Live Chat: C&L Welcomes Eric Garcetti, LA City Council President
Most Americans outside Los Angelenos who follow local politics have probably never heard of Eric Garcetti. 8 years ago at age 30, Eric was elected to the 13th city council district. He ran the race like the community organizer that he is-- as he puts it, he bought a pair of shoes and walked door to door in his district until there were literally holes in them-- and ended up winning a June run-off by 4%. Four years later Eric was re-elected without any opposition and then in 2006 became President of the LA City Council. This past Tuesday, he was just re-elected to his third and final term as Councilman with 72% of the vote. He's the most progressive member of the City Council, many think the most progressive politician in Los Angeles-- and not in a knee jerk way. A startlingly brilliant guy, Eric manages to look at problems that need to be solved and gets busy working on real-life solutions.
As councilman he's tripled the number of parks in his district; crime is down, graffiti has been reduced by 50% and Hollywood is back. He's also trained 1500 future leaders at his Neighborhood Leadership Academy and has made government more accessible and relevant to average citizens through his Government 101 workshops. Last year, Eric served as a California co-chair of the Obama campaign. As head of the LA City Council he's been a real champion for Los Angeles around the country and the world but is also a champion of cities as a crucial economic driver and progressive hub of our nation. He believes that with the right management and the right amount of local control, the stimulus money can be a boon not only for our cities but also for the progressive movement because it has the potential to radically change how people perceive government. This is the opportunity to really show people that government works and the only way to do that is to make sure this stimulus money is not wasted and works at the most local level.
Eric has been a passionate advocate for marriage equality, a champion of greening L.A. and encouraging alternate modes of transportation other than your car and has worked tirelessly to keep people in their homes through this devastating foreclosure crisis. John and I have been eager to introduce everyone to Eric and if you join us in "Comments" between 3 and 4 you'll have a chance to chat with Eric live, someone we think will eventually be deciding if he'd rather run for governor or senator.
Eric, welcome to Crooks & Liars, based, by the way, in Mar Vista. Congratulations on the big win Tuesday! It's a genuine pleasure having you join us this afternoon. You still in the Navy and able to get away for a whole hour? Are there any unique problems-- and opportunities-- for big cities in the economic meltdown and in President Obama's approach to turning the economy around. And how will local city government-- and you in particular-- work on that with the Federal government?
What is this? Starship troopers?
Damn, Howie corrected his comment, and ruined my joke.
n/t
Hey Howie and thanks for having me on today. It is great to be here and I appreciate the kind introduction.
We just got out of our City Council meeting about an hour ago and we were just taking up this question. I moved and we voted through the creation of an Ad Hoc Committee on Economic Recovery on the City Council, so LA will have an organized strategy for the recovery and so that we can have the most impactful programs move forward here in LA. Let me send this and write a bit more....
The state budget disaster removed subsidies for local transit systems to the tune of half a billion dollars a year, and it's been projected that prices will rise and services will be cut for bus riders.
Do you have any plans for LA?
So I think there are some unique opportunities and some unique problems.
First, the opportunities:
1) $$--they got it, we need it. Los Angeles is north of 10% unemployment and is in many ways a preview of coming attractions for the country. We face shortfalls to our public coffers due to the downturn in the economy, but we also face tremendous downward pressures on our employment, housing, and business picture. The biggest opportunity is the up to $4 billion we estimate we can get rolling in the local economy in the next six months (next two preferably).
2) Being able to set the example. LA is a self-help city. That is to say, we passed local monies for housing, school construction, water quality improvement, and transportation. As such, the feds can leverage much more in LA than other places and get good bang for the buck here.
3) Being accountable. This is a biggie for us as progressives. Show that we are smarter with money than Republicans were when they had massive spending opportunities. Show that we audit, that we have the discipline not to fund pork projects and that we have strict financial oversight of our dollars.
Next...the problems...
Eric you are an inspiration thanks for putting your awesome talents to use for the betterment of our country. It is appreciated. And thanks for showing others the path to follow. Peace.
I get your press releases and one came today with this quote: "All of us-- gay and straight-- who care about fairness, justice, tolerance, and equality are watching this case closely with the greatest hope for our state and our nation that those who serve to protect our rights and freedoms will see fit to do so for all of us." What's the solution to this mess?
Problems:
1) much of the money will go through the state. This is silly when LA County is larger than 80% of our nation's states. Where we can drive as much money to our cities and counties, we will be in better shape and it will have a quicker impact.
2) I am scared it is already moving too slowly. Some of it will move fast--HUD money for public housing upgrades, energy efficiency, etc. But other money is months out and I think we need to be extremely fast in spending this money.
