Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa , born
Antonio Ramón Villar, Jr., is the 41st and current
Mayor of Los Angeles, CaliforniaThe mayor of Los Angeles is the chief executive officer of the city. He is elected for a four-year term and limited to serving no more than two terms. Under the California Constitution, all judicial, school, county, and city offices, including those of chartered cities, are nonpartisan...
, the third
Mexican AmericanMexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
to have ever held office in the city of Los Angeles and the first in over 130 years. He is also the current president of the
United States Conference of MayorsUnited States Conference of Mayors, sometimes referred to as the United States Council of Mayors, is the official non-partisan organization for cities with populations of 30,000 or more. The cities are each represented by their mayor or other chief elected official...
. He was elected mayor on May 17, 2005, defeating incumbent mayor
James HahnJames Kenneth "Jim" Hahn is an American politician. Hahn was elected the 40th Mayor of Los Angeles in 2001. He served until 2005, at which time he was defeated in his bid for re-election...
, and then re-elected for a second term in 2009. Prior to his election as mayor, Villaraigosa was the
California State AssemblyThe California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
man for the 45th District, the Speaker of the California State Assembly, and the
Los Angeles City CouncilThe Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
man representing the 14th District. Villaraigosa is unable to run for a third term in 2013 due to
term limitsTerm limits in the United States apply to many offices at both the federal and state level, and date back to the American Revolution.-Pre-constitution:...
.
Before being elected to public office, Villaraigosa was a
laborThe term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
organizer. Villaraigosa served as a national co-chairman of
Hillary Rodham Clinton'sHillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
2008 presidential campaign and as a member of
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's Transition Economic Advisory Board.
Early years and education
Born
Antonio Villar in the
City TerraceCity Terrace is an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, California. It is considered part of the East Los Angeles region. The U.S. census numbers are included with East Los Angeles.-Geography and transportation:...
neighborhood of
Los Angeles CountyLos Angeles County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states...
's
EastsideEast Los Angeles is the portion of the City of Los Angeles that lies east of Downtown Los Angeles, the Los Angeles River and the unincorporated areas of Lincoln Heights, west of the San Gabriel Valley, East Los Angeles and City Terrace, south of Cypress Park, and north of Vernon, California and...
, Villaraigosa attended both
CatholicCatholic schools are maintained parochial schools or education ministries of the Catholic Church. the Church operates the world's largest non-governmental school system...
and public schools. His father abandoned the family when Villaraigosa was 5 years old. At the age of 16, a benign tumor in his spinal column briefly paralyzed him from the waist down, curtailing his ability to play sports. His grades plummeted at
Cathedral High SchoolCathedral High School is a private, college preparatory Catholic all-boys school in Los Angeles, California.-History and background:Cathedral High School was founded by Archbishop John Joseph Cantwell as the first Los Angeles Archdiocesan high school for boys in Fall 1925. The Christian Brothers...
. The next year, he was expelled from the Roman Catholic institution after getting into a fight after a football game. He graduated from
Roosevelt High School See also Roosevelt High School for schools of the same nameTheodore Roosevelt High School is a high school located in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles, California named for the 26th president of the United States....
, and, with the help of his English teacher Herman Katz, went on to attend
East Los Angeles CollegeEast Los Angeles College is a community college of the Los Angeles Community College District in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park. Fourteen communities comprise its primary service area...
. Villaraigosa eventually transferred to
University of California, Los AngelesThe University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
(UCLA), graduating with a B.A. in History in 1977. At UCLA, Villaraigosa was a leader of
MEChAM.E.Ch.A. is an organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through political action. The acronym of the organization's name is the Spanish word mecha, which means "fuse"...
. At this time, he went by the name "Tony Villar" but began using his birth name, Antonio, in the 1980s.
After UCLA, Villaraigosa attended the
People's College of LawThe People's College of Law is an unaccredited, private, non-profit law school located in Los Angeles, California. PCL offers a part-time, four-year evening law program centered around work in the public interest.-History:...
(PCL), an unaccredited law school that promotes labor union causes in Los Angeles. Villaraigosa's desire to practice law has been prevented due to his repeated inability to pass the Bar Exam, which he has failed four times.
After PCL, he became a field representative/organizer with the
United Teachers Los AngelesUnited Teachers Los Angeles is the main representative of certified, non-administrative staff in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Prior to 1970, primary and secondary school teachers in Los Angeles were chiefly represented by a local of the American Federation of Teachers and the...
(UTLA). He later served as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the
American Civil Liberties UnionThe American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
and the
American Federation of Government EmployeesThe American Federation of Government Employees is an American labor union representing over 625,000 employees of the federal government, about 5,000 employees of the District of Columbia, and a few hundred private sector employees, mostly in and around federal facilities...
