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Mayor Villaraigosa will unveil his master strategy for taking control of the Los Angeles Unified School District in a speech next Tuesday, while the teachers union plans to beat him to the punch by announcing its own plan the day before, says Howard Blume on the Jewish Journal website.
Villaraigosa’s first state-of-the-city speech is likely to put bone and muscle on his school takeover pitch which, up till now, nearly a year into his term, has been theoretical and short on specifics. If Villaraigosa delivers what people all over town have been waiting for, a slew of interest groups will know where they stand and will begin to respond accordingly....Unless Villaraigosa holds off — and further delay might be seen as retreat or indecision — the mayor will set the city on a path toward mayoral control within about two years. That would put Villaraigosa on a timetable to win control in a first term as mayor and wield that power in a second term, if he is reelected.
Today at noon, Villaraigosa will use his conference room to announce the formation of a new Los Angeles union for security officers.
Also: A tribute to the late Dave Blume by journalist Dianne Bates Kenney at her online newsletter, Bates Rates News.