Eric Garcetti

Early life

Garcetti was born at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles and was raised in Encino, in the San Fernando Valley. Garcetti is the son of Sukey (Roth) and Gil Garcetti, a former Los Angeles County district attorney. His paternal grandfather, Salvador Garcetti, was born in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico. Salvador was brought by his family to the United States as a child after his father Massimo "Max" Garcetti was murdered by hanging during the Mexican Revolution. Max had immigrated to Mexico from Italy, where he married a Mexican woman and became a judge. His paternal grandmother, Juanita Iberri, was born in Arizona, one of 19 children born to an immigrant father from Sonora, Mexico and an Arizona-born mother whose father was Irish and mother was Mexican. He speaks fluent Spanish.

Garcetti's maternal grandparents were from Russian Jewish immigrant families. His maternal grandfather, Harry Roth, founded and ran the clothing brand Louis Roth Clothes;

Eric Garcetti attended elementary school at UCLA Lab School, formerly University Elementary School; and middle and high school at Harvard-Westlake School. He majored in political science and urban planning and received a B.A. from Columbia University in 1992 as a John Jay Scholar.

At Columbia, Garcetti served on the student council, was president of the St. Anthony Hall fraternity and literary society, founded the Columbia Urban Experience, and co-wrote and performed in three years of the Varsity Show, a student-written musical, whose past co-writers include Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Lorenz Hart. Garcetti also received a Masters of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, graduating in 1993. He studied as a Rhodes Scholar at The Queen's College, Oxford and also studied for a PhD in ethnicity and nationalism at the London School of Economics.

Professional career

Prior to his election to the Los Angeles City Council, Garcetti was a visiting instructor of International Affairs at the University of Southern California and assistant professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental College. His academic work focused on ethnic conflict and nationalism and he has lived and studied in Southeast Asia and Northeast Africa. He has published articles and chapters of books on post-conflict societies, Eritrean nationalism, and non-violent action. He served on the California Board of Human Rights Watch. Garcetti currently serves on the advisory board of directors for Young Storytellers, an arts education nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles.

City council

Garcetti was elected to the Los Angeles city council in 2001 and reelected in 2005 and 2009. He succeeded Alex Padilla as President of the City Council on January 1, 2006 and was re-elected as President at the beginning of the Council's subsequent terms in 2007 and 2009. Garcetti declared his candidacy for mayor of Los Angeles on September 8, 2011. On January 30, 2013, the Los Angeles Teachers Union voted to endorse Garcetti in the primary election.

Crime

Garcetti supported recent expansions of the Los Angeles Police Department and the re-implementation of the Senior Lead Officer Program. Crime has fallen in his district by more than forty percent since 2001.

Environmental issues

In 2004, Garcetti authored Proposition O, a county stormwater bond which sought to clean the city's waterways. Voters approved the bond with just over 76% of the vote, making it the largest clean water bond in the country.

In 2005, Garcetti helped found the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust. He authored two of the nation's most far-reaching municipal green building ordinances: the first requires all city buildings to be built to the LEED-certified standard, and the second mandates that all commercial buildings of more than 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m²) in Los Angeles be built to a LEED standard. He supported changes in the city's landscape ordinance and plumbing codes to promote water conservation.

In July 2009, the City Council passed a water conservation ordinance written by Garcetti; it required all new construction and renovation projects in Los Angeles to be equipped with high-efficiency water devices, and aims to conserve one billion gallons of water a year. A longtime electric car driver, Garcetti appeared as a proponent of electric cars in the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?

In July 2010, Garcetti, then President of the Los Angeles City Council, led the weakening of a 2009 lawn watering ordinance, allowing watering three days per week rather than two. The 2-day ordinance restricting watering to two days a week, had been passed 13 months earlier by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. It helped the city reduce its water use and cope with ongoing drought, but the measure was unpopular and was accused of causing pressure fluctuations and water main breaks. An LA Times editorial said that the City Council's weakening of the watering ordinance was a "death knell for one of the best collective environmental efforts made by the citizens of Los Angeles."