.
He received an honorary
Doctor of Humane LettersThe degree of Doctor of Humane Letters is always conferred as an honorary degree, usually to those who have distinguished themselves in areas other than science, government, literature or religion, which are awarded degrees of Doctor of Science, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Letters, or Doctor of...
degree from
University of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
in May 2006.
Early political career
In 1990, Villaraigosa was appointed to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Board and served there until 1994. In 1994, Villaraigosa was elected to the
California State AssemblyThe California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...
. Within his first term, he was selected to serve as Democratic Assembly Whip and Assembly Majority Leader. In 1998, Villaraigosa was chosen by his colleagues to be the first Speaker of the Assembly from Los Angeles in 25 years. Villaraigosa left the Assembly in 2000 due to term limits.
Villaraigosa ran for election as
mayorIn many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Los Angeles in
the 2001 citywide contestIn 2001, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan was prevented from running for a third term because of term limits. In the election to replace him, Riordan endorsed his Senior Advisor and Parks Commissioner, the Republican businessman Steve Soboroff.-Primary Election:...
but was defeated by Democrat
James HahnJames Kenneth "Jim" Hahn is an American politician. Hahn was elected the 40th Mayor of Los Angeles in 2001. He served until 2005, at which time he was defeated in his bid for re-election...
in a run-off election. In 2003, Villaraigosa defeated incumbent Councilman
Nick PachecoLauro "Nick" Pacheco, Jr. is an American attorney, politician, and a member of the Democratic Party. Pacheco served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council . Prior to serving on the Los Angeles City Council, Nick Pacheco served as an Elected Charter Reform Commissioner for the same district...
to win a seat on the
Los Angeles City CouncilThe Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
representing the 14th District.
Election
Villaraigosa placed first in the
Los Angeles mayoral electionThe 2005 Los Angeles mayoral election took place on March 8, 2005, with a runoff election on May 17. Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa defeated the sitting mayor, James Hahn, becoming the city’s first Hispanic mayor since the 19th century...
of March 8, 2005, and won the run-off election on May 17, receiving 18.7% of the vote. On July 1, 2005, Villaraigosa was sworn in as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles. He is the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since 1872, when Mayor
Cristóbal AguilarJosé Cristóbal Aguilar was a pioneer of Los Angeles, California politics in the early days of American rule. He was the last Hispanic mayor of the City, until 2005.-Background:...
(mayor from 1866 to 1868 and again from 1870 until 1872) served as mayor. The swearing in ceremony involved an interfaith prayer service at the
Cathedral of Our Lady of the AngelsThe Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, also called "COLA" and the Los Angeles Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles, California, United States...
, followed by a large procession to nearby City Hall. On the South Lawn of the facility, he was administered the oath of office by
Stephen ReinhardtStephen Roy Reinhardt is a circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, with chambers in Los Angeles, California. He was appointed in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter.-Education and practice:...
, judge of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitThe United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
. The audience of political figurers included Governor
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, former Governors
Gray DavisJoseph Graham "Gray" Davis, Jr. is an American Democratic politician who served as California's 37th Governor from 1999 until being recalled in 2003...
,
Pete WilsonPeter Barton "Pete" Wilson is an American politician from California. Wilson, a Republican, served as the 36th Governor of California , the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that included eight years as a United States Senator , eleven years as Mayor of San Diego and...
, and
Jerry BrownEdmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
. Also attending were former Vice President
Al GoreAlbert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
, U.S. Secretary of State
Warren ChristopherWarren Minor Christopher was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician. During Bill Clinton's first term as President, Christopher served as the 63rd Secretary of State. He also served as Deputy Attorney General in the Lyndon Johnson administration, and as Deputy Secretary of State in the Jimmy...
and
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
Mayor
Michael BloombergMichael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
.
The Nation attributes Villaraigosa's success in 2005 to his adding a significant number of
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s to his earlier coalition of "Beantinos, labor and white
leftiesIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
", noting 2005 endorsements by
RepresentativeThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Maxine WatersMaxine Waters is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 29th district, serving since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
(a Hahn supporter in 2001), influential resident and basketball star
Magic JohnsonEarvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association . After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers...
, and
City CouncilThe Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles.The Council is composed of fifteen members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tempore are chosen by the Council at the first regular meeting after...
member (and former police chief) Bernard Parks.
