Posted on 05/18/2005 4:26:12 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Newly elected Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday plunged into the kind of controversy that could underlie his role as the first Latino leader of the multicultural city in over a century.
Villaraigosa, 52, the high school dropout son of Mexican immigrants, scored a resounding election victory over incumbent James Hahn in Tuesday's mayoral elections, making him one of the nation's highest profile Latino leaders.
Despite a campaign that underplayed race and a result that reflected cross-cultural support, Villaraigosa's historic win also underscored the growing influence of Latino voters in California and across the United States.
"It doesn't matter whether you grew up on the westside or the eastside, whether you're from south Los Angeles or Sylmar," Villaraigosa told cheering supporters at a victory celebration downtown.
"It doesn't matter whether you go to work in a fancy car or in a bus, or whether you worship in a cathedral or a mosque. We are all Angelenos and we all have a difference to make," he said.
Only hours later police were called to a city high school where fighting broke out shortly before a visit by Villaraigosa. Police and officials insisted the campus scuffles were not racially motivated and were quickly contained. But some parents and students said they involved black and Latino students.
No-one was seriously hurt, there were no arrests and the motive for the fighting was unclear. But it highlighted tensions that surfaced earlier in May when about 51,000 students stayed away from Los Angeles schools amid rumors of impending gang violence between black and Latino youths over drugs on Cinco de Mayo, a big Latino festival.
ZERO TOLERANCE
"I'm going to be a mayor that doesn't hide under a rock," Villaraigosa said of the scuffles. "The one commitment we have to our schools is safe passage for our children (and) zero tolerance for racial violence."
Villaraigosa, a charismatic Democrat, took about 59 percent of votes cast on Tuesday against 41 percent for fellow Democrat James Hahn, a political veteran who was elected mayor in 2001.
He becomes the first Latino mayor of Los Angeles since Cristobal Aguilar in 1872 when the city was a frontier town emerging from its Mexican roots.
Latinos are the largest ethnic group in Los Angeles, making up 47 percent of the city's 3.7 million population. Whites make up 30 percent, African-Americans 11 percent and Asians about 10 percent.
Villaraigosa, who is more fluent in English than Spanish, had played down his ethnicity, relying on charisma to build alliances with blacks, liberal whites and moderate Republicans.
But political experts said he would be foolish to ignore lingering unease among many in the city over its shifting demographics.
"The fact that Antonio is Latino will bring those issues right up to the forefront rather than sweeping them under the rug," said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.
"I think he would govern at his peril if he tried to ignore that. He is going to have to demonstrate that he will be a mayor for all of Los Angeles. Given his personality and background, I have no doubt he will do extremely well in that area," Guerra said.
I saw a commercial today about Mexico being a great place to vacation. WTH????? I find that hard to believe seeing as how they've managed to trash California!
Like Art Torres the chairman of the CA democratic party answwered when asked why he fights so hard for affirmative actions programs......."Because you whites are going to need them"! This is the end of CA as we once knew it and the beginning of Mexifornia.
Let the Great Gringo Purge begin! Any white person still living in southern Cal is nuts. That might be true for AZ too.
And the new mayor will make sure it stays unclear.
His history of bigotry and racism was played down so much that it was never revealed in this race at all.
Hard to believe but . . . the new boss is even further left.
You may not believe this, but I ENVY you! The Mayor of Madison, WI (Dave Cieslewicz) is a leftie, but Madison is small by comparison (200,000) and he IS doing LOTS of damage. The liberal media here just fawns over him. Heck! He's (POLITICALLY CORRECT) "Person of the Year!" He wants to make Madison into a clone of Seattle, Washington. Do us a favor, Dave. Just move there!
Oh, and I envision a race war -- maybe hot, probably cold. And whites and Asians will not be involved.
Just another idiotic LA Mayor.... glad I don't live there.
Schools are failing around this state, billboard signs with Spanish written underneath are all over, stores and neighborhoods are junked. It's sickening! Deep breath in.......I'm starting to feel racist!
It's practical. All of the different one-syllable names and different spellings of the one-syllable names are just impossible to remember for a Westerner.
"I saw a commercial today about Mexico being a great place to vacation. WTH????? I find that hard to believe seeing as how they've managed to trash California!"
Oh, Boy. Confession time, Tighty. I vacation in MX at least twice each year. Our friends have a time-share in Puerto Vallarta, and I really love it. My American dollars go a loooong way, the food is good, beer is cheap and people leave me the h#ll alone; my idea of the perfect vacation.
Sure, some of Mexico is a dump; I used to live 2 miles from the border in Imperial Beach, CA, (Tijuana) but I wouldn't give you a fresh flounder for Mexico City or Acapulco or Cancun or Cabo, but the lesser known costal areas are just gorgeous. Great beaches, scuba for DH, para-sailing and snorkeling for the kids, etc. Personally, I'd live there half the year if I could afford it. And any American with even a modest income could afford to live there...I've met many Americans that do.
It's either Alaska, Mexico or Hawaii for my Golden Years. I've still got 20 years to mull it over. Maybe by that time Mexico will be all the way up here in Wisconsin anyway, and the choice will be an easy one? :(
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
LOL - well maybe you have to have lived out of California for awhile to enjoy the finer offerings of Mexico.
Well, I lived in CA in the 80's while my then-H was in the Navy.
After seeing someone knifed in the street right outside of our apartment (the cops were on it before I could dial) I was glad to get back to the midwest; that's for sure.
Were OKAY here in San Diego....
Didn't graduate from UCLA either, from what I have read.
Wrong Mayor, north of the border we're Americans and speak English as the first Language... got It???
Madison's problem isn't the college students, it's the hangers-on. The people who never leave. Maybe they get a string of useless Master's degrees, maybe they just own an organic sandwich shop. They are the ones that make Madison (and Boulder and Ithaca) the wholesale pit of idiocy it is.
The reason they stay is partially the college environment, but it's also the pretty geography and the lack of opportunities (except for Milwaukee) in other urban areas of the state. The fact that Madison is the seat of state government doesn't help either.
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