Recent Updates
Eric Garcetti Wins Mayor Race, Pot Shop Limit Passes
It’s official: Eric Garcetti has won the race for Los Angeles mayor over Wendy Greuel, who conceded this morning.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Garcetti earned 54 percent of the votes and Greuel had 46 percent, ABC News reports.
Garcetti is both LA’s first Jewish mayor and, at 42, its youngest mayor in 100 years, according to the LA Times.
He tweeted his thanks to the voters: “Thank you Los Angeles–the hard work begins but I am honored to lead this city for the next four years. Let’s make this a great city again.”
Last night, things looked too close to call, with both candidates appearing optimistic about their chances.
Although Garcetti and Greuel spent a record amount of more than $30 million in the race, poll turnout was a low, low 19.2 percent, according to the Times.
The two Democrats were in the run-off contest to succeed two-term Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who will leave office July 1.
The issue that Angelenos might care about more—Proposition D, which limits the number of marijuana shops in the city—passed with 63 percent of the vote.
Prop D will cap the number of pot shops at 135 and also raise taxes and limit hours of operation.
Two other medical marijuana proposals were also on the ballot: Ordinance E would have also capped the number of clinics at 135 but without new taxes. Supporters chose to back Prop D instead, leaving Prop E to fail with 35 percent.
Ordinance F wouldn’t have limited the number of clinics, but would have put in place tougher controls, such as audits and testing for pesticides and toxins. But it failed with only 40 percent of the vote.
It was also a good night for friends of Garcetti: Mitch O’Farrell, a former field deputy for the mayor-elect, defeated Public Works Commissioner John Choi for Garcetti’s 13th District seat in the Hollywood area.
Two other City Council seats were awarded: Former Assemblyman Gil Cedillo earned 52 percent of the vote to beat Jose Gardea in the runoff race for the 1st District, which includes northeast Los Angeles, Chinatown, Pico Union and MacArthur Park. Sen. Curren Price won 53 percent of the vote against Ana Cubas in the race for the 9th District seat of South Los Angeles.
Since none of the candidates in the 6th district (San Fernando Valley) earned more than 50 percent, there will be a runoff vote on July 23 between former Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez and Los Angeles Unified School District board member Nury Martinez.
Final EIR of City’s Proposed Single-Use Carryout Bag Ordinance
The City of Los Angeles is proposing to adopt and implement an ordinance to ban single-use plastic carryout bags, charge a fee on paper bags, and promote the use of reusable bags at specified retailers in the City of Los Angeles. The Final EIR is available at City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, 1149 S. Broadway, 5th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90015; at www.lacitysan.org under What’s New…; and at the following public libraries:
- Central Library, 630 W 5th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
- Van Nuys Branch Library, 6250 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401
- West L. A. Regional Branch Library, 11360 Santa Monica Bl., Los Angeles, CA 90025
- San Pedro Regional Branch Library, 931 S. Gaffey Street, San Pedro, CA 90731
- Granada Hills Branch, 10640 Petit Avenue, Granada Hills, CA 91344
Grading Los Angeles’ Streets
L.A. full of roads to ruin for cars The city gives its road network an average grade of C. But a Times analysis finds wide disparities, and they’re not driven by wealth or political power. Explore pavement quality ratings for each of the 68,000 street segments in L.A., graded from A to F. From the [...]
Mayor Villaraigosa Announces $5 Million in Grants for Earthquake Early Warning System
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined with the US Geological Survey and the Los Angeles/Long Beach Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) Approval Authority members to announce $5 million in federal funds for the region’s Earthquake Early Warning System. “Our partners at the US Geological Survey and Caltech have been working on the development of a cutting-edge early [...]
Los Angeles Budget Challenge Results: North Valley & South Valley
Click here for the questions with answers and the regional budget powerpoint results. Additionally, the Citywide results are posted at budget.lacity.org.
City of Los Angeles Releases a 3-1-1 App and a Cleaner Website
Los Angeles residents will be able to complain about graffiti, abandoned furniture, potholes, broken street lights and fallen trees using their iPhone and Android smartphones starting March 18. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled the My LA 311 mobile app and a redesigned website for the City of Los Angeles in a Google+ hangout with reporters Wednesday. [...]