Housing and neighborhood beautification

At times, Garcetti has come under public scrutiny for developments that unexpectedly demolish and built over cultural, and historic landmarks. The most recent example are three small buildings at historic Sunset Junction which were demolished to make way for a large condominium development. A developer had previously said there was no talk of demolition. However, the Department of Building and Safety granted the company a permit for demolition nearly a month and a half before it happened. Garcetti has also helped preserve historic neighborhoods and landmarks, from the designation of Historic Filipinotown to Hollywood landmarks like the Palladium, which had been threatened by the wrecking ball.

In his district, Garcetti created the Neighborhood Leadership Institute which trains constituents to be active citizens.

Garcetti's volunteer UNTAG program, Uniting Neighborhoods to Abolish Graffiti, has reduced graffiti in his district over 78 percent in its first four years.

During his first term, as chair and member of the Housing, Community, and Economic Development Committee, he helped create a 100 million dollar housing trust fund, at the time, the nation's largest. He has also worked to revitalize the Hollywood area and reduce and reform the city business tax.

Constituent outreach

Garcetti was one of the first elected officials in Los Angeles to hold "office hours" each month, where constituents can meet with him face-to-face. He implemented a "Constituent Bill of Rights" that ensures that constituents' phone superior calls are returned within a single workday, that constituents are included in all land-use decisions in their neighborhood, and that all constituent concerns are tracked on a computer system that details all actions taken on that particular case.

He drew respect as President by ensuring that the meetings start on time, making all past meetings available on-line, and controlling the timing of public comment and council presentations at meetings. He has also helped more than 1500 local constituents learn about the governmental process by hosting Government and Planning 101 courses throughout the city.

Mayoral tenure

On May 21, 2013, Eric Garcetti was elected Mayor of Los Angeles with 53.9% of votes, defeating Wendy Greuel. The next day, May 22, Garcetti met with incumbent Antonio Villaraigosa, who worked with him over the remainder of his own tenure to better the transition. His term began on July 1, 2013. During Garcetti's campaign, he pledged to end chronic and veteran homelessness. On his first full day as mayor, Garcetti proclaimed that Los Angeles was beginning to leave behind its culture of car ownership. After taking office, he had interviews with each of the city's department heads and began making changes.

In a memo in October 2013, Garcetti instructed department heads to develop a "starting point" budget based on the 5 percent cut from the previous year. In January 2014, Garcetti announced a new plan to tackle earthquake safety, marking the 20th anniversary of the destructive Northridge earthquake.

On April 15, 2014, Garcetti signed into law a new waste franchise agreement, which was planned to expanded recycling to businesses and apartments. Garcetti first proposed the program three years earlier, when he was serving on the City Council. “What we have done with our residential program is create a clean environment, with good jobs and people making enough to support a family," Garcetti said. “What we have had on the commercial and apartment side has been the Wild West, with multiple trucks on the same street, with no standards." Garcetti stated that his goal was to have 90 percent of all trash recycled by 2025.

On April 16, 2014, Garcetti was joined by Jay Z in announcing during a news conference to announce the Made in America festival, scheduled to take place in the upcoming summer. “On Labor Day weekend, we’re going to celebrate our golden state of mind right here in L.A. with a sellout crowd, right here on the steps of City Hall and into Grand Park," Garcetti said during the news conference. Jay Z, addressing the city of Los Angeles as a whole, said "you all should be very proud of this incredible mayor you have".

On May 2, 2014, Garcetti announced he was bringing aboard Krisztina Holly and Amir Tehrani, two "entrepreneurs in residence", to assist in developing policies aimed at "helping business startup and entrepreneurs in Los Angeles grow." “We want L.A. to be the leading destination for people starting new businesses, and there are no better guides for our efforts than successful entrepreneurs themselves," Garcetti said.

On June 5, 2014, Garcetti met with Governor of California Jerry Brown and legislative leaders during his first visit to Sacramento since taking office as mayor. Garcetti pushed for an expansion of the current tax credit, awarding $100 million annually, to stop film production from leaving state.

On June 9, 2014, Garcetti pledged to secure 10,000 jobs for veterans by 2017, stating that it was "unacceptable" veterans waited up to 56 days to have their first appointment through the VA’s Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. The Los Angeles Times reported that he had said in a 2017 interview, that he deserved credit for housing 8,000 veterans in addition to persuading voters to pass Proposition HHH in 2016 to build up to 10,000 apartments.

