Over 11 years and 570 episodes, John Rabe and Team Off-Ramp scoured SoCal for the people, places, and ideas whose stories needed to be told, and the show became a love-letter to Los Angeles. Now, John is sharing selections from the Off-Ramp vault to help you explore this imperfect paradise.
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New LA Mayor Eric Garcetti knows the honeymoon will end. "You can't run for office this day and age without being prepared for some people disagreeing with you; even hating you," he told me outside Van Nuys City Hall today. "But what's important is being mission-driven. Stick with what you believe in."
But, Garcetti says, as we conducted an interview in the back seat of the Mayoral SUV with a baby seat between us, his first week in office has been "awesome." How is it different from being city councilman? "Same school, different classroom. You're able to shape you day a little bit more, without city council or committee meetings you're mandated to attend." He can take a moment, he says, to sit at his desk and breathe and think.
Garcetti says he is probably the first LA mayor to hold open office hours for members of the public, pointing out there are literally six doors between the public and the mayor. That went well, he says, but he also held a different sort of office hours, riding the 92 bus to work one day this week. Not many people noticed, he said, until near the end. He says it's important for him to do frequently, as a member of the Metro board.