Ethics
While a member of the California state assembly, then State Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa wrote the first letter to then President
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
on Carlos Vignali Jr.'s behalf on May 24, 1996, requesting clemency from Vignali Jr.'s drug trafficking conviction for which he had been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. Released in March 2002 by the congressional Committee on Government Reform, "Justice Undone: Clemency Decisions in the Clinton White House" details
Hugh RodhamHugh Edwin Rodham ) is an American lawyer, businessman and Democratic Party politician who is the brother of former New York Senator and First Lady and current Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.- Early life and education :...
's involvement in the Vignali, Jr. pardon, when revelations surfaced that then President Clinton granted clemency for Vignali Jr. Rodham, Hillary Clinton's brother, apparently got Vignali, Jr. the pardon after receiving a cash payment.
The report takes to task top L.A. elected officials, including then–state Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa, county Supervisor
Gloria MolinaJesus Gloria Molina is an American politician, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the current chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.-Background and career:...
, then–state Senator
Richard PolancoRichard G. Polanco is a former California State Senate Majority leader and member of the California State Assembly. He is known for his significant efforts in increasing Latino representation in the California Legislature.-Background:...
and U.S. Representative
Xavier BecerraXavier Becerra is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is based in Los Angeles.-Early life, education and career:...
, among others, for lobbying on behalf of Vignali Jr., in light of his drug conviction and the fact that
DEAThe Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
agents long suspected Vignali Sr. to be involved in drug trafficking.
During his 2001 mayoral campaign, Villaraigosa expressed regret for writing the letter. "I wrote that letter without talking to prosecutors on the other end," Villaraigosa said in an interview. "I shouldn't have done that."
On May 2, 2007, the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reported that Villaraigosa was under investigation for ethics violations. "The executive director of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission...accused Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of 31 violations of campaign finance and disclosure laws stemming from his 2003 campaign for the City Council."
In June 2010, a formal ethics investigation of Villariagosa was launched, due to his unreported acceptance of 81 tickets to concerts, awards ceremonies and sporting events. Estimates - including the 13 Lakers courtside tickets valued at $3,100 each and Academy Awards and Governor’s Ball tickets at $21,000 each—suggest that the value of the tickets could amount to tens of thousands of dollars. Villaraigosa claims that he was performing mayoral duties at these events, but cannot document this. Fox 11 News reports that the Mayor's own calendar calls the games private events. The unreported tickets came to light after the City of Los Angeles paid $3.2 million for
Michael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's Memorial, including $2 million in police overtime. Villariagosa commented while on vacation in South Africa that he would not ask AEG, the owner of the Staples Center, to in any way offset the city’s expenses. Later negotiations resulted in a settlement in which Staples Center owners AEG paid $1.3 million and the Jackson Family $1 million. The city revised its estimate of the expenditures to $1.3 million. AEG has lucrative contracts with City Hall, including public subsidies approved by the City Council and endorsed by the mayor.
Transportation
One of Villaraigosa's main transportation-related goals is to extend the Purple Line subway down
Wilshire BoulevardWilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for Henry Gaylord Wilshire , an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. Henry Wilshire initiated what was to become Wilshire...
to
Santa MonicaSanta Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
. Proponents have dubbed the project the "Subway to the Sea." Villaraigosa worked to persuade Congressman Waxman to repeal the ban on subway tunneling in Los Angeles, which occurred in 2006. Metro has estimated that it will cost $4.8 billion to complete the subway, at $300 million a mile, and would take approximately 20 years. The
Westside Subway ExtensionThe Westside Subway Extension is a proposed mass-transit rail project to create a new heavy rail subway corridor in Los Angeles County, extending the Metro Purple Line from its current terminus at to the Westside...
project is now being implemented by
MetroThe Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the California state-chartered regional transportation planning agency and public transportation operating agency for the County of Los Angeles formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the...
as a high-priority project.
On November 4, 2008, Los Angeles County voters passed
Measure RMeasure R was a ballot measure in the November 2008 elections in Los Angeles County, California that proposed raising county sales taxes by one half cent for thirty years in order to pay for transportation projects and improvements. The measure was approved by voters with 67.22% of the vote, just...
, an additional half-cent per dollar sales tax that increased the city sales tax rate from 9.25% to 9.75% and is projected to generate up to $40 billion over thirty years for transportation, including funding for the "Subway to the Sea." Its passage was credited in large part to Villaraigosa, who lobbied the MTA and County Board of Supervisors to place it on the November ballot, and helped organize the fundraising efforts.
Since taking office in 2005, Villaraigosa has increased funding for road repair by 30 percent, which has yielded a 137 percent increase in street maintenance. In three years, the Bureau of Street Services supposedly filled more than one million potholes in Los Angeles.
