Antonio Villaraigosa served as the mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. He was a member of the California State Assembly from 1994 to 2000 and Speaker of the Assembly from 1998 to 2000. Time Magazine has named him as one of “25 Most Influential Hispanics In America.”
Harvard Political Review: LA Metro is expanding the Purple Line, especially in anticipation of the 2028 Olympics. Is it sustainable to switch our transportation system from car-based to being mass transit-based?
Antonio Villaraigosa: I think the real question is: is it sustainable to continue to be the single-passenger automobile capital of the United States? We are the city of sprawl, a city that went from what cities used to be—where people worked and lived in the same place—to a place where people work in Los Angeles and live all around the surrounding communities. We built an outstanding freeway system for a population in the 1960s, not in the 21st century.
Now, traffic. I have a little experience with that. The joke used to be whenever I was late, “I’m late because the mayor didn’t fix the traffic.” The fact is that we need to grow smarter than we have in the past. We need to grow in a way that creates more of a jobs-housing balance so that people work and live in the same place, whether it is Silver Lake or Koreatown. The thinking behind the notion of a subway to the sea — that was my moniker during the 2001 and 2005 campaigns for mayor — was not so much about doubling the size of our transportation system; it was also about reimagining the city. It was about closing our eyes and saying, “Wouldn’t it be great to live in a place where you work, where you shop, where you play?”
While I was mayor, we did the first consolidated, transit-oriented general plan to focus and incentivize density along transportation lines, housing, [and] commercial development. That is the best way to manage growth going forward. But traffic: you are going to have it for a long time.
HPR: You see different neighborhoods in LA taking different approaches to solving the housing crisis. You look at Silver Lake, and you see gentrification everywhere, but you also look at affordable housing units being placed into other neighborhoods to try and keep the original inhabitants while introducing lower-income residents. How do you mediate the different approaches, and how do you see gentrification shaping LA?
AV: As people move back to cities, what are the benefits? In LA, as an example, we have grown our Downtown. We have made Downtown a place where people live, work, and play. You also see that in Hollywood. But with that growth, there has been some gentrification. You are seeing that in the East Side, Highland Park, in places around Los Angeles. Some of that is unstoppable, but there is a lot we can do to soften the impact—things like inclusionary zoning, [which] requires that developers build affordable housing, 20, 25 percent and even higher in some places. With that, you have got to give them density bonuses, parking variances, and height variances so they can cost out that affordable housing. The California Environmental Quality Act makes it difficult to build anywhere. You can sue on a dime. The state has got to partner with the cities and counties of California because we have got to rethink.
Not everyone is going to live in a two-story, front and backyard, with a pool in the back. Some people are going to live in condos and duplexes and multifamily units and apartments, and we have got to be open to a broad range of housing options to address this crisis, and the state has to [be a] partner. It is a big challenge. I bought a house when I was a community organizer and labor leader. I was a lower-middle-class guy and was trying to save the world, as I have most of my life. I bought a house for $44,000 in 1978 by Cal State LA. Back then you could buy a house. You all are going to the best schools that money can buy, and you have some debt. It is difficult for young people to buy a house today without the help of their parents.
HPR: Another hot topic in Los Angeles is homelessness. How do you solve the homeless issue? What is the role of city government and local public officials in creating both long and short-term solutions to the issue?
AV: Confronting homelessness—which is first and foremost an issue of lack of housing but also affordability, mental health, [and] drug rehabilitation—is the responsibility of cities and counties. That does not mean it is not [also] the responsibility of the state and the federal government. I mentioned the California Environmental Quality Act earlier. If you think that just people who care about the environment try to force this act, a lot of times it is the NIMBYs, those homeowners who do not want “those” people living next to them. There was a town hall in Venice with people up in arms with the decision to site a homeless shelter in a specific part of the neighborhood. They argue that it was too close to kids, and that may be an issue, but I will bet you some of “those” people anywhere in Venice will be cited and the same in Hollywood. At some point, we all have to work together to solve this issue: every neighborhood, every city, every county, every part of the state.
HPR: There has been a lot of investment in the city recently, [like the] construction in Downtown. How do you preserve the city’s history, its public art, the variety and the diversity of the city’s neighborhoods, while still making Los Angeles into a competitive, global, 21st-century city?
AV: I have been a big supporter of historical preservation and protecting LA’s historical architecture, and I think public art is important. But when you look at Downtown today and Downtown in 2005, when I first got elected, it is a different place—[in] no small part because we were committed to growing Downtown. I would say the bigger issue is gentrification. We need more tools to make sure that we are not just building at market rate but also affordable housing. That means inclusionary zoning, linkage fees, and other tools to make it cost out and work out so that it is not just the middle class and the upper middle class living there but also working people who work downtown.
HPR: What do you, as a Latino leader, tell young Latinos coming out of Los Angeles and into spaces like Harvard that often do not look like them?
AV: I tell them: El papel del primero no es golpear tu pecho y decir soy tan único, soy especial. El papel del primero es abrir la puerta para los demás. The role of the first is not to bang your chest and say how great I am. The role of the first is to open up the door for the rest. A big part of why I was so focused on improving our schools and addressing income inequality is that I had broken a glass ceiling. I was the first Latino mayor since 1873. And I said to people, as the celebration died down and I looked around, everyone serving me looked just like me. What I say to people who are fortunate enough, like you, to be at Harvard: use this great education to change the world, to improve the human condition, to open up the door for others, to make sure that they get a shot at a better life.
Image Source: Obama White House Archive
This interview has been edited and condensed.