Thread: Villaraigosa's state of the city tonight

And will he address illegal immigration and Special Order 40?????

Villaraigosa's state of the city
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Tonight's address should set goals and benchmarks for budgeting and anti-gang programs.
April 14, 2008


For the third time, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addresses the people of Los Angeles this evening on the state of their city. This presents him with opportunity and obligation. He must make clear that he has a firm grip on two pressing matters that he has accepted as bases for evaluating his administration: the budget and gang violence.

The issues are intertwined. Villaraigosa has adopted as his own the priority his predecessors placed on increasing the number of Los Angeles Police Department officers ready to serve. The LAPD of today is larger -- and the city safer -- in part because the mayor insisted on increasing the fees that residents pay to get their trash picked up. Those higher fees aren't earmarked for more officers, and they still don't cover the cost of garbage collection, but the new revenue has given the mayor and the City Council the flexibility they needed to increase police hiring.

With the economy struggling, though, and projected tax revenues declining, the city has a budget gap of more than $400 million. Villaraigosa now must raise fees even further just to balance the books. Los Angeles residents, already preparing to pay much more for water and electricity after recently approved rate hikes, have every right to demand that City Hall be more efficient and accountable.

The mayor is on the spot as never before. He has taken direct control of gang programs previously scattered across the city organizational chart. The total cost comes in at about $19 million -- a tiny fraction of the investment that's needed, and a mere sliver of the city's budget -- but those programs now become a test case for mayoral leadership, not simply for decreasing the scourge of gang violence but for demonstrating that he can make City Hall work. Villaraigosa must, once and for all, publicly set criteria and a timeline for evaluating each of those programs. That runs against his nature: He champions many initiatives but rarely offers benchmarks for judging their success.

This time, the mayor should be prepared, in six months at most, to demonstrate which programs work and eliminate those that do not. He cannot simply present one more report expressing exasperation at the lack of accountability. He cannot, as he did after his State of the City speech a year ago when announcing the "10 most wanted," resort to gimmickry. He must demonstrate that City Hall can be effective not just with programs within his own office, or in the LAPD, but in every city department. And he must do this while articulating clearly for wary residents where he intends to take Los Angeles development, transportation and education. As he begins the final year of his first term, Villaraigosa must demonstrate that he can deliver.

http://tinyurl.com/66xql5

Will it be in Spanish or English?

He's got some splanin to do!

He will tell us about his new girlfriend. How times are tough (but not his fault) he will finger point at everyone but his administration. Speak of his many loves, Mistress, wife, children and Mexico. He alone will fix the schools, gangs, crime rate, just give him more tax money.

Excellent question AmericanMe. If I were to bet, I have little doubt that he will do part of his speech in Spanish. This guy and Phoenix's Phil Gordon are two of a kind, but Villaraigosa is worse because he also publicly cheated on his wife.

Originally Posted by jimpasz

He will tell us about his new girlfriend. How times are tough (but not his fault) he will finger point at everyone but his administration. Speak of his many loves, Mistress, wife, children and Mexico. He alone will fix the schools, gangs, crime rate, just give him more tax money.

He has a new one already? I heard on the news this weekend that the former Univision reporter is engaged to someone else. I guess Villaragoisa wasn't tall enough for her.

Who's the guy running against the mayor? I want to send him some money (even though I live in VA!!)

Originally Posted by ourcountrynottheirs

Who's the guy running against the mayor? I want to send him some money (even though I live in VA!!)

His name is Walter Moore:

http://web.mac.com/waltermoore/WalterMo ... /Home.html

Walter Moore is awesome...I too have contributed to his campaign . I get his emails and it sure gives me hope that someone with some integrity is running against Villalaraza. here is the latest email from walter moore:

Jamiel's Law: Illegals Kill Illegals
By Walter Moore, Candidate For Mayor of Los Angeles, WalterMooreForMayor.com

Guess who made the following statement in a press release on January 7, 2007:

"Members of violent transnational gangs often prey on our immigrant communities here in the United States, only to return to their home countries to commit more violent crime there."

The correct answer is, "Villaraigosa."

I mention this because it illustrates vividly that Villaraigosa's insistence on extending "sanctuary city" status to gang members results in the murder not just of Americans and legal aliens, but also the very same illegal aliens that the "sanctuary city" policy is supposed to protect.

Do the apologists for Special Order 40 not see the irony in that?

Special Order 40 was supposed to protect illegal aliens who were crime victims. It was supposed to encourage them to report crimes to the police and testify at trials by eliminating their fear of deportation. Now, however, they are not afraid of deportation; they're afraid of getting killed by the gangs that control the streets in this town.

That is why everyone -- even illegal aliens -- should support Jamiel's Law. Only gangs would lose "sanctuary city" protection under Jamiel's Law. The police would receive the authority and mandate to investigate and arrest gang members who are in the country illegally BEFORE they murder or rob anyone.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

It's time for the Special Order 40 apologists to "get over" their foolish consistency. They can continue to support Special Order 40 for all the illegal aliens other than the gangs. But to urge "sanctuary city" protection even for gangs -- gangs that prey on everyone -- is indefensible.

Our city's "sanctuary city" policy is not an "all-or-nothing" decision. We can agree to disagree about whether to repeal Special Order 40 in its entirety. But we should all agree to create a narrow exception to Special Order 40 so our police can investigate, arrest and deport the members of "transnational gangs" before they kill people like the late Jamiel Andre Shaw, II.

Thank you Populist and CaliNative. I will be sending Mr. Moore some $$$ today! Anything to get rid of the idiot who's mayor now.