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Scenes from Mayor Villaraigosa's media availability this morning in his third floor conference room at City Hall:
⇒ First words: "Why is it so dark in here?" The mayor steps into a closet to electrically raise the blinds, then holds up a white sheet of paper for the nine TV cameras on hand to re-adjust for the brighter light.
⇒ Villaraigosa opens with his new anti-poverty initiative, and says he will work closely with the Brookings Institution in Washington.
⇒ Focus quickly shifts to the school takeover campaign. Villaraigosa calls Chicago "the best run city in the United States of America" and praises his new best friend, Mayor Richard Daley— who took over the schools there and endorses what Villaraigosa wants to do.
⇒ In response to reporter questions, Villaraigosa says he sped up the timetable for wresting control from the school board because a new poll found his popularity is high: "I believe the moment is now...I have the political capital...All that hard work the last six months has paid off."
⇒ Will he be around to carry it through? "I'm committed to engaging in this effort for the long term...This issue burns in my soul...If we don't do something about these schools, then shame on us...We can't continue to pretend we don't have a crisis in our schools."
⇒ Logistics: He wants the power to hire and fire the superintendent of schools, and predicts the state Legislature will authorize a plebiscite to be held as soon as next year. Other details remain undecided: "We're in the process of trying to figure it out."
⇒ The mayor's en español response to the State of the Union on Tuesday will be "hopeful and optimistic....I'm going to offer an alternate vision for this great country."
⇒ Fire chief William Bamattre is on notice to fix up the LAFD's culture of harassment: "These issues were not a surprise to me. I believe in this fire department, but it's clear we have changes to make."
⇒ The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority better watch out too: "I am increasingly concerned about the leadership of that organization."
⇒ New in the Spanish-language media scrum that gathers around the mayor post-news conference: Manavision Channel 4 from Ecuador.