Antonio Villaraigosa

Mayor Villaraigosa's Bike-Ride Pipe Dream Will Close Down 7 Miles Of City Streets For A Day

Mayor V. on his bike.​If you were mad about the traffic trauma created by President Obama's Westside visit last month, if the annual Los Angeles Marathon's street closures raise your blood pressure, or if you're simply tired of being passed by bicyclists as you crawl down Wilshire Boulevard, b ... More >>

Antonio Villaraigosa and L.A. City Council, Badly Slimed for Airhead Library Cuts, Get a Solution -- They'll Probably Ignore

Ted SoquiDemonstrators at a recent rally where budget cuts to the L.A. Public Library system were denounced​Almost certainly prompted by queries from L.A. Weekly as it gathered info for its blockbuster story "City of Airheads," council members Tom LaBonge and Janice Hahn are asking for a dela ... More >>

Antonio Villaraigosa ticket scandal: Fair Political Practices Commission orders thousands of California politicians to post freebies on Internet to fight corruption

Now I see the light.​Thanks to Antonio Villaraigosa's practice of ignoring anti-corruption laws, angling for $50,000 to $100,000 in freebies, then failing to tell the City Ethics Commission, the Fair Political Practices Commission has just enacted a strict rule forcing California politicians ... More >>

Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner Being Floated As Possible L.A. Mayoral Candidate

​With little political or policy background businessman Austin Beutner has gotten some plum leadership assignments within the administration of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, including interim chief of the powerful Department of Water and Power. His name is now being floated as a poss ... More >>

Villaraigosa Praises New Ethics Commission Limits On Ticket Taking (So Long As They Don't Apply To The Past, Right?)

​That Antonio Villaraigosa, he's a wily one. After the city Ethics Commission voted to prohibit elected officials from accepting valuable tickets to sports and entertainment events so they could undertake so-called official duties (and we emphasize the sound of "duty"), the mayor said late Tue ... More >>

L.A. Ethics Commissions Says No Free Tickets For Elected Officials

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been widely criticized and locally investigated for accepting valuable sports and entertainment tickets to events at which he said he had ceremonial duties as the city's top leader. On Tuesday the city Ethics Commission said it's not having it. At least from h ... More >>

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Answer To The Recession: Go Shopping

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was in his favorite milieu today, among flashbulbs and models. At a Beverly Center event, he announced two new programs, "Fashion's Night Out" and "Shop LA," initiatives intended to spur L.A.'s economy and thus generate revenue for the city. At the press conference ... More >>

Villaraigosa Spotted Outside Emmy Awards, Reminds World Of 'Ticketgate'

​The city's keeping together a fragile budget these days, libraries are taking days off, and police are learning to do without the kind of civilian support personnel they enjoyed in the past. The mayor has been in hot water, too, for his acceptance of high-dollar tickets to Lakers games and en ... More >>

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Unveils First Of Bike Safety Measures

​Hey cyclists, do you feel safer yet? Do ya? Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled the first plank in his safer cycling program -- give bikes three feet of room when you pass -- following last week's bike summit. The bike summit arose after the mayor broke his elbow after a taxi cut him off wh ... More >>

A Critical Look At Mayor Villaraigosa's Gang-Reduction Program

​The Los Angeles crime-and-justice website WitnessLA on Monday published the first of a two-part series looking at Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's $26-million-a-year gang-reduction program and whether it's worth your money. It finds that some of the youths most in need of prevention and intervent ... More >>

Bike Summit: Mayor Villaraigosa Calls For Mandatory Helmets For Cyclists

​ Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for a mandatory helmet law for all bicyclists across California at his much-touted "

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Staff 70 Percent Larger Than That Of Former Mayor James Hahn

​ Even as the city ponders as many as 1,700 layoffs this year, staff in the office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has increased to 206 from 121 when James Hahn was in office, the Daily News reports. It's one of the largest mayoral staffs in the country. The piece provides some good context, at ... More >>

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Wants To Hang On To Ontario Airport

Villaraigosa.​Despite lagging passenger traffic, Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa apparently wants to hold on to LA/Ontario International airport as part of the city's Los Angeles World Airports department that includes LAX and Van Nuys Airport too. There was some talk of selling control of the ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa Announces Aug. 16 As Date For City 'Bike Summit'

YouTube​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced on Tuesday that his aforementioned "Bike Summit" would happen Aug. 16 (from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the board room of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, One Gateway Plaza, downtown). Bike activists, city officials, transportation planners and ... More >>

Michael LoGrande: How Should New Planning Director Approach The Job?

​ Now that Mayor Villaraigosa has selected Michael LoGrande to become director of planning, we've asked activists from around the city to give LoGrande advice: How should he approach the job? First up, Marcia Hanscom, Playa del Rey environmentalist.

