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• Mayor Villaraigosa's official site
• Article on Mayor Villaraigosa
• Cesar E. Chavez Foundation
• Mayor Villaraigosa's bio

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Tavis: Pleased to welcome Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to this program. His story is truly that of the American dream. Born in East LA, the son of a Mexican immigrant, raised by a single mother following his parents' divorce. After a troubled childhood, he rose through the ranks of state politics, becoming the speaker, the powerful speaker, of the California State Assembly. In July he became, as you know, the first Latino Mayor in Los Angeles in well over a century. I am pleased to have the pride of East LA, no, not Oscar de la Hoya, the Mayor on the program. Mayor, nice to see you.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: It's good to see you, Tavis.

Tavis: Glad to have you here. I've got to tell you, see, I love you, because you are the first person - we're about to start our third season, and we did the opening shot of our show. I specifically sat down with the people who crafted that opening to make sure that we had pictures of all across LA. I didn't want the regular old Hollywood sign that everybody sees.

I love that, but I wanted to have frames of different parts of our city, so when you see the opening of our show every night, you see more than just downtown, and more than just Hollywood. You are the first person, only the Mayor would notice this, to notice that I fought to make sure we had the Watts Towers. And you saw that. You just mentioned that to me.

Villaraigosa: Well, I did. And if you remember, in my inaugural speech, I spoke about the Watts Towers and what it represented. It represented the work of Simon Rodia, an Italian immigrant who collected shards of glass and metal and all these materials, that in many ways represent the diversity of Los Angeles. And the hopes and dreams of Los Angeles. So I noticed it right away.

Tavis: I'm glad. That makes me feel good. You noticed the Watts Towers in my opening shot. Three years later somebody figured that out. Thank you for saying that. Let me get the most serious question out of the way first before I get to the other stuff. Howard Baker, during the Watergate hearings, asked what did the President know, and when did he know it? My serious question is, does the Mayor still have his tattoo, and where is that tattoo?

Villaraigosa: Well, I had a tattoo put on when I was 15 years old. It said "Born to raise" you know what.

Tavis: You can say it, you can say it, "Born to raise hell.' Yeah.

Villaraigosa: And I took it off when my son began to inquire about it and wanted one. My two older daughters were never interested, but he was. And so I took it off about 10 years ago.

Tavis: And you did that precisely because you didn't want your son to be...

Villaraigosa: I didn't want him to be...

Tavis: Tattooed up.

Villaraigosa: Well, tattooed up, and all that comes with it, so. Not to denigrate anybody who has tattoos.

Tavis: No, no. Not at all. I was just curious as to whether our Mayor was sporting a tattoo. I just thought that was interesting information.

Villaraigosa: Not anymore.

Tavis: Not anymore.

Villaraigosa: I actually had two of them.

Tavis: Tell me what it was like. I mean, your story is so well known now, I kind of feel like I'm talking to Barack Obama. He's so huge now. Everybody knows the story. But for those who don't know the story, what was it like growing up in East LA, and how did you come out of that troubled childhood to be the Mayor of our city?

Villaraigosa: It was tough. I grew up in a home with domestic violence and alcoholism. I saw my mother beaten as a young boy, and I tell people those are images that you'll never forget. They're seared in your memory for the rest of your life. But I also grew up with a mother of indomitable spirit and unconditional love, who was proud to be an American, and proud to be of Mexican descent.

And she gave in her kids this sense of pride in country, but also in where we come from, and where our family had come from. She focused on education with us. She was a woman who spoke five languages. She used to read us Shakespeare, and read to us and encourage reading. And so even though I had some bumps along the road, including being a high school dropout for a period of time, it was that thirst for knowledge and that focus on education that really kind of helped me get back. And she was certainly the wind beneath my wings.

Tavis: Let me fast forward. Many years later you end up being married, and for those who don't know your name, I'm gonna let you do this. You have the most, the coolest way of explaining to people how to pronounce your name. So for those watching right now in parts of the country who don't know how to pronounce this long last name, tell us how you get people to pronounce it correctly.

Villaraigosa: 'Via airmail rye bread goes-a.' So it's Villaraigosa.

Tavis: There you go. (laughs)

Villaraigosa: It's two names. My name was Villar: V-I-L-L-A-R. My wife's name was Raigosa: R-A-I-G-O-S-A. And when we got married, we decided to put two names together, take one "R" out, two individuals coming together in one union.

Tavis: That's a cool story. Your wife must love you for that, even to this day.

