Bittersweet Victory for Mayor Villaraigosa

Los Angeles gave most incumbent politicians another shot for four more years; hoping this time distress won't affect their policies.

On March 3, the city of Los Angeles
re-elected Antonio Villaraigosa to another term as Mayor.

Was the win more of a victory or really a defeat?

After claiming the victory in the
early evening hours last Tuesday, a
sense of despair seemed bestowed upon
Villaraigosa.

Sources say Villaraigosa planned
to run for California Governor in the
middle of his second tenure as Mayor
of Los Angeles.

However, according to most Southern
California political analysts, as he barely
won by 55 percent of the total vote,
the future doesn't look too bright for
Villaraigosa's hopes of becoming the
next Governor of California.

"It was a bittersweet victory for
Villaraigosa," said political analyst
Sigmund Jacoby. "His baby, Proposition
B, failed and his meager victory didn't
fare well for his future hopes of becoming
California's next Governor."

With the influx of new and old council men and women now in control at the helm of Los Angeles and with the disappointing re-election of Mayor Villaraigosa and his failure of Proposition B, the question the city now faces is whether the L.A. voters
got this one right.

If looked at closely, most of the victories and losses have either been a landslide or to close to call, causing many candidates to participate in the up coming run-off election.

Said Jacoby: "With only 30 percent
of the voters coming out to choose their
next leaders last Tuesday, who can really
tell if the decisions they made a week
ago were actually right. All we can hope
for is to see the state of the economy
rise like the legendary Phoenix bird
and bring more than a sense of hope to
L.A.'s residents but more of a healing
reality than anything else."

City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel joins Villaraigosa in the winner's circle
as L.A.'s next City Controller. With a
tough reputation and gritty attitude,
Greuel edged out the competition with
more than three-quarters of the vote in
America's second largest city.

Although some politicians won easily
last Tuesday night, others went through
a tougher road to claim victory.
The eventual victor in the race for
City Attorney to replace current city
attorney Rocky Delgadillo, will result
in a run-off election come May with
the frontrunners being current city
councilman Jack Weiss, who at press
time had a 20 percent lead over his
opponents and longtime businessman/
lawyer Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich.

Also participating in the May run-off
election for control over L.A.'s fifth
council district are newcomers Paul
Koretz and David T. Vahedi, who at
press time lead the votes between the
two by less than one percent.

Other than the aforementioned
politicians who won or will win a seat
on the city's council, most if not all
the same district leaders have been reelected
for another term.

As these future leaders take control of the second largest market in the country with an approximate 10 million residents, other factors pose to affect the current economic crisis on their own terms.

One of those factors and story line of last Tuesday's election was the Proposition vote.

As explained by Ballotpedia.org: Proposition B, "a proposed city ordinance which would install 400 megawatts of solar panels around the city of Los Angeles" failed to come
to fruition losing by 0.6 percent of the overall vote, which was a mere difference of only 1,322 votes.

Supporters believe Proposition B would create and provide hundreds if not thousands of blue-collar working jobs to those who would install the panels and "jumpstart the
green economy," according to Mayor
Villaraigosa's official campaign website.

Those who oppose the Proposition believe that Proposition B would cost the city's taxpayers billions of dollars they don't have, especially during such tough economic times.

Los Angeles voters have another chance to transform and reform their state senate as the next special election is set to take place on March 24.