Mayor Villaraigosa didn't announce any public events for today, but he was plenty busy. He spoke at the joint swearing-in of new City Council members Herb Wesson and Jose Huizar. (The election of Eric Garcetti as new Council President followed.) He was due to speak at 2:30 pm to the Southern California Grantmakers at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. And he introduced Torie Osborn, until recently the executive director of the Liberty Hill Foundation, as his special advisor and liaison to the philanthropic community. She had served on Villaraigosa's transition committee. Liberty Hill's website calls her the highest-ranking gay person in city government, but Councilman Bill Rosendahl may have a different view on that. (* As might Chief Deputy City Attorney Rich Llewellyn...)
Villaraigosa will be at Harvard Wednesday to address the Program for Newly Elected Mayors at the John F. Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics. Perhaps mindful of the recent flap over Villaraigosa riding on Ameriquest's private jet, his office specifies that "the Mayor’s travel to Boston will be paid in full by Harvard University."