this company get the contract.
Don’t they teach reading comprehension anymore? Seriously.
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