LA Mayor: 'The Basics Have Been Neglected For Too Long'
Los Angeles may be known for its celebrities, glitz and glam, but the city's mayor, Eric Garcetti, is focused on something decidedly less flashy: infrastructure.
Take the city's airport LAX, for example. You'd be forgiven for mistaking its terminals for a cramped bus station. And stepping out onto the curb can feel like an assault on the senses, with the horns, aggressive shuttle drivers and travelers jostling for taxis.
"It seems a little disorganized," says business traveler Burton Webb of Boise, Idaho, on his first impressions. "I prefer airports that have good access to trains."
Not in LA. This is a city of almost 4 million people, with one of the busiest airports in the world — but no train into the city. At least not yet. Messy, chaotic LAX is emblematic of everything that Garcetti wants to change.
"The basics have been neglected for too long, and it's the foundation I have to lay in the first few years if I'm going to write the next chapter of LA," Garcetti says.
He likes to say that he wants to reinvent LA and promote its diversity, food and innovators — but first, there are enough streets to stretch a four-lane highway from here to France, but many are battered with potholes. There is a Metro rail system, but it's limited. LA covers 469 square miles, but just getting across this city sliced up by freeways can seem like a heroic feat.
"We destroyed our public transit system from the '30s and '40s and '50s, and so we're in the process of rebuilding it," Garcetti says. "A bigger program than anywhere in the U.S., but a long way to go."
A lifelong Angelino and former city councilman, Garcetti has quickly developed a reputation as being understated. You're not likely to spot him in public making a grandiose announcement. He seems most at ease talking about things like infrastructure.
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