Wendy Greuel Heads To Hollywood To Challenge Eric Garcetti's Turnaround Claim

“It's one of the most dangerous places for women in the city, something Mr. Garcetti seems to be ignoring,” Greuel said, according to remarks provided by her campaign.

Greuel cited a 68% increase in rapes in Hollywood since 2009. However, a broader look at the data shows…

… an overall decline since Garcetti took office in 2001.

Dave Jacobson, Greuel's spokesman, said the campaign was not cherry-picking the data by focusing on 2009 as its starting point.

“It's not cherry-picking,” Jacobson said. “We're saying, 'For the last three years, you've neglected this issue.' He's focused on other things. We're pointing it out. The numbers don't lie.”

The Garcetti campaign declined to comment.

Greuel also challenged Garcetti's oft-repeated claim that his district is number one in job creation. 

The claim comes from this 2012 L.A. Chamber of Commerce report. The report showed that Garcetti's 13th district was indeed first in job creation in 2011. In the prior year's report, however, Garcetti's district ranked 6th out of 15, and the year before that it ranked 13th. (That was the first year the Chamber did such reports.)

Greuel argued that because the 2012 report reflected the council boundaries from the 2011 redistricting, Garcetti does not deserve credit for the jobs created in the new district.

“Once again, Eric Garcetti is trying to trick voters,” she said. 

The Chamber did not ask its researchers to rank the districts for 2012 under the old boundaries. It's not clear how Garcetti's district would have fared had they done so. The most notable change in Garcetti's new district in 2011 was the loss of Glassell Park. But short of redoing the entire report by matching state employment data to the old boundaries, it's uncertain how reverting to those boundaries would affect his district's ranking.

Greuel also claimed that much of the development in Hollywood was the work of the Community Redevelopment Agency — not Garcetti.

“He didn't lead,” she said, “he got lucky.”

The Greuel campaign spent most of its money in mid-April, and has lately been struggling to keep its TV ads on the air.

Garcetti held off until the last couple of weeks. He has spent roughly $1.2 million on TV ads this week hammering Greuel for her support from the Department of Water and Power union.