Civic Leaders Offer Advice to the Next Mayor of Los Angeles

Sometime after 8PM, May 21st, Angelenos will learn who will be the Mayor of Los Angeles for the next four years: City Councilmember Eric Garcetti or City Controller Wendy Gruel. The vote tabulation will end, for many, an uninspiring, media-spot popularity contest characterized much too often by lack of candor on how local government ought to respond to the pressing debt, unemployment, and public service reductions that have been awaiting responsible public leadership for years.

Unfortunately, too many eligible voters maintain unhealthy expectations of what either candidate can actually accomplish in office. Into this abyss of cynicism leaps The Planning Report, which sought opinions from an array of Los Angeles’ often unheralded civic, business, labor, and intellectual leaders to précis what they believe should headline the next mayor’s agenda. Their briefs cover a range of challenges and, in the aggregate, refute any focus group-generated assumption that the voters are only interested in their properties and waste, fraud, and abuse.