As for transportation, thank God for Measure R. I was very disappointed to see projects slow down due to the Sacto budget mess, but we will have some money (lower than projected due to economic woes) flowing from the sales tax that is Measure R. That said, we are six months behind where we were due to Sacto.
I got it, OC Progressive.
As for marriage equality, I wish we had a better deputy Atty General arguing the case yesterday, but the solution I remained convinced will be at the ballot box in two-four years. Time is on our side, as a younger generation understands that marraige equality is no threat to anyone and marriage inequality is the denial of basic rights. However, I don't think the court will decide in our favor...
Eric- I heard you speak recently with a bunch of friends and we were all really inspired by how you connected local change and actions to the bigger picture.
What are some of the key ways you think Angelinos (and residents of other big cities) can make a difference with just a couple hours a week? Are there places the time and efforts of young voters can be most strategically used?
Eric,
Martin Bosworth from Boztopia.com here (We met on the conference call a few weeks back). Congratulations on the big win, and I look forward to seeing what you'll be doing in the future.
What are your thoughts on Measure B and its narrow defeat at the polls? Is it the best means to "solarize" L.A., or are there other alternatives? Will Measure B end up being implemented in other forms, or is it totally off the board for now?
Martin: I am bullish on a solar future and the Prop B side, which I thought was best put before the voters, helped everyone realize that they want solar, but that it should be one of a number of renewable sources and that solar should be targeted towards both public and private initatives.
I'd like to see us achieve at least 1GW of solar in the next decade through residential, publicly-owned, AND privately built feed-in tariff approaches. We will be continuing to hold public meetings in the Energy and Environment Committee in coming weeks. Lastly, we need to do this in a way that builds the solar manufacturing base in CA as well as a green energy infrastructure in wind. We are soon to open the largest municipally-owned wind farm in a couple weeks we've built over the last year in the Tehachapis.
I plan to expand my web site now that I have been re-elected to be a place to help folks get involved in their neighborhoods. In the meantime, there are a couple of places you can get involved now.
1) Go to your local school and talk to the teachers about their classroom needs and hook them up to donorschoose.org to marry their needs with people's resources. It's an awesome way to connect to an individual classroom.
2) Become an UNTAG block captain if you live in my district (www.untagla.com) to help get graffiti down.
More to come in the next few weeks at www.ericgarcetti.com Promise.
thanks for doing this! btw I voted for you on Tuesday. congrats!
I've seen the improvements in Hollywood the last few years. the growth has been pretty remarkable. can you give us a preview of what's still to come?
Some awesome things are coming:
Palladium saved and remodeled back to original look and reopened now.
W Hotel--hundreds of living wage jobs, condos, apartments (with 25% affordable for low-income), shops, etc.
On Vine, Palihouse is a bright-red looking, retro-feel new housing development.
On Gower, we are building permanent supportive housing for the homeless in Hollywood to get them off the street permanently.
We are going to DC to lobby for my biggest dream, a cap park above the 101 freeway in Hollywood that would be a Hollywood Central Park.
Lastly, a new community garden on Fountain near Western. We had a great workday this past Sat, next one is Mar 21st.
btw, what's a cap park?
Are parks built above freeways. There are about 100 of them in the US. Here's what mine would do: http://hollywoodfreewaycentralpark.org/?page_...
First time I'd heard of "cap parks" .. I like!
kind of like a roof top garden for its ability to oxygenate, hold water, mitigate heat, etc., at the sme time re-uniting neighborhoods split by the freeway.
Excellent!
Now if we can just convert the freeways into roadbeds for light rail ..
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
And dedicated busways...
People need personal transport...
2/3rds of our trips in cars are not to and from work, so if we all took just one or two of those dozens of drives off the road each week, we'd have the impact of tens of millions of dollars of new transit being built.
Then you would loose a very American thing, people want their personal rides, scoping for chicks and stuff. Showing off the wheels and custom paint jobs.
I moved away from L.A. about 4 years ago to drop out for a while on the East Coast.
After seeing what you're doing in L.A., it's tempting to move back. I have 4 grown sons who still live in Venice and they are avid Bruins, Lakers and Dodgers fans.
As a Registered Nurse, I'm wondering, what is the status of healthcare in L.A. now? I recall all the problems I believe with Martin Luther King, Jr. hospital that resulted in it being closed.
What are you feeling in relation to Conyers H.R. 676? (the Medicare for All legislation)? I'm afraid the for-profit insurance companies have most of the seats at President Obama's healthcare meetings.
I'd love to see your position on all this.
Thanks, and maybe I'll see you in October after the beautiful Spring, Summer and Fall here in Massachusetts.
