Editorial: Villaraigosa needs to bring L.A. issues to national level

This might surprise some politically apathetic students, but Los
Angeles has a new mayor. Rumor has it he was elected Tuesday while
we were distracted by midterms and our own undergraduate elections.
Antonio Villaraigosa’s entry may have been quiet, but
hopefully his tenure will not be.

City politics are not especially exciting, especially in Los
Angeles where the mayor has relatively limited power. Still, Los
Angelenos should hope Villaraigosa is the man who will change all
that.

Much of the mayoral race focused on the personal differences
between Mayor James Hahn and Councilman Villaraigosa. Hahn is the
son of a career politician; Villaraigosa got started as a Latino
activist at UCLA. Hahn is boring; Villaraigosa is tall, dark and
handsome.

And considering the legal limitations of mayoral power, charisma
might be the most important asset Villaraigosa has. Certainly not
all mayors are as uninspiring as Hahn has been.

Consider, for a moment, how much press coverage New York mayors
receive. Both former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and current Mayor
Michael Bloomberg are frequently in the news and know how to drag
even obscure issues into the national spotlight when they so
choose.

Villaraigosa should start with the fact that California ““
and Los Angeles ““ does not get a fair cut of the federal
funding pie. It is estimated that California is allocated about 80
cents for every dollar of federal taxes that flows out of the
state.

Much of the difference goes to the military and subsidizing
“red” states that refuse to pass state income
taxes.

California is also on the front lines of the immigration debate,
yet it receives very little recognition (or money) for the role it
plays as a major immigration hub.

It’s time for the rest of the nation to start respecting
California, and Villaraigosa must take his role as a national
spokesman seriously.

Looking more locally, Villaraigosa has also promised to make
education a top issue although he has no direct control over school
budgets or policies. Improving education should be a priority, and
if nothing else, Villaraigosa should use his bully pulpit to keep
the pressure on Gov. Schwarzenegger.

Aside from personal charisma, one asset Villaraigosa has is his
status as the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since 1872. He was
a student activist here at UCLA in the 1970s and served as the
chairman of MEChA. Considering his past, he will immediately become
one of the spokesmen and leaders of the fastest-growing demographic
in the country.

And Villaraigosa is not known for thinking small. It is widely
reported that he is interested in eventually running for governor
or even vice president.

But he must take this office seriously. It is more than a
stepping stone to higher offices and national fame. Villaraigosa
has an opportunity to fight for California, institute real reforms,
and prove that race need not be a divisive factor in politics.

Being mayor of Los Angeles should be about more than fixing
potholes, remodeling LAX, and attending ceremonies.