One of Villaraigosa's first executive directives aimed to ban road construction during rush hour in traffic-plagued Los Angeles. Villaraigosa even publicly pledged to take the subway to work one day a month, as reported by The Los Angeles Times. This, however, proved impossible for him.
Villaraigosa serves as Chairman of the
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation AuthorityThe Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the California state-chartered regional transportation planning agency and public transportation operating agency for the County of Los Angeles formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the...
, and oversaw the final approval of the
EIREIR may refer to:* Effective interest rate, a banking term* Entrepreneur In Residence or Executive In Residence, a term in venture capital and business education* Environmental Information Regulations 2004, a UK Statutory Instrument...
for the proposed Metro Expo Line, the opening of the Orange Line busway through the
San Fernando ValleyThe San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, and the beginning through completion on the Eastside extension of the Metro Gold Line light rail.
In February 2010, Villaraigosa traveled to
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in order to promote a "Thirty in Ten" plan that requests an $8.8 billion
bridge loanA bridge loan is a type of short-term loan, typically taken out for a period of 2 weeks to 3 years pending the arrangement of larger or longer-term financing.-Description:A bridge loan is interim financing for an individual or business until...
to augment the $5.8 billion expected from
Measure RMeasure R was a ballot measure in the November 2008 elections in Los Angeles County, California that proposed raising county sales taxes by one half cent for thirty years in order to pay for transportation projects and improvements. The measure was approved by voters with 67.22% of the vote, just...
tax revenues. Proceeds would accelerate the construction of 12 mass transit projects. The loan is to be repaid with continuing income from
Measure RMeasure R was a ballot measure in the November 2008 elections in Los Angeles County, California that proposed raising county sales taxes by one half cent for thirty years in order to pay for transportation projects and improvements. The measure was approved by voters with 67.22% of the vote, just...
funds.
Bicycle safety
On Saturday July 18, 2010, the mayor fell from his bicycle after being cut off by a taxi driver. Villaraigosa suffered a broken elbow in the fall, and the taxi driver fled the scene.
The accident seems to have converted the mayor into "a new champion of cyclists' rights", when he declared a
bicycle safetyBicycle safety is the use of practices designed to reduce risk associated with cycling. Some of this subject matter is hotly debated: for example, the discussions as to whether bicycle helmets or cyclepaths really deliver improved safety...
summit, and announced that he would push for the passage of a "3 foot passing rule" in California. The two-hour long summit meeting, held Tuesday, August 16, 2010, was criticized for not including input from Los Angeles' Bicycle Advisory Committee, which has held a number of Bicycle Summit meetings.
Education system
Villaraigosa sought to gain control of the
Los Angeles Unified School DistrictLos Angeles Unified School District is the largest public school system in California. It is the 2nd largest public school district in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population...
(LAUSD) as one of his top priorities as mayor, but failed.
In his first State of the City address, he announced his intention to assume full control of the Los Angeles Unified School District, through a bill passed by the State Legislature. The school board and teachers' union immediately protested and support in the community was lukewarm. Consequently, Villaraigosa reached a compromise with leaders of the teachers' unions and state legislators that would create a Council of Mayors of the 28 cities served by LAUSD. The votes of each mayor would be proportionate to the city's population, thus giving Villaraigosa over 80% of the vote, and most often, the final say of what happens, while requiring him to seek consensus from a few other cities.
AB 1381 was passed by the state legislature and signed by
GovernorThe Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
. The plan received significant opposition among the Los Angeles Board of Education, Board President Marlene Canter, then-superintendent of LAUSD,
Roy Romer, among others. On December 21, 2006, AB 1381 was ruled unconstitutional. Villaraigosa made a preliminary appeal that he later dropped.
The mayor operates the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, which controls 10 LAUSD campuses. In June 2009, teachers at 8 of the ten campuses gave the partnership landslide "no confidence" votes. Steve Lopez, a columnist at the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, stated that at the two other schools, a significant number of the teachers disapproved of the partnership's operations.
Film production
Villaraigosa introduced counter-incentives to keep California film productions at home. Villaraigosa's proposals include eliminating fees for filming done on all city property and reducing business taxes for entertainment-related businesses. Another proposal includes a possible entertainment incentive zone to make it easier to locate film production in the city.
Public safety and homeland security
Villaraigosa is a member of the
Mayors Against Illegal Guns CoalitionMayors Against Illegal Guns is a coalition of over 600 mayors who support a number of gun control initiatives that the group calls "commonsense reforms" to fight illegal gun trafficking and gun violence in the United States...
, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor
Michael BloombergMichael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
and
BostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
mayor
Thomas MeninoThomas Michael "Tom" Menino is the mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, United States and the city's first Italian-American mayor...