Ticketgate: Jimmy Blackman, Deputy Responsible For Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Scheduling, Resigns

Fox 11 News​Amid investigations of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's acceptance of valuable sports and entertainment tickets the man responsible for his scheduling, deputy chief of staff Jimmy Blackman, announced he's stepping down Aug. 13. Blackman was responsible, in part, for making ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa Announces A 'Bike Summit' Following His Own Bicycle Crash

YouTube​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently reached out to the bicycle community via YouTube and announced -- more than a week after he broke an elbow in a bike accident on Venice Boulevard -- that he would help organize a summit about the future of pedal power in L.A.. 'We're go ... More >>

Mayor Antonio Villaraigos Selects Michael LoGrande To Be Director of Planning

​ Mayor Villaraigosa has chosen Michael LoGrande, the city's current chief zoning administrator, to be director of the Planning Department, the Times reports. LoGrande replaces Gail Goldberg, who announced her resignation last month.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Breaks Elbow In Bicycle Accident

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday was recovering following surgery to mend a broken elbow sustained when a taxicab apparently stopped in front of him and caused him to take a spill as he rode a bicycle near Culver City's restaurant row. The accident outside 8627 Venice Blvd. in Los Angele ... More >>

Antonio Villaraigosa: Daily News Calls Mayor 'Lame Duck,' 'AWOL'

Fox 11 News.Villaraigosa and his girlfriend at a Lakers game.​Last month we accused Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of "acting like a lame duck as he let the gubernatorial race pass him by." In January we said "WTF" to the mayor's announcement -- made as a historic city budget crisis lo ... More >>

Salaries Gone Wild: $787,637 A Year For City Manager Of ... Bell?

Google Maps​We here at the Weekly have enjoyed roasting Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ($223,000 a year) and L.A. City Council members ($178,789) for giving themselves some of the highest salaries of any elected city officials in the nation. We turned up the fire even more as the cit ... More >>

City Ethics Commission Considers Rules That Would Prohibit Mayor Villaraigosa From Attending Entire Sports Games

Fox 11 News​The Los Angeles Ethics Commission on Tuesday considered recommendations that would tighten the kind of loophole that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has used to accept valuable tickets to sporting and entertainment events. Under rules proposed by the commission's director of policy and ... More >>

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Makes Dubious Claim About Crime Rate

​On Friday morning, through his Twitter account, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made the dubious claim that L.A. is "still safer than it's been in 50 years." Which means we're back to 1960, when John F. Kennedy successfully ran for president, Elvis Presley was promoted to sergeant, an ... More >>

Twist and Shout

Villaraigosa's Vanishing Veracity

His executive directive No. 1 in 2005 vowed to halt even the appearance of sleaze and conflicts

The Front-Row Mayor

Should A Los Angeles Public Venue Be Used For Raves? Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Says Maybe Not

Timothy NorrisElectric Daisy Citizens.​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa this week questioned whether a public venue should continue to be used for a massive rave that claims to have drawn 185,000 people to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum over the weekend.

Is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Leading A Labor Union Backlash?

​This depressing (or at least recessing) economy has inspired many local and state governments to reconsider the deals they struck with unions representing public workers. In good times, raises, health care and pension benefits were sweet. Now everyone has to watch their wallets. The New York ... More >>

FOURTH UPDATE Exclusive: Antonio Villaraigosa free tickets are worth $50,000 to $100,000. Full list here of 80 free events; corruption laws ignored

By Tibby Rothman and Jill StewartDid the mayor lose, misplace -- or destroy -- his records? ​ L.A. Weekly is publishing below its exclusive ticket price list for the 80 events to which Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa accepted free seats.But first the hot news from City Hall moments ago. The below is a ... More >>

Shhh: Journalists Take Free Tickets Too (Just Don't Tell Villaraigosa's Camp)

Fox 11 News​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in deep in this one. It's summer and, frankly, we have nothing better to do than to watch him squirm as reporters ask why he didn't report thousands of dollars worth of free tickets to Lakers games, awards shows and other events as gifts as ... More >>

Lawyer: "Antonio Villaraigosa is above the anticorruption laws; public has no right to know who gave him free tickets"

By Tibby Rothman and Jill Stewart He's very, very special​ Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's attorneys, after promising the public they would divulge his extensive acceptance of free tickets, meals, alcohol, parking and other goodies that he failed to report under anticorruption laws for the past five ... More >>

Villaraigosa "finds" his 5 years' worth of missing free-ticket docs, then cops defiant attitude toward ethics laws

By Tibby Rothman and Jill Stewart Nobody can tell him what to do​ Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced that he has found -- and on Friday will release -- five years worth of documents showing who gave him free seating, tickets, meals, liquor and parking for dozens of sports and cultural events ... More >>

Villaraigosa's Five-Year Free Ticket Spree

The Los Angeles mayor's usurping of anticorruption rules could spread to pols across California

Mayoral Ticket Scandal: Villaraigosa's Office Claims He Didn't Have Actual Seats To Some Events

