...or do you live in your own "cities" like west hollywood, and therefore live in our midst and have no say in anything?
they both kind of suck, but if I can find my registration paper thing, on my work break im definitely gonna go put on in for the V-man. all for only the superficial reasons - i think a brown man should be in charge of this brown city for the first time in 120+ years, but also just coz i think Mayor Villaraigosa sounds pretty rad and will prolly piss some tool like Lou Dobbs off who'll use even more tv time to talk about our "immigration problem" now (ignoring the wittle fact that yes, as that controversial Latin- radio billboard that ppl have been protesting has implied, this was Mexico not too too long ago)
really...whats gonna change either way? a "pink line" actually going from hollywood to santa monica thru beverly hills? thats my dream, but the racist westsiders won't allow it, so yah right...
― Vichitravirya XI, Tuesday, 17 May 2005 08:42 (twenty-one years ago)
Yay! Just came back from voting, and am so glad I made it in time for the polls which close at 8...
...and my voting place was the same one for the prez election: the gigantic modernist apt tower w/ funky purple balconies from the 60s, next door to mine. As I was entering a Latina woman with her child was exiting, and aside from that auspicious sign, something (oh, say, the last survey) tells me it's going to be a Villaraigosan night. The guy inside at the table - a jocular old man - was going to close up the ballots, but then asked me if i wanted to bet him someone will still walk in between 7:53-8. He was being serious, but I didn't have any cash on me, or else I'd have really wagered a bit.
Oh, they also didn't check my ID or anything, after they crossed me off the list. I heart my neighborhood.
― Vichitravirya XI, Wednesday, 18 May 2005 02:07 (twenty-one years ago)
Antonio Villaraigosa Elected L.A. Mayor By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer 36 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa unseated Mayor James Hahn on Tuesday to become the city's first Hispanic mayor in more than a century, confirming the rising political power of Latinos in the nation's second-largest city.
After a lackluster term tainted by corruption allegations at City Hall, Hahn was turned out of office in favor of a high school dropout and son of the barrio who turned his life around to become speaker of the California Assembly and then a member of the Los Angeles City Council.
With 70 percent of precincts reporting, Villaraigosa had 202,861 votes, or 59 percent, to 140,416 votes for Hahn, or 41 percent.
"You all know I love L.A., but tonight I really love L.A.," an exuberant Villaraigosa told supporters.
Villaraigosa will become the first Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles since 1872, back when the city was merely a dusty outpost of only about 5,000 residents on the edge of the Western frontier. Hahn, the scion of a prominent political family, becomes the first Los Angeles mayor in 32 years to be bounced from office.
Villaraigosa, 52, positioned himself as a unity candidate who would bridge racial and ethnic groups in a city that is 48 percent Hispanic, 31 percent white, 11 percent Asian and 10 percent black. The Democrat lined up marquee endorsements from John Kerry to basketball legend Magic Johnson.
The bruising runoff between the two Democrats was a rematch of the 2001 election, in which Hahn rallied to defeat Villaraigosa and win his first term. But Villaraigosa came back strong this year, nearly ousting Hahn in the March primary.
Elsewhere, Pittsburgh held a primary for mayor with the city mired in worst financial crisis since the collapse of the steel industry during the 1980s. And voters in Dover, Pa., picked their candidates for the school board in a community that has been roiled by a new and apparently first-in-the-nation policy requiring that students learn about the "intelligent design" theory of creation.
Hahn's family has been active in Los Angeles politics for decades; his father, Kenneth, was a beloved county supervisor. He touted Los Angeles' dropping crime and argued that he is the man to cure such urban ills such as failing schools and gridlock.
But the coalition of blacks and moderate-to-conservative San Fernando Valley voters that put him in office four years ago broke apart this time. He lost black support because he backed the ouster of Police Chief Bernard Parks, who is black, and suffered fallout from allegations that his administration exchanged city contracts for campaign donations.
And Hahn's lawyerly — some say drab — image left him open to criticism that he isn't up to being the public face of star-studded L.A.
"People want substance rather than style. I think they want results rather than rhetoric," Hahn, 54, said after voting early Tuesday. "You know, maybe I have a charisma deficit disorder, but I've done the job people have elected me to do."
MY FAVE PART OF STORY: Villaraigosa, who once wore a "Born to Raise Hell" tattoo before turning his life around, promised to bring a fresh start to the city.
"I will never forget where I came from. And I will always believe in the people of Los Angeles," he said Tuesday night.
― Vichitravirya XI, Wednesday, 18 May 2005 08:31 (twenty-one years ago)