(BTW...I'm tripping on the fact they have NO TAX ON LIQUOR HERE!!! And the area (Pittsfield) seems very depressed...)
Take care,
Abbybwood, R.N.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Aw, man I was sleepin.
That's an impressive 14-hour window to sleep through the polls!
Your still here, ahaha. Oh I am east coast time.
Here is a very honest question: Why is it that democrats fail to capitalize on current facts and events? Let me try to explain: Gov. Schwarzenegger managed to turn California's deficit at the time to oust the democratic governor. He then doubled the deficit and democrats don't say a thing. Where are democrats to expose him and gain momentum, specially at a time when almost every American can clearly see that republicans can't manage the economy?
nyguy: I totally agree. We should also use this momentum to change the 2/3rds requirement for our state budgets. It is completely paralyzing us. I'd like to see our side more aggressively pointing out that Democrats are better at balancing budgets than Reps, both on the federal level as well as here locally. LA has the best bond rating of any big city in America, in contrast to some of our more conservatively-run cities and counties in the state...
Seems like this is upside down - 2/3rds for state budget but simple majority to amend the State constitution.
something is wrong here (under statement of the century!)
CM Garcetti,
Congratulations on your re-election, sir.
Tripling the number of parks in your district is indeed an important accomplishment since Los Angeles is extremely park-poor per capita.
Given that Rec and Parks took the biggest budget cut in the City last year and the impending FY doesn't appear to bode any better for the department tasked with caring for city parks, how do you propose to fund triple the maintenance, security, and programming needed for your new parks?
Petra: You hit the nail on the head. Our biggest problem right now is that voters recognize the need to build things: new libraries, schools, police stations, and parks, but are not so excited to have new taxes or revenue sources for maintenance.
One of the reasons I talked about the LA City trash fee increase going to multiple public safety needs (hiring cops yes, but also for parks staff who can help keep kids out of crime), was that we did move some funds there. I have also been fundraising privately for these programs and would love to see more community adoption of these spaces. Lastly, I have worked with community groups like the Neighborhood Land Trust (that I helped found) to hire local youth to help run some of the new parks we built that are not owned and operated by the city.
But until we recognize taxes or revenue sources are needed to put cops in stations, librarians in libraries and parks and rec staff in parks, we are only completing half the job....
A serious suggestion, sir --
How about making it mandatory to add reasonable and appropriate funding to Rec and Pakrs for the requisite maintenance, Park Rangers, programming, etc. for any new park created?
By mandatory, I mean part of the City Charter or something equally binding?
That's a great suggestion, but I hate budgeting by robbing Peter to pay for Paul, and budget mandates without new sources of funding do just that.
What I'd rather have is some dedicated source of funding through property tax reform in the state so things aren't so uneven for commercial property tax and dedicate a percentage of that for new park maintenance, etc.
But... you cannot just keep adding parks without funding for their proper and safe upkeep. Yet this is what has been going on in LA for decades.
I understand that creating a park is an activity that is: a) needed, and b) brings the right kind of public cred for a councilmember. Which is fine.
BUT, look at RAP now. Hanging on by a thread, arguably directly due to this very activity. (That, and the shift of more and more of the general fund from RAP to police and fire.)
How can you rationalize? And more importantly, what is the answer to the problem that cannot be circumvented by future City Councilmembers who may not be as forthright as you are?
At some point, you must maintain and improve what you have, not just build new parks. But I still am guided by a vision that everyone in my district should have a park or garden within walking distance. These don't always have to be staffed by a city employee (community gardens, for instance), but we agree we need a long-term fix while we build...
Something to consider.
With correcting the parkland inequity in Los Angeles clearly a priority for you, would you consider also making the creation of a more stable, healthy funding stream for Rec and Parks a priority during your last term?
Feel free to call me Eric!
Hey the alternative energy, I love the idea by using solar energy to convert water into hydrogen, perfect way to store it. I saw somewhere a fuel cell for lap tops a few years back. I am also am into all form of Hemp fuels and uses.
As a driver of an electric car for more than a decade, I also like storing it overnight in batteries that are in cars that drive in the day with zero emissions.
"This is the opportunity to really show people that government works"
Not to degrade from the hard work Eric is doing, but i contend that the real nature of Government is parasitical. His success's, i would chalk up to him as a being a bright motivated individual, and not merely as a representative of government.
Kudos to his work.