​Politics is sometimes the fine art of b.s. In the case of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's tickets scandal, you have to trust your nose. His camp has stated that the mayor can accept valuable tickets without reporting the source and value, as required with other gifts, because he goes to events t ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa Doesn't Seem To Treat His Free-Ticket Outings As 'Official Events'

Fox 11 News​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has seemed confident in his defense of his acceptance of very valuable tickets to happenings including Lakers post-season games, the Oscars and the Grammy Awards. He says as long as he's attending the happenings in his official capacity as L.A.'s top dog, ... More >>

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa To Kick Off 'Get L.A. Off Oil' Day

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa planned to promote his initiative to speed up subway construction and other public-transportation projects as part of Tuesday's "Get L.A. Off Oil" day events. (This is not to be confused with the San Fernando Valley-based porn industry's "Get L.A. Off With Sensual O ... More >>

D.A. Looking Into Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's Ethics Surrounding Free-Tickets Scandal

Fox 11 NewsVillaraigosa at a Lakers game.​The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office is looking into Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's free-tickets controversy, with a spokeswoman telling LA Weekly that the office will "review" findings of the city's Ethics Commission in the matter. The may ... More >>

Here's Your LA Weekly Lakers Riot Survival Guide

anarchosyn via Flickr​So you're headed downtown, even though Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and police Chief Charlie Beck told you not to come to the Staples Center area unless you have tickets to tonight's game? You're brave. As longtime observers of the Los Angeles Police Department, ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa Praises Business For Not Leaving City, Proposes 'Tax Holiday' For Firms That Relocate To L.A.

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday praised a local business for not leaving L.A. and, at the same time, backed a proposed three-year "tax holiday" for out-of-town businesses that locate in the city. Nothing says your city leader is confident in its economy like a press conference touting a ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa To Speak To Gang Intervention Academy's Graduating Class

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Friday was scheduled to address the first graduating class of the city funded Los Angeles Violence Intervention Training Academy. Expected to join him were Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck and county Sheriff Lee Baca. That's a lot of pomp and circumstance fo ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa Says 3,500 Will Have Been Cut From City Payroll Come July

Fox News​In a bizarre pronouncement, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa this week told Fox News' Neil Cavuto that 3,500 workers will have been cut from city payrolls come July 1 as City Hall balanced a budget that at one time was recently $585 million in the red. It's bizarre because it's not a number ... More >>

Villaraigosa 'Disappointed' By LAPD Clash With Bicyclists

​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa this week said he was disturbed and disappointed after viewing video of an apparent clash between police and bike riders in Hollywood May 28 in which an officer threw a kick toward a bicylist and two or three other cops allegedly went after the videograp ... More >>

Obama Administration Expresses Support For Putting L.A. Rail Projects On Fast Track

The Villaraigosa line.​The Obama administration on Friday expressed some support for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's fast-tracking of regional light rail and transportation plans that could see his favored "subway to the sea" down Wilshire Boulevard running by the dawn of the next decade. "I sha ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa Heading To Lakers Game Despite Controversy Over Accepting Valuable Tickets

Fox 11 News​Despite a brewing controversy over his acceptance of high-priced sporting-event tickets, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans to be front-and-center at the Lakers NBA finals game against the Boston Celtics Thursday night, his office confirmed. The mayor is "attending with ... More >>

Mayor Asks Ethics Commission To Review Free Tickets

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has voluntarily asked for a review by the city Ethics Commission and the City Attorney's office that would determine whether or not he has violated any rules for accepting concert and sporting tickets given to him over the past five years. Under city ethics rules ... More >>

Some Of Mayor Villaraigosa's Prime Lakers Tickets Are Gifts From Staples Center Owner

Fox 11 NewsMayor Villaraigosa and KTLA reporter Lu Parker.​In a follow up on its report about how Mayor Antonio Villaragosa has been scoring some seriously valuable Lakers playoff tickets without disclosing the source of the gifts, Fox 11 News reported that the giver is indeed Anschutz Enterta ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa To Unveil New Bradley Terminal At LAX

​Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa planned to unveil the new, $737 million Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX Wednesday morning. The list of those planning to join him for a ribbon-cutting included City Council members Bill Rosendahl, Janice Hahn and Tom LaBonge. While the cash-strapped city ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa Asks Council To Wait For Union Concessions Before Approving Layoffs

​Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Monday asked the council to hold off on passing deficit-cutting measures for the city while L.A.'s chief administrative officer negotiates with city unions for concessions that could reduce the number of layoffs required to balance the budget. Such layo ... More >>

Mayor Villaraigosa: If Suns Win, We'll Take Sheriff Joe

​Now that Los Angeles is boycotting the state of Arizona, it seems odd for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be offering a wager with the mayor of Phoenix over the NBA Western Conference Finals.Apparently the embargo doesn't cover that. But this year's bet is no mere exchange of Laker jerseys for Ariz ... More >>