Barrett Garese

spiegelman:

I recently saw Eric Garcetti bowl seven strikes in a row. It was at a campaign event just before the primary election, at the Spare Room in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Eric’s technique is probably better suited to discus throwing. He hurls the ball with such force that by the time it makes contact with the ground it’s already halfway down the lane. The momentum of his own arm lifts both his feet off the ground, so that for a moment he bobs in the air like a buoy. I’m not sure the pins get knocked down so much as they dive out of the way of Eric’s throw in fear of obliteration. The frames that were not strikes were all spares, except for one, which was an eight.

If you want to know about Eric Garcetti’s actual achievements in office, about how, during his terms representing East Hollywood, Silver Lake, Echo Park and Atwater Village on the City Council, those neighborhoods transformed from gang-ridden cesspools into some of the most dynamic and desirable areas of Los Angeles, go ahead and Google that. I support Eric for that, and also for a handful of other small details you might think are unrelated to the skills you need as Mayor of Los Angeles, but which I think demonstrate something essential.

Here are some additional minor data points.

Eric Garcetti dances like a Jewish kid who grew up in the Valley —which is to say, really well. Jewish kids from the Valley are raised on hip hop. At some point everyone had a home video that taught you how to breakdance. You showed off for girls at bar mitzvahs by demonstrating the moves you spent months learning in secret. At some point Eric mastered the pop and lock. He will bust it out with little provocation. The professional dancing crew that inaugurated the South Los Angeles campaign office was genuinely impressed.

The first time I heard Eric Garcetti speak was at a fundraiser for his City Council reelection campaign in 2005. I remember it well because I embarrassed myself. Eric was talking to the room about the history of Spanish missions in California, and he asked “How many of you here have been to the mission of Los Angeles?” I was the only person to raise a hand. He looked me dead in the eye and said, “That was a trick question. There was no Los Angeles mission.” While I shrunk back cringing into the crowd he went on to explain why this was, and demonstrated what I would come to realize was an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of Los Angeles.

Before the Mayoral campaign, when he had a bit more free time, Eric Garcetti would never turn down a game of Lexulous, the Facebook equivalent of the Scrabble knock-off Words With Friends. He’s the only person I cannot beat at that game.

Steve Lopez, the usually cantankerous columnist for the Los Angeles times seems genuinely won over by Eric Garcetti, which is something, because Steve Lopez doesn’t ever seem to get won over by anything. Here’s one of his typically acerbic passages, from January: “Since my knee replacement surgery less than two weeks ago, I’ve been popping narcotic painkillers that come with long lists of potential side effects. Among them are vomiting, hallucinating and impaired thinking. It is perhaps that third one that made me feel compelled to write about the race for mayor of Los Angeles.”

But jump ahead to last week, when Lopez admitted that he is “humbled” by Eric Garcetti’s experiences. “He’s George Plimpton, Bono and Seinfeld’s Mr. Peterman all rolled into one,” wrote Lopez about Eric. “When he says: ‘And then there was the time I commandeered a snowmobile at the North Pole while on a climate-change fact-finding mission and located Salma Hayek’s lost purse in the frozen tundra,’ he’s not kidding.” You may detect a hint of sarcasm, but the fact that it’s only a hint is telling.

The title of Steve Lopez’s article is “You name it, Eric Garcetti has done it.” But that misses the point. From what I’ve seen, you name it, Eric Garcetti can do it. You might be tempted to dismiss him as one of those annoying guys who is good at everything, until you realize that he’s not good at everything, he’s only good at the things he loves —but he loves a lot of things. He loves service, he loves Los Angeles, he loves the pop and lock. And the thing about someone who has that kind of heart, who gives his all to the things he loves until he masters them, that sort of heart is infectious. It wins people over. Even curmudgeons like Steve Lopez.

The office of Mayor in Los Angeles is not like the office of Mayor in New York or Chicago. In eastern cities, the executive is invested with large amounts of unchecked authority. Eastern mayors, to some extent, rule by decree. Not so in Los Angeles, which spreads executive power over several independent bodies and offices. To be successful as mayor here, you have to exercise what they call “soft power,” which Wikipedia describes succinctly as “the ability to attract and co-opt rather than coerce.” The secret to soft power is winning people over. The secret to winning people over is to demonstrate a lot of heart.  

There are specific reasons I’m in the tank for Eric Garcetti. I think he’s a leader. Not only do I think he’s the leader that Los Angeles needs, I think he’s the leader everyone needs. I want to see what he can do as Mayor. Please join me in voting for him tomorrow.

I’ve only met Eric Garcetti a couple times, but his responses to what I can only describe as my “pointed” questions earned my vote entirely. He’s got good ideas, a massive work ethic, and a seeming inability to abandon hope. He also recognizes Los Angeles’ potential as one of the world’s great cities, while not using it as an excuse to sugarcoat the areas that desperately need attention. In two minutes he can explain how homelessness, parks, LA city business taxes, encouraging schools to teach computer programming, and revamping LAX are all connected to the success of the city, and you realize that he’s right on all counts. Eric Garcetti earned my vote tomorrow, and I encourage you to read about him, his platforms, and his accomplishments in the links above for yourself.