.
Villaraigosa has proposed a Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness initiative, which adds certain units to the Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments and reorganizes some of the current practices. Villaraigosa's latest development in the policy realm of homeland security is the creation of his Homeland Security Advisors, a group of approximately 40 leaders. The panel includes Police Chief William Bratton, former L.A. FBI chief Ron Iden, former Mayor
Richard RiordanRichard J. Riordan is a Republican politician from California, U.S.A. who served as the California Secretary for Education from 2003–2005 and as the 39th Mayor of Los Angeles, California from 1993–2001...
, Los Angeles County Sheriff
Lee BacaLeroy David "Lee" Baca is the Sheriff of Los Angeles County, California. Baca holds a Doctorate of Public Administration from the University of Southern California....
and former Dist. Atty.
Ira ReinerIra Kenneth Reiner is an American politician. He was the Los Angeles City Controller from 1977 to 1981, and was the Los Angeles City Attorney from 1981 to 1984, both times being succeeded by James Hahn. He is the Los Angeles County District Attorney from 1984 to 1992...
. It will be co-chaired by his Deputy Mayor for
Homeland SecurityHomeland security is an umbrella term for security efforts to protect states against terrorist activity. Specifically, is a concerted national effort to prevent terrorist attacks within the U.S., reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do...
and Public Safety
Arif AlikhanArif Alikhan is currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Homeland Security and Counterterrorism at the National Defense University , College of International Security Affairs in Washington, D.C. He currently teaches and lectures on a variety subjects involving homeland and national security...
. The panel planned for such issues as counter-terrorism measures, evacuation planning and emergency preparedness.
Villaraigosa vowed to hire 1,000 new police officers, a promise which has not been kept. On March 6, 2009, Mayor Villaraigosa and Police Chief Bratton announced that the L.A.P.D. had expanded to its largest force in city history. On May 14, 2009, City Council approved an LAPD/LAFD hiring freeze. In a television advertisement paid for by the Villaraigosa campaign, Chief Bratton stated that "Crime is down to levels of the 1950s." Twenty-four hours before the March 3 Election Day, Villaraigosa and Bratton reannounced a statement from the Mayor’s Office that the “citywide crime-rate drop to the lowest level since 1956, the total number of homicides fall[ing] to a 38-year low. Gang homicides were down more than 24 percent in 2008.” However, former Chief of Police
Daryl GatesDaryl Gates was the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1978 to 1992.-Early life:...
declared this statistic meaningless, citing the trend toward lengthier prison sentences for career criminals as the true reason for the change. In fact, crime has fallen by 43 percent across California between 1994 and 1999 In an article by Patrick Range McDonald, these statistics were further disputed. The figures are also disputed by Professor Andrew Karmen, John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Karmen stated that, adjusting for population, the Los Angeles murder rate would need to be 180 or less to be equivalent to the crime rate of 1956, with its rate of 104 homicides per 2.2 million people, or one killing for every 22,115 people (the 2007 rate was 396 per 4 million people, or one killing per 10,101 people). McDonald further noted that, "In 1956, 89 percent of homicides were cleared. Today, if you kill another human being in Los Angeles, chances are very good you will get away with it: 43 out of every 100 killers are not caught." Similarly, he notes, "In 1956, 42 percent of robberies were cleared by an arrest. Today, that number is 26 percent."
Animal services
In January 2005, Villaraigosa appeared before a coalition of animal rights activists and pledged that, if elected, he would implement a no-kill policy for Animal Services and fire General Manager Guerdon Stuckey, an appointee of former Mayor Hahn. Animal activists had expressed doubts regarding Stuckey's ability to lead the Department of Animal Service since his appointment, primarily citing his lack of experience. During Stuckey's tenure, activist concern intensified due to a refusal to accept charity-sponsored spay and neuter services, firings of several key animal rights-oriented workers, and excessive euthanasia of animals held by Animal Services. Approximately one year after Villaraigosa's initial promise to fire Stuckey and substantial negative press, Villaraigosa fired Stuckey. Stuckey appealed the firing to the City Council and threatened a lawsuit, and in February 2006, the Los Angeles City Council awarded Stuckey a $50,000 consulting fee with the agreement that there would be no lawsuit. Stuckey supporters alleged the animal activists would be disappointed with any manager of the Department of Animal services, and objected to tactics employed by some of the more radical activists, which included smoke bombs and picketing. In January 2006, Villaraigosa appointed Ed Boks to the General Manager position.
