A man told Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to "Go back to Mexico" on his way out of the state capitol. Villaraigosa was in Sacramento taking on the third rail of California politics and suggesting that Proposition 13 be overhauled. But Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Morain happened to be tagging along with Villaraigosa that day for a profile of the mayor. more ›

The Metro board approved a new policy today requiring that 40 percent of the work hours on its major transportation projects go to low-income and other struggling workers. It is the first transit agency that uses federal funds for a targeted hiring policy, according to City News Service. more ›

Taking its cues from the mayor, the Los Angeles Police Department is reconsidering its rules for impounding cars. more ›

An Occupy L.A. protestor was arrested last night in what Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has called the "free speech zone" on the steps of City Hall. A protester caught the arrest on video — as well as an unidentified LAPD officer taking pains to explain exactly how the "free speech zone" works. more ›

Drivers caught driving without a license can expect to have their cars impounded for a month at a time in Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants to change that and allow drivers, many of them illegal immigrants, to get their cars back much quicker. more ›

An electric car company opened its global headquarters in Los Angeles this week. The city lured CODA Automotive with $1.4 million in financial incentives, and because the company wanted to make a home in a state that has a $2,500 rebate for electric vehicles, according to the Associated Press. more ›

What's better than using a few years of tax revenue to fix Los Angeles' streets? How about using a few decades' worth! Mayor Villaraigosa has been coming up with a plan — "quietly" the Los Angeles Times says — to use 27 years of Measure R revenue funding to fix up the city's streets and potholes. more ›

With the time suck that was the debt ceiling deal finally signed, it's time for President Obama to get back to raising money for his re-election campaign. Fortunately for the campaign, President Obama is celebrating his birthday today (the big 5-0), which provides ample opportunity to celebrate his accomplishments while collecting campaign cash. more ›

Antonio Villaraigosa will be among 230 mayors introducing a civility accord today at the 79th Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. and he's packed in quite a few meetings while he's in our nation's capitol, according to the Daily Breeze. more ›

On Monday Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa threatened to implement a new round of employee furloughs and layoffs if Los Angeles City Council members were unable to reach an agreement on budget cuts. more ›

In a move that seemingly goes against the belief that "safe and prosperous communities start with clean streets," a top financial advisor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recommended this week that Los Angeles diminish by half its graffiti-removal budget "as part of a round of short-term cuts," reports the LA Times. more ›

The second edition of last weekend's sold-out LA Street Food Fest (see previous LAist coverage) may be but a distant memory, but with many of the thousands of attendees wielding cameras, there is an abundance of content to wade through. Besides the vendors outside and inside the Rose Bowl, there was Unique LA's Marketplace as well as live performances from DJ Bryan Davidson and LAist favorites The Deadly Syndrome and Warpaint. more ›

Up until Monday, the portion of the yard at Saturn Street Elementary school marked as the garden was still asphalt. It's taken much hard work by the staff, students, parents, and local community, but today marked the launch of their school garden. To get things started, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made Saturn his first stop today as part of his Mayor's Day of Service. more ›

Local fans of ABC's long-running soap All My Children will see a familiar face on today's episode: City Council President Eric Garcetti. And that's not the Pine Valley City Council we're talking about. Garcetti is one of two LA political bigwigs... more ›

This week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa commented that he believes the City Council should work to create parameters that would "limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city," according to CBS2. He believes the current count of 8-900 is too high, and talk among the Council is to aim to cap "dispensaries at between 70 and 200." more ›

The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted 6-1 yesterday to approve a controversial plan put forth by Board VP Yolie Flores Aguilar called the "School Choice" plan which will allow private organizations and companies to submit bids for operational control of several schools in the district, including as-yet unopened campuses as well as troubled schools. more ›

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa may be out of town until the end of the week, but his office is still working to keep the finances of the City under control. One unexpected expense this week: The estimated $4 Million cost of hosting the public memorial service for the late King of Pop Michael Jackson. Although City Councilmember Jan Perry, acting in her capacity as Mayor pro tem, went public with a plea for donations, much like the manner in which the costly Lakers Championship parade and rally was funded, no major donors, including the Jackson family or Staples Center owner AEG have come forward with funds. more ›

Los Angeles' "photo-op" Mayor has spent the past few weeks with the word 'FAILURE' hanging over him, so to speak, thanks to Los Angeles Magazine's recent cover story on Villaraigosa's approaching second term in office. Now it seems that the bulk of his Partnership schools within the LAUSD have also given the Mayor an 'F' in the form of a "thumbs down from teachers," according to the LA Times, adding:

Eight out of 10 schools delivered a "no confidence" vote, and we're talking landslides (84 to 17 at Santee Education Complex, 96 to 13 at Stevenson Middle School, 70 to 13 at Gompers Middle School, 61 to 8 at Markham Middle School and 184 to 15 at Roosevelt High, which the mayor himself once attended).

