Two who didn't make it

Tom Hayden and Mike Woo both ran for mayor and lost to Richard Riordan. In this week's CityBeat, they have some things to say. First Hayden, who wrote an essay called L.A.'s History is at Stake (and whose latest book is Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence):

Racial and ethnic power struggles over who manages the status quo are the undiscussed dynamic of city politics. Though almost taboo in public discourse, here in L.A. that dynamic is never far from the surface.

The plight of Mayor James Hahn illustrates the ethnic and geographic fault lines that underlie the process. Hahn won the race against Antonio Villaraigosa last time by consolidating white and Republican votes, and relying on his county supervisor father’s past service to the black community. At root, this was a vote to delay, if not derail, the transition of Los Angeles to becoming a Latino city.

This time, Hahn is losing chunks of his white Republican Valley base to former state Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg and the African-American base to city Councilman Bernard Parks. His endorsement by the county AFL-CIO and his success in keeping the Democratic Party neutral may be crucial to slowing Villaraigosa, but may also turn out to be token in terms of the actual vote from those constituencies. Assuming he reaches the runoffs, Hahn, a liberal himself, will be forced back to the unsavory task of again assembling a coalition of those whites and blacks who see little future under a Mayor Villaraigosa. Last time, Hahn scandalously depicted Villaraigosa as a sleazy friend of even sleazier Mexican drug dealers. This time, faced with corruption scandals himself, a negative campaign may be harder for Hahn.

Woo, who has endorsed Villaraigosa in this year's race, was interviewed by CityBeat editor Dean Kuipers:

CityBeat: What are the major issues facing the candidates for mayor?

Michael Woo: The single major issue that is not adequately addressed is: How will Los Angeles cope with the anticipated growth in population over the next 10-20 years? And how will we pay for the improvements that are needed? The failure to address growth lulls the public into a false sense of security. But have you seen the projections of how much traffic speed on surface streets and freeways will be slowed down by 2025 [dropping from 37 to 19 mph freeway, 25 to 16 mph surface streets] They’re very scary.

Traffic is an issue in the mayor’s race, but is it enough of an issue?

Los Angeles is probably the worst example of what to do about traffic. In spite of the expansion of rail transit, there’s a very low percentage of daily travel that is taken by some means other than the private automobile. The mayoral candidates are all basically missing the point about the need to reduce the number of automobiles. But having your own car is the American way. It’s futile to go against the so-called American way of everybody owning a car, especially in L.A.

The cover story is about the "comeback of Antonio Villaraigosa." Funny, so is the paper's endorsement.