On July 7, 2014, Garcetti announced the Los Angeles Police Department would cease to honor most federal requests calling for the detaining of arrestees so they can be investigated for deportation. He stated that Los Angeles was joining with other jurisdictions to end the practice of detaining people for being in the country illegally with no judicial review and uttered that the detainment policy was expensive to local government and erodes public trust in the police department. “The federal government has the luxury of waiting to act," Garcetti said. “Here at the local level, we are carrying out what the federal government should be doing.

On July 15, 2014, Garcetti confirmed Los Angeles would help shelter immigrant children who have been detained after crossing the border and had begun talks with a federal agency about doing so. On July 16, 2014, Garcetti committed to accept the Obama administration's challenge to end veteran homelessness in Los Angeles in the next 17 months and stated that he would not accept that "veterans live in our city without a place of their own." On August 5, 2014, Garcetti announced he would begin his annual review of every city general manager as part of his commitment to improve accountability among Los Angeles officials. On August 13, 2014, Garcetti reported that Governor Jerry Brown had agreed to support an expansion of California's tax credit. Despite it being a high-profile effort to keep production jobs in the state, it was unclear at the time of Garcetti's announcement how large the expansion would be. Garcetti wanted $420 million, equal to New York's credit. The amount was also four times the size of California's current $100 million offering.

On August 22, 2013, Garcetti said he would sign off on a proposed four-year contract with Los Angeles Department of Water and Power workers. Officials estimated the contract would save $6.1 billon over 30 years. In large part, the deal was expected to save money by cutting the pension benefits of new hires and workers going without raises in pay for three years. The deal was largely worked out before Garcetti took office the previous month, Garcetti initially balked at the contract before coming around when negotiators tweaked the proposal to allow for further talks on the issue. Garcetti accepted the agreement the previous day because of provisions, which included a labor-management council to review work rules that add to DWP workers' salaries, a modified health care system and an added pension tier for new workers and a broadened effort to reduce the disparity in pay with other city workers. On January 30, 2014, Garcetti nominated Marcie Edwards to head the Department of Water and Power, Edwards being confirmed on February 21.

Fire Department hiring system

On March 20, 2014, Garcetti responded to criticism of a Fire Department hiring system that eliminated thousands of qualified applicants by announcing he was canceling the process. Garcetti said that he had "determined that the Fire Department's recruiting process is fatally flawed". The mayor's office said the next scheduled Fire Academy class of 70 cadets would not be held, as well as that no more hiring would be made from the current civil service list. Nearly 25% of the 70 recruits that were eventually hired were related to LAFD firefighters. Mayor Garcetti stated that he had asked the RAND Corporation to assist in reforming the recruiting process. Reception to Garcetti's choice was mixed.

Economic policy

On April 14, 2014, Garcetti unveiled a "hold-the-line" budget for the coming fiscal year, which proposed modest increases in a number of city services and zero reduction in the business tax. Garcetti's financial proposal of $8.1 billion required approval from the City Council and closed the $242 million gap "in part by relying on increased tax revenue projections and reductions in vacant positions." The financial plan assumed the city's workforce, which included police officers and firefighters, would not receive raises in the coming year. A notable proposed change was to merge the city's police and fire dispatch centers in an attempt to streamline and improve response time to 911 calls for emergencies and fires. Mayoral aids said such a change would take multiple years to implement. Garcetti hoped to increase funding for the Los Angeles Police Department, the department making up nearly 44 percent of the fund already and most of the increase would go towards new technology for officers. The plan was scheduled to go into effect on July 1, adding eight hours per week to the city's branch library operations. The number of code enforcement officers assigned to look for unpermitted construction and other neighborhood issues, would jump from 25 to 38. Garcetti also announced other changes, including creation of a $1.4 million innovation fund to transform city services, breaking the command structure at the Fire Department into four geographic regions and the hiring of 140 firefighters to cope with attrition.

On April 8, 2015, Garcetti released a long-range plan aimed at making the city more economically and environmentally sustainable. The city's first-ever Sustainable City Plan consists of both short term (by 2017) and long term (by 2025 and 2035) goals in 14 categories related to our environment, our economy, and equity encompassing water conservation, clean energy, waste, green jobs, transportation, housing, and neighborhood livability.

Race relations

On July 16, 2013, Garcetti called for "calm in the streets" following the acquittal of George Zimmerman three days earlier. While acknowledging the similarities between the Zimmerman case and the 1992 Rodney King riots, he insisted the city had come a long way.

