The Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists hosted a dinner recently at the Daily Grill on Flower Street in Downtown Los Angeles to give local journalists an opportunity to meet the mayor in an informal setting.
Mayor Villaraigosa clearly enjoys being Mayor of Los Angeles: "We are like the Venice of the Twenty-First Century," he said. According to the Mayor, ninety-three countries are represented in Los Angeles, and LAX is the fifth largest airport in the world. He believes Los Angeles is in a uniquely advantageous position to be a hub of diversity and economic growth.
He also stressed that the first year after a leader is elected to office is the time to get things done, and that he's willing to be in the game and swing his bat.
"Even though I may not get a hit each time, I swing, I'll keep swinging. I don't want to fail," Mayor Villaraigosa said.
When asked about the danger of a terrorist attack on Los Angeles, the Mayor said that one of his biggest agenda items was crisis preparedness and management.
As to how long it would take to evacuate the city of Los Angeles, he pointed to the challenges Houston faced evacuating ahead of the recent hurricane. It won't be easy to move 4.5 million people quickly, he admitted, but in order to address public safety issues like terrorism, he is putting together a group of experts from government, business, and the private sector.
As for the achievement he was most proud of, the Mayor cited the 1997 law which he (when he was the Majority Leader in the California Assembly) wrote, and helped pass, that gave mothers the right to breast feed their babies in public.