In April 2009, General Manager Ed Boks was forced to resign after City Council demanded that he be fired because of poor performance. Legal scandals may have played a part in their decision, in April 2009, a New York City judge ruled that Ed Boks had racially discriminated against an African American man whom he fired when he was the General Manager of New York City Animal Care and Control, replacing the fired worker with a personal friend, and in May 2009, the Los Angeles City Council authorized a payout of $130,000 in order to settle a sexual harassment claim filed against Boks and the City by a female shelter employee. In June 2010, fifteen months after Boks’ resignation, Brenda Barnette, former CEO of the Seattle Humane Society was appointed.
Taxes
Villaraigosa has tripled the city's trash collection fee from $11 per month to $36.32 per month for single-family homes, stating, "Every new dollar residents pay for trash pickup will be used to put more officers on the streets," in a press release dated April 12, 2006. A 2008 L.A. City Contoller audit by Laura Chick determined that 2008 "only $47 million, or about one-third of the new trash-fee revenue then pouring into city coffers, went to hiring cops, and 366 officers were hired instead of the promised 1,000." Villariagosa then lobbied to place Proposition S on the ballot to fund new police officers, concerned that a pending court ruling could eliminate the 40-year-old 10% telephone tax. This generated some controversy among tax activists, as the mayor and his negotiating team had recently reached a salary agreement resulting in a 23% pay hike. Controller Laura Chick noted that Proposition S language does not restrict expenditure to police and firefighters, and instead deposits the money into the general fund. It is not certain that any of the Prop S monies were used to hire new police officers. Villaraigosa supports Proposition O, which currently adds $10.22 to the property tax bill of a $350,000 home and will eventually climb to $35.00. The mayor also campaigned last fall for two education bond measures that will increase the size of property tax bills over the next decade.
LADWP controversy
On March 23, 2010, Villaraigosa in a leaked memo, warned the Los Angeles City Council that their potential failure to support a series of four proposed rate increases totaling 37% and already approved by the city's Department of Water and Power would be "the most immediate and direct route to bankruptcy the city could pursue".
Energy and the environment
In April 2008, Villaraigosa set aside a large parcel of industrial land around the
Los Angeles RiverThe Los Angeles River is a river that starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and flows through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley, nearly southeast to its mouth in Long Beach...
to create a “clean-technology corridor.” Discussions have started with international companies about relocating to the corridor and a range of incentives are available for businesses opting to move to the city. The site will include a research facility that will draw on the engineering talents of local higher-education institutions, such as the
California Institute of TechnologyThe California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
and UCLA. About 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) has also been set aside for a manufacturing center. As of August 2010, the project is still in the planning stage.
Villaraigosa also made Million Trees LA one of his campaign promises, pledging to plant one million new trees in parks, public property, and communities such as schools.
Water use
On August 10, 2007,
The Los Angeles Times published an expose on water use by Villaraigosa at his private residences. During the Summer of 2007, Villaraigosa challenged Los Angeles residents to slash their water use by 10% in the face of an historic drought. "Los Angeles needs to change course and conserve water to steer clear of this perfect storm," Villaraigosa said then. But DWP records obtained by the Los Angeles Times show that "Villaraigosa has been contributing to that storm," according to the Times. He and his family used 386,716 gallons of water at their Mount Washington home, far higher than the average of 209,000 gallons. Villaraigosa blamed his high water use on "gophers that chewed holes through a rubberized drip-irrigation system."
Legislative and intergovernmental affairs
In October 2006, Villaraigosa traveled to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for several days and
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
for a sixteen-day trade mission. In England, he visited
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, at the invitation of Prime Minister
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, and spoke about Los Angeles' efforts regarding global warming, homeland security and emergency preparedness, and its bid for the 2016 Olympic Games. Prime Minister Blair had visited Mayor Villaraigosa a couple months prior to that in Los Angeles.
In 2006, Mayor Villaraigosa led a delegation of over 50 business leaders to
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
,
South KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, and
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
that secured $300 million in direct foreign investment. In
BeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, the Mayor opened a LA Inc. tourism office, in order to ensure a permanent welcome for the millions of Chinese tourists who will visit Los Angeles over the next decade. In Japan, Villaraigosa launched a See My LA advertising campaign in Tokyo-based Family Mart convenience stores throughout Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
In February 2008, the mayor welcomed Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa and members of the Mexican delegation to discuss trade opportunities and witness the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Mexico Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (COMCE) and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
Villaraigosa traveled to Israel in June 2008 to meet with Israeli experts in homeland security, counter-terrorism, and green technology. He also signed an agreement with the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT - part the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya) on behalf of the LA police department. Under the agreement, the ICT will train US homeland security officials. In recent years, he developed a relationship with the mayor of the Israeli city of
SderotSderot is a western Negev city in the Southern District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a total population of 20,700. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip...
