Politics & Government

Eric Garcetti Sworn in as 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles

Highland Park 8th-grader administers oath of office to Garcetti at an inauguration ceremony Sunday outside City Hall.

By City News Service

Introduced by musician Moby as the "coolest mayor in the history of Los Angeles,'' Eric Garcetti became the city's 42nd mayor at a ceremonial swearing-in at City Hall Sunday.

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Moby, who has been known to collaborate with Garcetti—a jazz pianist and composer—opened the ceremony with an acoustic guitar rendition of the song, "We Are All Made of Stars,'' which, he said, applied to Sunday's occasion.

As a balmy breeze at last cooled another day of unrelenting heat in Los Angeles, hundreds of onlookers waving paper fans and guzzling bottles of water filled bleachers and the lawn of Grand Park to catch a glimpse of the incoming class of city leaders coming into office.

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The ceremony, led by late night television show host Jimmy Kimmel, moved at a fast clip through the swearings-in of eight council members, the city attorney and controller, the entire event wrapping up in under an hour.

Even as other newly elected and re-elected officials called on the likes of state Attorney General Kamala Harris, state Controller John Chiang and City Clerk June Lagmay to officiate their oath of office, Garcetti chose to bestow that honor on one of his future bosses, 13-year-old Highland Park girl Kenia Castillo.

Kenia, an eighth-grader at Luther Burbank Magnet Middle School in Highland Park who lives in the Westlake district, first met Garcetti when she was four years old and he attended an event in support better working conditions for janitors like her mother. She later volunteered for his mayoral campaign.

Garcetti was formally sworn into office Friday by City Clerk June Lagmay. He officially became mayor at midnight.

In inauguration remarks, Garcetti set a tone for a more technologically savvy government that will tackle its most intractable problems and cut bureaucratic red tape using the latest innovation and "with the click of a mouse.''

"We'll work to bring what is too often a rotary-phone government into the smart-phone era,'' he said to a cheering audience.

His "most gratifying work'' as a councilmember of 12 years was in using technology to tackle the city's "oldest, most stubborn problems''—such as potholes, graffiti and parking, Garcetti said.

Envisioning a Los Angeles that creates "high-skilled and high-paying jobs,'' Garcetti said he wants to remake Los Angeles into the home of Fortune 500 and "scrappy start-up'' companies that cultivate the city's "human'' and "creative capital.''

As the city's "salesman-in-chief,'' he will "market L.A., aggressively and creatively to the entire world—as the gateway to the Pacific Rim and the gateway to new ideas and innovation,'' he said.

"We need to change the way people see our traditional industries, so they can thrive and grow,'' he said.

Garcetti painted Los Angeles, which has suffered with the rest of the nation from the Great Recession, as a place of optimism and the "native home of hope.'' It's a city where "immigrants and idealists and innovators find a horizon as wide and as open and as limitless as the human mind itself,'' he said.

"We can never take jobs and growth for granted,'' Garcetti said, announcing that he will hold economic roundtables Monday with business leaders, small-business owners and "everyday Angelenos.''

Garcetti said he intends to lower the city's business taxes.

He also touched on the loss of Los Angeles-based film and television production revenue, with entertainment companies frequently choosing other locations, saying he will appoint a "film czar'' at City Hall and "lobby hard'' in Sacramento.

Garcetti, who called his approach "listen-then-lead,'' will spend part of his first day on the job meeting with people randomly selected from e-mails sent to his transition team requesting an audience with him, spokesman Yusef Robb said.

Garcetti plans to take a serious look at heads of city departments and agencies and has required all general managers and chiefs to re-apply for their jobs, Robb said.

Garcetti has appointed just one member of his administration, Ana Guerrero, who will be his chief of staff, the same role she had when Garcetti was a councilmember.

A number of issues wait in the wings for Garcetti, including a projected budget deficit for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, which begins Monday; the privatization and potential upgrades to the Los Angeles Convention Center and at least two large development projects at so-called "transit hubs'' adjacent to light rail and subway stations.

The night also featured ceremonial swearings-in for Ron Galperin as controller, Mike Feuer as city attorney and eight members of the City Council,including six newcomers.

At 7:10 p.m., the ceremony morphed into a free, outdoor party with food trucks, carnival-style games and information booths about city services filling the lawn at the adjacent Grand Park.


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