Will he or won't he? That seems to be the question of late when it comes to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 2010 bid for California Governor. In an item run this weekend in the San Francisco Chronicle, the seeds of the no-go rumor were planted, watered, and sprouted: "Our sources in L.A. say Villaraigosa has come to the conclusion that the time is just not right for him to make a state run - given that he hasn't even been sworn in yet to a second term, and that he's facing bloody political fights at home." more ›

Late yesterday afternoon LA Observed's Kevin Roderick offered up some insight on the recent goings-on in local politics during his KCRW commentary. In addition to taking a look at this week's winners and losers--err, in the context of elections--Roderick took a look at what may or may not be the pop culture litmus test for potential electoral success. Yes, you guessed it: Twitter. more ›

ALOUD at Central Library hosts a conversation with Reza Aslan, cofounder and creative director of BoomGen Studios as well as the Editorial Executive of Mecca.com and journalist Amy Wilentz for Young Literati Members tonight at 7 pm. They’ll talk about “launching a revolution in the way we understand - and confront - radical Islam.” After the program, join both authors and Young Literati members for an intimate gathering, including cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at Café Pinot. (ALOUD Program is open to the public, the post-program cocktails are limited to current Young Literati members.) more ›

Tonight LACMA presents “Sound & Image: A History of Bollywood Film Music with Robin Sukhadia” from 7-9 pm at the museum’s Bing Theater. The seminar is focused on the sound and music of Bollywood, including the works of master film composers Naushad, SD Burman, & RD Burman. The program will feature music videos and film clips, accompanied by historical and political commentary and context by Sukhadia. The evening’s free and kid friendly. more ›

April 2010 is now one year away, and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is hoping to inspire many Angelenos to take an active role in the Census due to take place. Today he was joined by City Council President Eric Garcetti, Councilmembers Wendy Greuel and Jose Huizar, director of the U.S. Census Bureau Los Angeles Regional Office Jamie Christy, Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Taboo, member of the Black Eyed Peas, to launch the City of Los Angeles 2010 Census initiatives, according to a press release issued today. more ›

Incumbent Mayor Antonia Villaraigosa wouldn't take Steve Lopez up on the offer of comparing french dip sandwiches along with his challengers a few days ago, but according to his Twitter feed, he's happy to shake a few hands with voters at another famous LA meat sandwich shop: Langer's Deli. Villaraigosa is kissing babies and finding photo ops as part of a very busy weekend campaign bus tour of the city. Already today he has "rallied the troops in support of the solar plan Measure B" and "open[ed] a Fire Station in the Pico Union area." His campaign blog lists many such visits today and tomorrow (although the midday ones are absent from today's agenda) and includes an awful lot of greeting, and a lot of potential meat-eating. His late-night nosh stops include Canter's Deli at 10 pm and Pink's Hot Dogs at 11. more ›

LA Times columnist Steve Lopez had what he thought was an ingenious way to gather the candidates City of Los Angeles voters have to choose from in Tuesday's Mayoral election. His plan was to get them together to chat and to determine "who makes the best French dip sandwich in Los Angeles, Phillipe the Original or Cole's?" he explains in his column this weekend. more ›

With just over a week to go before the City of Los Angeles takes to the polls to elect--or re-elect--a Mayor, candidates for the job have been participating in public forums to get their platforms and pot-shots out. Yesterday, five of the nine candidates gathered in Tujunga at an event moderated by the Daily News' Ron Kaye; one of those five was decidedly not incumbent Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. more ›

Saturday at noon marked the deadline for hopeful candidates to take out filing papers for the March 3rd local election for multiple local offices from City Council to School Board, including the Mayor's. Those hoping to run have "until Dec. 3 to return their nominating petitions and qualifying signatures of eligible Los Angeles voters," explains the LA Times' Opinion LA blog. more ›

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is in Chicago today, taking part in meetings with President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden. more ›

Yesterday morning hundreds of students holding handmade pinwheels lined up on the street in the middle of Skid Row for a parade to celebrate the expansion of Inner-City Arts. They were joined by the staff and board members of Inner-City Arts, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, community leaders, and many guests. Everyone gathered together to commemorate a huge milestone in the history of this amazing organization. more ›