Much Unsaid in Villaraigosa’s Inaugural Talk

When he introduced Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at Friday’s inauguration, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa set off a sustained wave of boos from those gathered at City Hall.

“Angelenos, excuse me,” Villaraigosa scolded the governor’s detractors. “There will be civility today.”

That unscripted moment at the start of Villaraigosa’s inaugural address put the Democratic mayor in the unlikely position of defending a Republican governor whose popularity is sagging. It also captured Villaraigosa’s effort to define himself as a centrist uniter with an ambitious agenda to improve public schools, reduce crime and ease traffic jams.

“I’m a proud progressive,” said Villaraigosa, a former union organizer and American Civil Liberties Union leader. “But it’s time for those of us who call ourselves progressive to do more than just defend existing government programs. We need to be passionate advocates for change.”

While he opened his mayoralty on a tone of moderation, some of the most significant aspects of Villaraigosa’s speech were things left unsaid. Absent, for example, was his call to have the mayor appoint board members overseeing local schools -- his most controversial statement since his election in May.

Unanswered, too, was a broader question: How exactly will he go about solving major problems that have proved intractable to his predecessors?

Inaugural speeches are often vague. In this case, the lack of specifics could serve a strategic purpose -- to delay the dissent that is sure to emerge once Villaraigosa takes concrete action.

In just over half an hour, Villaraigosa invoked “dreams” 18 times, suggesting the city must set high goals, even if the means of achieving them seems elusive.

“I’m asking you to dream with me,” the beaming mayor told several thousand spectators from his podium on the red-carpeted steps outside City Hall.

Villaraigosa was blunt about the city’s troubles on a number of fronts. Among the critical steps needed to improve the quality of life, he said, is to cut “the time we spend stuck in traffic.”

“Los Angeles, join me -- fighting for the investment in public transportation that’s the hallmark of any great city,” he said.

Yet state and federal budget constraints are certain to leave Los Angeles billions of dollars short of what’s needed to build the subway and above-ground rail extensions he called for in his campaign -- among them a subway line under Wilshire Boulevard from Western Avenue to the beach.

Villaraigosa was equally vague on the environment. A longtime ally of environmentalists, he pledged Friday to “provide the national leadership that’s lacking on conservation and recycling.”

“Let’s show the nation that we can light a city with green power,” said the mayor, who did not mention the vast expense and practical complexities of weaning Los Angeles from its dependence on coal and natural gas for electricity.

On crime, too, Villaraigosa stuck to broad goals, in this case an expansion of the city police force. He offered no hint of how he might overcome voter resistance to higher taxes to pay for new officers and made no mention of the constant difficulty of keeping the pace of hiring ahead of attrition.

Villaraigosa’s central focus, however, was education. Again, he sidestepped discussion of the immense obstacles he faces, including the most important: The mayor of Los Angeles now wields no power over public schools.

He was clear on his goals: Money should be steered from the bureaucracy to the classroom, teachers should be well-paid, fewer students should drop out, and academic performance should improve.

But his only concrete proposal was to name a panel of advisors to propose improvements at the Los Angeles Unified School District.

He said nothing about his support for the proposal to have the mayor appoint the Board of Education members who oversee the district -- which would amount to a sweeping overhaul of the school system. The board is now elected by popular vote.

To enact the proposal, Villaraigosa would probably need to mount a major lobbying campaign in Sacramento -- state law governs the school board -- and overcome strenuous objections by powerful teachers unions that have been staunch supporters of the new mayor.

His silence on the proposed mayoral takeover left his intentions unclear.

“I expect he’ll make that a priority, because that’s really his vehicle to influence the schools,” said former Gov. Gray Davis, who attended the inauguration. “Otherwise, he’s basically a booster, a cheerleader, an organizer, but he doesn’t have any direct influence on the conduct of the schools, the school board, the curriculum -- anything.”

Still, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), a Villaraigosa friend and close political ally who would be crucial to the proposal’s success, minimized Villaraigosa’s support for it. He said the mayor’s goal was to see that “students achieve more academic success.”

“His is an effort to find the root cause of the problem,” Nunez said. “I don’t think he’s calling for a mayoral takeover.”

John Hein, former political director for the California Teachers Assn. who worked on the union’s campaign this year against Schwarzenegger, said he did not expect Villaraigosa to pursue the proposal aggressively.

“I don’t think he’s going to use up his political capital on that,” Hein said. “I think his real focus is collaboration, bringing people together. Stylistically, that’s just who he is.”

Villaraigosa, Hein continued, has “made it pretty clear that he has strong relations with teachers and their organization, and he’s not interested in having any kind of ongoing conflict.”

Former Mayor Richard Riordan, who made schools a top priority of his administration, used his political clout and personal wealth to promote the election of Board of Education members who were to his liking. He supports the mayoral takeover proposal. But Riordan, who pushed for a revised city charter that enhanced the mayor’s power in certain areas, played down the importance of limits on Villaraigosa’s authority on matters such as schools and mass transit.

On any issue, Riordan said, “the bully pulpit gives a mayor tremendous power.”

In his speech, Villaraigosa said he had “no illusions” about the challenge ahead on education. “There is no quick fix or a single path,” he said, in words that could have characterized a gamut of city problems. “But the stakes are too great, the needs are too urgent, not to start now.”