ALPERN AT LARGE - It was not hard for those attending last Tuesday's Westside mayoral debate to conclude that Eric Garcetti was the clear winner. Why and how is Eric Garcetti winning over the Westside? It boils down to two simple impressions:
1) Eric Garcetti "gets it" with respect to the Westside, which is as much a bastion of grassroots democracy in our City as any. He mentioned neighborhood councils numerous times, while Wendy Greuel referred vaguely to "grassroots input"...and in a debate sponsored by Westside neighborhood councils and neighborhood organizations, that makes ALL the difference.
2) Eric Garcetti was more polished, and gave more direct answers to the questions--and was ready for critiques of his answers, while Wendy Greuel clearly gave sound-bite answers that left the audience wanting. Both obviously are well-rehearsed for these debates...but Garcetti gave elaborate and fulfilling answers, while Greuel sounded like a talking campaign flyer.
Both talked extensively of transit-oriented development and beautifying our streets, but Garcetti kept mentioning how neighborhood councils would be included in upgrading Community Plans (those legal guidelines and parameters that determine how a neighborhood is zoned, and what can be built there, but which continuously keeps being ignored and violated by a City Planning Department acting more like a Politburo than a civil service).
In contrast, Greuel kept saying the right things (such as when developers demand too tall projects but then decrease it to a size that is still too large but makes them look good), but pretty much came across as "don't worry, because I will fix that". For good reasons, Neighborhood Councils (NC's) don't want to hear that, because (as with our current Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa) they have no recourse when the Mayor chooses a fix that NC's know won't work.
Which meant that Garcetti already "got it" by having a healthy respect for NC's knowing more than he does when it comes to local matters, while Greuel came across as someone who would most certainly run this City in the same top-down manner that Antonio Villaraigosa now does.
This is not to say that Villaraigosa didn't, and doesn't, have a few features to emulate. Although Greuel, when asked to describe which former mayor she'd most emulate, mentioned features of several former mayors, Garcetti clearly came out as wanting to be as influential a Mayor as Villaraigosa when it came to transportation, education, the environment and safety/security.
Yet just as the Westside is horrified as to how the unholy alliance of Trade Unions, Megadevelopers and Chambers of Commerce have taken over the political, environmental and planning/transportation processes of this City, the Westside is just as horrified at a Downtown City Council and Mayor that have chosen to step on the collective neck of our region and (in so many words) tell us to "shut up and deal with it".
All this under the watch and influence of our current outgoing Mayor...who's popular with ordinary, non-political Angelenos that appear happy and content with sound-bites, but very unpopular among NC and grassroots advocates who rightfully feel betrayed.
So previous Community Plans, Environmentally Preferred Alternatives for major projects such as LAX Expansion/Modernization and the Casden/Sepulveda project at Exposition/Sepulveda are now all being ignored, and the past paradigm of listening to communities when they speak as one voice is now being replaced by the omnipresence of the Union/Developer/Chamber troika that has the money, power and influence.
While Garcetti was attacked--arguably, with good reason by moderators who wanted to ask tough and relevant questions--for pandering to the voters by going against the Hollywood Millennium Project (which would be a great project if it weren't so oversized) and the LAX Alternative 1 Project (a LAX modernization project that would either partially or totally shut down Lincoln and Sepulveda for years), he was ready with satisfying answers.
At this point, it does appear that Garcetti respects the Environment and Quality of Life as well as the Economy of the City, while Greuel will do whatever is politically or fiscally-expedient for both City coffers as well as for her political future.
It's not hard to conclude that both candidates are taking the heat from both Neighborhood Councils as well as the Trade Unions, Developers and Chambers of Commerce...but Garcetti appears at this point (and for those who know him, by his very nature) to absolutely NOT want to disenfranchise Neighborhood Councils.
It should be reminded that in THIS election, just as with the LAST election, but not with the NOVEMBER 2012 election, the voting turnout will be lower and favor the homeowners and grassroots advocates.
Which means that while Greuel has her Richard Riordan, Magic Johnson and Bill Clinton endorsement cards to play, Garcetti has his connections to individual Neighborhood Councils (which also have names, and importance, at the local level).
Which means that Garcetti comes across as wanting to create true bridges and friendships and relationships with the grassroots, and if those grassroots are infuriated with the Trade Unions and Developers and Chambers of Commerce who are destroying their Quality of Life, and if the grassroots are infuriated with the Public Unions who are destroying the budget and services of the City, Garcetti will be more receptive and popular with these voters.
Which means that if Garcetti made an elaborate and thoughtful defense of LAX Modernization Alternative 2 (modernization without northern expansion, and a commitment to avoid anything that could lead to 90 million passengers a year at LAX and a violation of the current legal limit of 78 million), and voted in the minority yesterday in the 10-3 vote by the City Council on Tuesday for Alternative 1, it will be very easy for Westsiders to vote for him.
And if Greuel didn't even bother to show up to testify one way or another at that critical Tuesday vote, it will be similarly very easy for Westsiders to NOT vote for her.
Which means that it bodes very well for a City in sore need of bridge-building between the balkanizing geographic, racial, economic and agenda-driven forces tearing our City and communities apart, and which bodes very well for a mayoral candidate like Garcetti.
Which means that the top-down, backroom-dealing of Mayor Villaraigosa is something the voters want to reject, while favoring the can-do results that Villaraigosa could achieve when he played by the rules and effectuated policies that favored ordinary Angelenos.
Which means that Garcetti appears to be the candidate of Villaraigosa-like results but with compromise and conversation and bridge-building.
Which means that Garcetti should be pretty confident about his future mayoral chances right now, and Greuel will increasingly look more desperate in the days and weeks leading to Election Day on May 21st.
(Ken Alpern is a Westside Village Zone Director and Boardmember of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He is co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chairs the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected] He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Mr. Alpern.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 36
Pub: May 3, 2013
