Garcetti Touts Neighborhood's 'Remarkable' Turnaround in State of Hollywood Speech

Hollywood’s crime has gone down 23 percent since last year, incidents of graffiti have plummeted 83 percent since 2004 and more potholes are getting filled than ever before.

Those were among the findings that Council President Eric Garcetti  shared Thursday with about 270 members of the business community at the Renaissance Hotel in his 10th State of Hollywood address. The speech, which highlighted accomplishments over the last year, was hosted by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Other topics he covered included the Los Angeles Film School and farmers market conflict and leasing out the city’s nine garages. He also answered questions from the audience. Most people wanted to know whether he planned to run for mayor in 2013. He said “without trying to be coy” that he is strongly considering it.

“What propels me to think about it is you all, the people who are here,” he said. “You have inspired me, taught me the nuts and bolts. The lessons of Hollywood are truly universal.”

He said he had tweeted the previous night that he was going to be giving the speech, asking constituents to tell him what they thought were some of the more significant projects that were completed in the 10 years since he’s been in office.

From midnight to 7 a.m., he got about 70 responses, he said.

“For 10 years, we’ve brought about one of the most remarkable turnarounds of any neighborhood in the country,” he said.

He noted that a decade ago, some of the most celebrated parts of Hollywood weren’t around yet.

“No Academy Awards, no Jimmy Kimmel, no Renaissance or W or revitalized Roosevelt,” Garcetti said. "No Hollywood and Highland, no Sunset and Vine, no Arclight.”

One audience member asked about the future of the farmers market, whether it would be staying in the heart of Hollywood.

"It's very L.A. The sky is always falling, and we're very good at fear ... but we're not really good at resolving an issue," Garcetti said.

Garcetti said it would have been nice to know about the Film School's expansion plans, which were accidentally revealed recently. He said the farmers market will stay in Hollywood, and that it's just a matter of accommodating both sides of the street-closure conflict. The market might move a few blocks to Vine Street or different locations on Selma Avenue.

This last year also saw the worst budget shortfall in the city’s history.

“In the business world, you can’t spend more money than you have," Garcetti told the crowd. "This has been my guiding principle for our city as well.”

He said trying to live within its means, the City Council reduced L.A.'s payroll by 4,000 people—not temporarily but permanently.

“Today, the city payroll is about where it was when Mayor Tom Bradley left office, when Los Angeles had 1 million fewer people,” he said.

Switching to the topic of potholes, the councilman said the streets in District 13 are the highest-rated in the city in terms of condition. All streets are now being assessed by a street pavement survey van that can electronically size up the conditions of the road.

“Now, we deploy our road crews where they are needed most, instead of where we think they should go based on our eyes,” Garcetti said.

He said more potholes and street repairs will be fixed in the coming year than ever before.

Garcetti said the City Council is implementing the mayor’s proposal to lease the city’s nine parking garages, including the 3,000-space Hollywood and Highland garage, where most of the audience parked that afternoon.

“I will not support any plan that harms Hollywood businesses because I know that it’s business that generates the revenues that put cops on the street, firefighters on the trucks and asphalt on the road,” he said.

In the past year, he said he fought for pension reform as well as a ratepayer advocate with the Department of Water and Power for oversight purposes and, along with Councilman Tom LaBonge, has fought for libraries to remain open six or seven days a week.

Garcetti was elected to the City Council in 2001, becoming one of the youngest city council members in the city’s history. In December 2005, he was unanimously elected as Los Angeles City Council president. 

Garcetti is credited with championing the economic revitalization of Hollywood. He won passage of a plan that eliminated the city’s business tax for 60 percent of all businesses and helped bring thousands of new high-wage jobs to Los Angeles and his district. Garcetti helped to clear the final roadblocks that allowed the $600 million Hollywood and Vine revitalization project to be built.

For more information on Garcetti and his initiatives, go to: www.cd13.lacity.org