Mayor Eric Garcetti reflects on his tenure as leader of Los Angeles
In his last days in office, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti reflected on his two terms as the leader of the second-largest city in the country.
"At the end of it - it's kind of like a funeral, Bar Mitzvah, rebirth, last day of school — all in one," he said. "The work is never finished."
Mayor Garcetti said he's proud of his record, especially when it comes to the expansion of public transit, major renovations and improvements at LAX, and of course the 2028 Olympics.
"The Olympics are going to come here," he said. "I did that for my daughter, as much as I did that for anything else. Knowing that I had that experience, I wanted her generation too."
He touted the 15 new rail lines and rapid transit lines created during his two terms, the most in American history, according to Garcetti. He hopes that the improvements the city made at LAX will help the traffic jams at the airport.
"The seven scariest words in LA were 'Will you pick me up at LAX,'" Garcetti said. "Hopefully (that) will hopefully be a thing of the past because we can take transit there."
Garcetti faced the biggest challenge of his political career, the COVID-19 pandemic, during his final term.
"I haven't completely unpacked COVID," he said. "Like most of us, because I had to absorb the deaths, the pain and suffering. It was wartime mentality — wartime leadership."
During the pandemic, the city's homeless crisis exploded and Garcetti was criticized for letting it get out of control. He pushed back against the critics, claiming that the crisis needed more support from state and federal governments.
"The city and the mayor will never be able to solve homelessness," Garcetti said. "We don't have a mental health department. We don't do child welfare, veterans, the prisons. All these things go through other levels of government. But I ran into that fire to provide leadership ship and I'm really optimistic."
For Garcetti, his next steps remain in limbo as the United States Senate has yet to confirm his nomination to become the next Ambassador to India. The process was stalled after his former top aide was accused of sexual harassment and Garcetti was accused of ignoring it.
He denies any wrongdoing and believes he will ultimately get the vote.
"It's been a gift though to see this mayorship to the last day," said Garcetti. "I'm really glad, especially when we saw the racist tapes that came out, to have not been away."