, Eli Moyal, and met with him during the visit. Villaraigosa has long retained strong ties to the Los Angeles Jewish Community, having spent part of his childhood in the once-Jewish dominated neighborhood of Boyle Heights.
Reputation
After his election as Mayor, Villaraigosa was featured on the cover of
NewsweekNewsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, and in
TimeTime is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
's story on the country's 25 most influential Latinos, but repeated questions concerning his marital infidelity issues appear to have damaged his reputation locally and nationally.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa topped a list of all-time worst Angelenos chosen by online voters who responded to the Talk Back to Lopez poll at the Los Angeles Times.
Villaraigosa has also received criticism because of his membership in
MEChAM.E.Ch.A. is an organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through political action. The acronym of the organization's name is the Spanish word mecha, which means "fuse"...
while attending UCLA and his alleged support for
immigration reformImmigration reform is a term used in political discussion regarding changes to current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, "reform " means to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses....
. He has also been criticized because of the high frequency in which he holds press conferences, attends photo-ops, and travels out-of-town (including campaigning for Hillary Clinton). An
LA WeeklyLA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
article by Patrick Range McDonald published on September 11, 2008, presented an analysis of a 10-week period from May 21 to August 1, and determined that "On direct city business—such as signing legislation and meeting with city-department heads—his schedule shows the mayor spent 11 percent of his time...Yet the 11 percent of Villaraigosa's time that the Weekly has identified as being spent in L.A. on actual city work—running, fixing or shaping government policies and actions—reveals that he frequently spends that limited time huddling with special-interest groups who have helped him attain higher office."
A November 4, 2008 election day poll conducted by the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University found that Villaraigosa had a job approval rating of 61%. In 2009, a poll by the Los Angeles times showed his approval rating had slipped to 55%, "relatively low for a sitting mayor who faced little name opposition in his recent re-election victory." At the same time, his showing and that of the candidates he supported in the election were lackluster.
Villaraigosa was featured in the editorial cover story of the June, 2009
Los AngelesLos Angeles magazine is a monthly regional magazine of national stature. Published by Emmis Communications and produced monthly since the spring of 1961, LA Magazine is a combination of award-winning feature writing, investigative reporting, service journalism, and design, the definitive resource...
Magazine, which took him to task for a lack of effectiveness regarding many of his stated policy priorities, and a focus on election to higher office, to the detriment of the needs of the City. In response, the
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles devoted its June 11 cover story to a defense of Villaraigosa's record.
In February 2010, La Opinion staffer Isaiah Alvarado noted that Villaraigosa's call for job and cuts in city departments did not include his own staff of 205 employees, compared to 121 staffers for Hahn and 114 for Riordan. Alvarado also noted that even after a 10% reduction, the Mayor's office spent $1.8 million more than Hahn in the last year of his administration and $1.4 million more than Riordan. This budget does not include the annual $118,000 covering of the Getty House, the official residence of the Mayor of Los Angeles.
Honorary degrees and awards
In February 2006, Villaraigosa was presented with the
Tom BradleyThomas J. "Tom" Bradley was the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles, California, serving in that office from 1973 to 1993. He was the first and to date only African American mayor of Los Angeles...
Legacy Foundation Achievement Award for "following in the footsteps of the first
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
Mayor of Los Angeles who served the city for 51 years." Citing the similarity of the two Mayors in building coalitions among diverse communities, the speakers praised Villaraigosa for his vision for the City of Los Angeles. Also in attendance were Mrs. Ethel Bradley, daughter Lorraine and many of Mayor Bradley's former staff members.
On May 6, 2006, Villaraigosa was awarded an honorary degree by
Loyola Marymount UniversityLoyola Marymount University is a comprehensive co-educational private Roman Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions located in Los Angeles, California, United States...
(LMU), and was the Class of 2006 Commencement Speaker. On May 12, 2006, he was awarded a
Doctor of Humane LettersThe degree of Doctor of Humane Letters is always conferred as an honorary degree, usually to those who have distinguished themselves in areas other than science, government, literature or religion, which are awarded degrees of Doctor of Science, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Letters, or Doctor of...
by the
University of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
(USC) and was the Class of 2006 commencement speaker.
Villaraigosa was one of ten mayors from North America to be short-listed as a finalist for the 2008
World MayorWorld Mayor is a biennial award organized by The City Mayors Foundation since 2004. It intends to raise the profile of mayors worldwide, as well as honour those who have served their communities well and who have contributed to the well-being of cities, nationally and internationally...