Rothbard > Rothschild
But I would add that there are some amazing pieces of government now that I have been there for eight years. And it ultimately reflects us. That's one of the reasons we started a Neighborhood Leadership Institute (with more than 1500 graduates now), trained by my staff of community organizers, who learn how to build power in their community through a combination of collaboration with and challenges to the existing government. I've seen amazing city employees on their days off come to clean-ups, I've seen cops who train at-risk kids during the week in a way that goes way above and beyond their job requirements, and I've seen reformers who have transformed government services. I've also seen a lot on the other side that don't work, but these acts I detail above have been inspired and inspiring....
That is indeed very inspiring. I am a firm believer in the capacity for good in all people. Im glad you are great at finding ways to create those opportunities needed for real people to take charge of making real change in their communities.
Great stuff!
Rothbard > Rothschild
I appreciate the kind words!
I have an idea of how to build an electric car that doesn't need plugged in and isn't solar. I will work for 100k a year as an alternative energy transportation advisor, any openings?
Unfortunately, we are trying to keep jobs in the city that are there right now. If you build it, they will come, though...
I seriously know someone who will hand you six electric prototypes with the same characteristics in 12-18 months for a total cost of $250,000. Seriously.
I already claimed to do it for less. So that would be silly, no?
hi Eric , good to see you interacting with the public like you always do? What can we do to see to it we get another measure b type of green plan
Don Garza
www.centralcitye.blogspot.com
The solar deliberations have been weekly in the Energy&Environment committee of Jan Perry's, which I am vice chair of. Our next one is in a week, I think (Tuesday mornings--check www.lacity.org for info)
I will see you in council then... been tired and getting my health together... Also helping the Midnight Mission.... lot's of people out of work and the Midnight Mission is feeding twice as many people as they have in the past...
Don Garza
And happy birthday (if a little late). Take care, my friend!
Eric, The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition (LANCC) and Saving Los Angeles Project (SLAP) will be meeting tomorrow to take on the next steps for LA with regards to renewable energy. In light of Measure B's feeble performance at the polls this past week and the current opportunity to work with the community on a robust plan that is inclusive, will you be able to attend tomorrow and sit down with the NC's to work together on a plan?
But per our conversation in council yesterday, Stephen, and a conversation with Ron Kaye, CM Perry and I will be sitting down with folks including you too in the next few weeks to begin cracking. Thanks!
I know this is a little off-topic but I'm wondering if using Twitter has been useful for you. I see a lot of elected officials making a hash of it-- mostly Republicans giving away state secrets and exposing themselves as reactionary thugs by accident-- but has it been more than an exercise in technology for you?
I actually do my own Twitters and Facebooking. I have found them very useful, from helping people avoid traffic jams when we had a bomb scare at a local school, from getting people to talk about their voting experiences on Tuesday, which we passed on to the City Clerk to make sure everyone had voting access. I hope it even drove a few people here....
I know time is getting short, Eric but can you elaborate on the importance of cities to the progressive movement?
Are the heart of progressive politics. Our cities have been gutted over the last eight years, losing up to 60% of affordable housing, job training, and community development monies. I think we have the ability to lead from our cities and finally have some hope with an Obama administration led by the nation's first big-city Prez in over a century.
Streamed online with live call in questions??
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Streamed online, archived as well (with links to our agendas and if you click on an item, it takes you to our deliberations on that), podcasts, phone links (213-621-CITY to listen live) and remote facilities (you can live closer to Van Nuys and testify remotely to us Downtown from there). No live call in questions, but the State's Brown Act doesn't let us respond in depth to any un-agendized questions, unfortunately.
I am off to DC next week for three days to lobby for LA and the importance of cities in our recovery package. I return home for the weekend and then back to DC the following week to join with city councilmembers and mayors from around the country at the National League of Cities conference.
I was just elected by my peers to Chair the Democratic Municipal Officials for the next two years (this is a constituency group analogous to the Democratic Governors Association that represents all local officials in the country within the DNC), and will be sitting down with Adolfo Carrion, our new director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs and Policy, to carry some of these messages directly to the White House.
Thanks for all the great chat and to you Howie, for hosting us!
Thanks for spending the time with us. I hope you'll remember that C&L wants you to stay in touch over the years. We'll be looking forward to America's first president with a last name ending in an "i." Don't be shy about coming back anytime.
Thanks, everyone, and I look forward to doing this again in the future! In the meantime, sign up at www.cd13.com (city site) and www.ericgarcetti.com (organizing and community site) for updates. We will make them good and make them count!
Ok have a nice evening.
http://twitter.com/ericgarcetti
As an elected official, are you opposed to making brief and conspicuous mentions of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) in public statements? If you are truly unaware of what CAFR's are, that would be a sufficient answer. (and i am asking this question in all seriousness)
Rothbard > Rothschild
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