L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel gives speech at UCLA

The tune of “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys playing in the background, L.A. mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel walked out in front of dozens of students, supporters and other members of the L.A. community at UCLA on Tuesday.

“I woke up this morning and spent some time thinking about how I would start today’s remarks,” said Greuel, a UCLA alumna. “I’m going to talk to you from my heart – from the foundation of who I am.”

During the 30-minute speech, she touched on issues like job creation and education to rally support for the upcoming mayoral election.

Greuel currently serves as the City Controller of Los Angeles, an independently elected official acting as the city’s chief auditor and accountant.

Because no candidate in the race was able to secure a majority of votes in the primary election in March, City Councilman Eric Garcetti and Greuel – both of whom are Democrats – are set for a runoff election on May 21. Garcetti placed first in the March primary, with a 2 percent lead over Greuel.

On Tuesday, Greuel reflected on the importance of UCLA in shaping her personal qualities, and set goals to work with universities to improve the L.A. community.

“UCLA holds a prominent place in my heart,” Greuel said to the crowd of about 90 people. “This is a place where ideas matter, and this is a place where I found the passion of building, leading and problem solving.”

Greuel’s platform focuses primarily on economic development, citing four key areas of improvement: stimulating job growth through transportation efforts, rewarding businesses, developing a skilled workforce and encouraging innovation.

If elected, she said her first step would be to reduce the mayoral budget by 25 percent, to help the administration operate more efficiently.

Greuel said she would also like to make city council operations more transparent and accountable by requiring the council to publish its spending records online.

Greuel reiterated her support for job creation and giving preference to the businesses of Los Angeles.

Labor groups such as the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor have publicly announced their support for Greuel, stating that they think Greuel is the “only candidate in the race who can be trusted to support working families,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

But some critics have criticized Greuel for being closely tied with public employee unions, at a time when Los Angeles is facing financial liabilities, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“I am proud of the support from both labor and business,” she said on Tuesday in response to the criticisms.

However, all of the other three major candidates who were eliminated in the primary election in March have since publicly endorsed Garcetti in the runoff election, according to the Los Angeles Times.

When asked to address the other candidates’ endorsements of Garcetti, Greuel said she does not expect all of her former opponents will support her, and that it is more important that the voters listen to her ideas.

Greuel has secured endorsements, however, from “outsiders” of the mayoral race such as “Magic” Johnson and former President Bill Clinton.

Toward the end of her address on Tuesday, Greuel discussed the quality of the education system and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“As mayor, I will aggressively and creatively fight to ensure that every dollar is spent in the classroom, that every teacher and principal is in charge, not some downtown bureaucrat,” she said.

Some members of Bruin Democrats and one of the organization’s subgroups, Bruins with Wendy, also volunteered at the event, helping direct traffic among other tasks.

“We know that not all of Bruin Democrats will vote for (Greuel),” said Blake Kushwaha, a first-year political science student and member of Bruin Democrats. “Some will vote for Garcetti, but we are just here to show our support (for Greuel).”

Not all who attended support Greuel, but came primarily to get a better sense of who the candidate is and to learn more about her proposed policy changes.

Renato Lira, a San Fernando resident and a former Sacramento lobbyist, said he came to see whether or not Greuel is capable of making changes. He added that he would like to see the next mayor become more involved in the San Fernando community.

Greuel concluded her speech with a call to change the course of action in Los Angeles.

“Let’s stop moving backwards and start making real progress for a change,” Greuel said. “Together we can lead Los Angeles forward.”