Award.
2009 Election
Political experts questioned Villaraigosa's future in state and national politics after his relatively poor performance in the 2009 election. Villaraigosa received only 55.65% of the vote, a relatively small majority, despite running against a field of nine relative unknowns and spending 15 times as much money as his most prominent challenger, attorney Walter Moore who won 26.23% after previously only winning 2.5% of the vote in the 2005 election. Villaraigosa also drew controversy by refusing to debate any of his opponents before the election, namely Walter Moore. One columnist summarized Villaraigosa's poor showing as follows: "Villaraigosa stepped into the batter's box on Tuesday, swung and missed twice, and legged out a weak infield hit.".
Accusations of nepotism
In 2009 the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
published an investigative report questioning the assignment of high-paying government jobs to those with close family or other personal connections to those in political power, pointing out that California taxpayers pay Marisela Villar, daughter of Villaraigosa, $68,000 for work as a "field representative" answering constituent calls and arranging community meetings. Ms. Villar reportedly has no degrees or other particular qualifications for the position, to which she was appointed by close political allies of her father. "It looks like nepotism," said Tracy Westen, chief executive of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. "It's the kind of thing the public doesn't like: people using their power and influence to provide cushy jobs to friends and family.".
Controversy arose in response to the sudden withdrawal of
Ricardo LaraRicardo Lara is a politician from Los Angeles County, California who serves in the California State Assembly, where he represents the 50th district...
and Arturo Chavez from the 2008 46th District election, which is alleged to have occurred after the two attended a secret meeting at the Getty House with Villaraigosa and his cousin, John Pérez, who had recently announced his candidacy for the seat. The departure of these two serious challengers cleared the field for John Pérez to win the seat. Within months, Villaraigosa appointed Lara to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission. Lara later gained criticism for concurrently serving on the Planning Commission board (restricted to residents of Los Angeles) and running for state Assembly in the 50th District (restricted to residents of the 50th District). No part of the City of Los Angeles is included in the 50th District. Following the Los Angeles Times article, "Legislative aide Ricardo Lara accused of straddling communities," Lara resigned from the Planning Commission.
Children
At age 21, Villaraigosa fathered the first of his first four children, Marisela Villar, after having been involved with the mother for only six weeks. At age 25, his second daughter, Prisila Villar-Contreras, was born to another woman. At age 34, as Antonio Villar, he married Corina Raigosa November 28, 1987, and adopted a combination of their last names as his family name. The couple had two children, Natalia and Antonio Jr.
Divorce
In the wake of extensive media coverage of his affair with Spanish-language television reporter, Mirthala Salinas, Villaraigosa announced that he was separating from his wife, and on June 12, 2007, Corina Villaraigosa filed for dissolution of marriage in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing
irreconcilable differencesThe concept of irreconcilable differences provides a possible ground for divorce in a number of jurisdictions.In Australian family law with no-fault divorce it is the sole ground, adequate proof being that the estranged couple have been separated more than 12 months.In the United States it can be...
. Villaraigosa acknowledged on July 3, 2007, that he was in a relationship with Salinas. As a result of the affair, Salinas was suspended by her employer, Telemundo, forcibly relocated to Riverside, after which she resigned. In a
New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
profile published shortly before the divorce, Villaraigosa acknowledged that he and Corina had had difficulties over the course of their marriage. “In a twenty-year marriage, there are many ups and downs," Villaraigosa said."
The New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
also reported that in 1994, while Corina was undergoing treatment for
thyroid cancerThyroid neoplasm is a neoplasm or tumor of the thyroid. It can be a benign tumor such as thyroid adenoma, or it can be a malignant neoplasm , such as papillary, follicular, medullary or anaplastic thyroid cancer. Most patients are 25 to 65 years of age when first diagnosed; women are more affected...
, Villaraigosa was involved with a friend's wife and Corina filed for dissolution of marriage at that time. The couple reconciled two years later.
The New Yorker magazine reported that Villaraigosa's actions had infuriated colleagues who had helped portray him as a family man and lost him key supporters.
Villaraigosa has a relationship with
Lu ParkerFrances Louise "Lu" Parker is a broadcast journalist and former Miss USA from South Carolina.- Early life :Born in Anderson, South Carolina, Parker attended the College of Charleston, where she was a sister of Alpha Delta Pi and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She then went on to...
, a local television news anchor and 1994
Miss USAThe Miss USA beauty contest has been held annually since 1952 to select the United States entrant in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operates both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA...
, from March 2009. Villaraigosa is 17 years her senior.
Further reading
External links