On April 29, 2014, Garcetti was joined by current and former NBA players to praise the disciplinary actions by the NBA against Clippers owner Donald Sterling for his publicized racist remarks, Garcetti saying the remarks "do not represent Los Angeles". The following day, April 30, Garcetti stated during an interview that the Sterling controversy was "a defining issue" for Los Angeles and required a strong response from elected leaders. On May 4, Garcetti stated that he expected Sterling to put up a "long, protracted fight" to retain ownership of the team and said Sterling's continued ownership could prove harmful to the Clippers, given their advancing to the second round of the NBA playoffs the previous day and their further success would profit Sterling. On May 9, Garrett cautioned during a City Hall meeting with reporters that the Sterling family's continued ownership of the Clippers could mean ongoing "chaos" for the franchise.

On May 9, 2014, Garcetti said Officer Shaun Hillmann who received a 65-day suspension following using a racial slur should have received a "stiffer" punishment. Hillmann's recorded remarks, in which he referred to an African-American man as a "monkey", were aired the day before Garcetti made his remarks on television. Garcetti said Hillmann's statements were "reprehensible."

LAPD contract and meetings

On July 22, 2014, Garcetti stated that he would not back down and planned to speak to officers about the proposed one-year contract that was rejected despite the legal actions threatened against him. The proposal provided $70 million in overtime for that year and $50 million to buy back some of the $120 million in banked overtime while also containing no cost-of-living increase. The Los Angeles Police Protective League stated its plans to file an unfair labor practices complaint with the city Employee Relations Board to block Garcetti and Police Chief Charlie Beck from discussing the matter directly with officers. Protective League President Tyler Izen said the union understood the mayor's intentions but believed his speaking directly to the officers could be a violation of fair bargaining rules. Garcetti found a way around the legal threats by posting a video on YouTube on July 24, where he noted that under the proposed contract, salaries for officers hired during the recession would be increased and overtime would no longer be given as time off, instead paid in cash. "The sacrifices you made on overtime were emergency measures—never intended to be permanent. And I understand the toll these emergency measures have taken. Not just on your pocketbook but on the LAPD as a whole," Garcetti said.

On September 1, 2014, Garcetti led a rally at a park in South Los Angeles, where he proposed creating a minimum wage in Los Angeles that could reach $13.25 after three years. He received support from several members of the Los Angeles City Council, who would have to approve of the increase. He released an economic analysis, which was prepared by academics at UC Berkeley, that stated an "L.A. wage of $13.25—$4.25 more than the state minimum of $9—would significantly improve the lot of low-income workers and impose minimal burdens on business." Garcetti wanted to balance the demands of the Los Angeles labor community against the demands of business leaders. The business leaders warned that boosting pay too quickly could stifle the slowly rebounding local economy. California state minimum is $9, having increased from $8 on July 1, but Garcetti's ordinance required businesses to increase workers' pay from the state minimum to at least $10.25 in 2015, $11.75 in 2016 and $13.25 in 2017. Beginning in 2018, additional adjustments in Los Angeles would be automatically tied to an inflation index. On September 19, Garcetti expressed his support for the Los Angeles City Council to vote on a new citywide law requiring large hotels to pay $15.37 an hour, adding that it would not conflict with his drive to raise the city's minimum wage. Garcetti aligned himself with the Fight for 15 movement when he signed legislation in 2015 to gradually raise the minimum wage in Los Angeles to $15 per hour.

On June 20, 2014, Garcetti picked Seleta Reynolds to run the city's Department of Transportation. Promoting the Great Streets Initiative, Garcetti said the effort represents "a shift from the way that our neighborhoods have been planned in Los Angeles," with a new focus on"walkability and transit." Seeking to bolster the street-level health of the city, he encouraged the development of plans to make several dozen boulevards more hospitable to pedestrians, cyclists and small businesses. A pedestrian-friendly project in downtown on Broadway finished up in December 2014 that widened the sidewalks and replaced the parking lane with planters, chairs and round cafe tables with bright-red umbrellas.

Other incidents

On January 14, 2014, Garcetti was in the passenger seat of an LAPD vehicle when the vehicle struck a pedestrian. Garcetti's office said that the mayor had been on his phone and not witnessed the crash, but had been interviewed by investigators. Battalion Chief Stephen J. Ruda of the Los Angeles Fire Department reported the female pedestrian "was stable and alert, responding to our paramedics" before she was rushed to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. Hospital spokesman Rosa Saca said the woman was stable and had been admitted overnight. Garcetti visited the woman in the hospital the next day and stated "We had a nice conversation and I am very pleased that she is in good spirits. I wish her a speedy recovery."

On June 16, 2014, while speaking at the championship celebration for the Los Angeles Kings hockey team, Garcetti cautioned: "There are two rules in politics – never be pictured with a drink in your hand, and never swear." He then held up an empty beer bottle and said, "But this is a big fucking day", prompting a standing ovation from the Kings players and the crowd. The incident attracted some controversy, but when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! later that evening, Mayor Garcetti told the late night TV host: "It was hockey; it wasn't a match of lawn bowls." The following day, on June 17, Garcetti spoke at a Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce lunch at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. He apologized to those who found what he said offensive and suggested they lighten up. He argued that it was "something that plenty of people have heard in their lives for sure".

In February 2016, KCBS-TV, a local CBS TV station in L.A., reported that in the month before Garcetti’s State of the City speech praising Turf Terminators, the company’s employees, friends and relatives donated $45,000 to Garcetti’s reelection campaign and to his nonprofit Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles. Garcetti told KCBS-TV, the donations, which were legal, were also “a coincidence.”

National politics

Garcetti endorsed Barack Obama in early spring 2007 and was the southern California chairman and one of six state co-chairs for the Obama campaign. He traveled to Iowa, Nevada and six other states, and was a frequent surrogate (in English and Spanish) for the campaign. He served as a superdelegate during the 2008 Democratic National Convention and was elected to serve as the Chair of Democratic Municipal Officials, an organization affiliated with the Democratic National Committee that represents all local elected Democrats in the U.S. In this capacity, he serves on the DNC executive committee.

On April 3, 2014, Garcetti was joined by former President Bill Clinton in hosting a half-day conference on alternate energy and improvements of infrastructure. It was the first time Garcetti and Clinton had appeared together since his run for mayor the previous year, in which Clinton had endorsed Wendy Greuel. The former president referenced the race but accidentally said that Garcetti had been elected president, not mayor. Clinton told Garcetti that he "may become president one day." On May 7, 2014, Garcetti greeted President Barack Obama when he arrived in Los Angeles. On November 5, 2015, Garcetti's office issued a statement endorsing Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, controversy emerging from the office using government resources to distribute a campaign-related proclamation. On January 20, 2016, amid polling showing Clinton's competitor Bernie Sanders besting her in New Hampshire, Garcetti predicted she would ultimately prevail.

Electoral history

Mayor of Los Angeles

City Council

Television and music appearances

From 2010–2012, Garcetti appeared as "Ramon Quintero", the Mayor of Los Angeles, on the fictional TNT television show The Closer and its spin-off Major Crimes. He reprised this role in a 2016 episode of Major Crimes, his first such appearance while mayor. Garcetti's father, Gil Garcetti, is a consulting producer on both series. Garcetti also made a cameo appearance, as a desk security guard working in the mayor's office, in the pilot episode of the TBS series Angie Tribeca.

In February 2016, Garcetti recorded a rap song "101SlowJam", backed by musicians from the city's Roosevelt High School, issuing it via a video on his own YouTube channel. The PSA video advertised the closure of parts of the 101 Freeway. The 84-year-old Sixth Street Viaduct bridge, which has appeared in countless films, TV shows and music videos, is to be demolished and replaced by a new bridge.

In March 2016, Garcetti briefly appeared in a segment of the Late Late Show with James Corden in which Corden pretended to take over Garcetti's position for a few hours. At the end of the segment Garcetti takes back control from Corden having him escorted away by some security officers.

Awards

On May 15, 2014, Garcetti was honored as "Person of the Year" by the NAACP, along with Al Sharpton.

Personal life

Garcetti is an avid photographer, jazz pianist, and composer. In January 2009, he married Amy Elaine Wakeland, also a Rhodes scholar whom he met while at Oxford. They have a daughter, Maya Juanita, who is adopted. Garcetti and his wife have fostered seven children. He also serves as a lieutenant in the United States Navy Reserve Information Dominance Corps. He attends services at IKAR, a post-denominational Jewish congregation founded by Rabbi Sharon Brous.