Villaraigosa: The women love it. The guys didn't. (laughs)

Tavis: That's all that matters. As long as your wife likes it, the heck with everybody else. Let me get to the politics now. The whole country, of course, I say all the time by California politics, what happens in California casts either a long shadow or a long sunbeam. People are always paying attention to what happens in California politics.

Everybody was talking about the fact that Governor Schwarzenegger got his clock cleaned, respectfully, Governor. All four of his referendums went down to defeat. You were on opposite sides of the Governor in that fight. Your clout, your stature raised even more so, because the Governor lost, and you won. Tell me what that fight was about, and why the Governor lost, as the country knows now, so handily in that contest.

Villaraigosa: I actually did a lot of the commercials. A lot of the mail around that. English and Spanish speaking mail, and the Spanish speaking commercials. And I did because I just thought that these initiatives would take California back. Undermine education. Undermine public safety and the funding that we need for it. And undermine health care in California, in a state where all of those are very pressing needs.

I also, frankly, was turned off by the politics of polarization, by the refusal on the part of the Governor to work with the legislature and try to take on the challenges that he faced. He ran for Governor saying that he was gonna be pragmatic and a problem solver. That he was gonna be a Governor in the middle. And we expected him to be true to that representation. What I've said now, though, is the campaign's over. It's time to work together. Fabian Nunez, the speaker of the California State Assembly, and Don Perata, the Senate pro Tem, are two individuals who are willing and demonstrated a commitment to work with the Governor.

And I'm looking forward to doing that as well. None of us need to throw stones right now. What I said, this state isn't a red state or a blue state, it's a golden state. We need to invest in it. We need to celebrate our diversity. We need to ensure that we have the education funding that we need to be competitive in a global economy, and do the other things that are so important. The infrastructure, the health care. So important to the quality of life in this state.

Tavis: By my count now, two, maybe three times you've mentioned education. That is an important issue to you. You campaigned a lot on that. For those who don't know the ways politics work in this city, the Mayor has no control, quite frankly, over education. That is a function of the Los Angeles Unified School District. So you don't really control education. You have a great influence on it, but don't control it.

That said, what are we going to do about education in this city? This study just came out the other day, it's sad to say, on national television. We only graduate 45% of our high school students out of our school district here in LA. There are other cities that have the same kind of problem, but that's a real problem here in LA.

Villaraigosa: It's a tragedy. And it's unacceptable. And I've said that, actually, right now, you don't have any influence as Mayor. But I intend to use this bully pulpit to get that influence. Ultimately, I believe that we need public accountability, that the Mayor needs, representing the city of Los Angeles and the students and the families of Los Angeles.

The teachers need to ensure that we have the kind of governing structure, where the Mayor is in charge, where we're ensuring that we have accountability, where we're empowering parents and teachers and principals to be making decisions at the local site. Where we're cutting bureaucracy, where we're encouraging innovation, where we're doing everything we can to support small schools and more successful schools.

The idea that we have this many, that half of our children are dropping out, that some of the rest of the children who graduate can't read a bus schedule, much less a sample ballot, is unacceptable. And it's a national tragedy, because many of the big cities around the country are more segregated today than they were in the 1960s. They're are less successful, and we can't tolerate it, and we shouldn't accept it. It's as simple as that.

Tavis: Let me shift gears dramatically 'cause I want to cover as many topics as I can in the few minutes that we have here. Have we been lucky or are we prepared, here in LA, given that we have not been hit by a terrorist attack in the way that New York was?

Villaraigosa: We've been lucky and prepared. But I'll tell you this, all of the experts say it's only a matter of time. New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles are the three principal targets among terrorists. We know that. In 2001, the Millennium Bomber was caught at the Canadian border on his way to Los Angeles. We've foiled a terrorist cell here in the Southern California region. It's only a matter of time.

It is a big issue, and that's why I spend a lot of time in Washington DC and Sacramento, to try to get money for homeland security, funding for emergency preparedness. It is one of the things that, frankly, campaigning, I didn't realize what a critical challenge it is for us in the city, and it's one that I intend to accept. We put together a blue ribbon commission of experts to look at, you know, what our capabilities are, what we need to do to do everything possible to prevent an act of terror, and plan for it if something were to happen.

Tavis: Speaking of New York, the police chief that we have here now, Chief Bratton, William Bratton, was, as you well know, the former police chief in New York city, speaking of New York. The chief, I think, is getting decent marks for his handling of the police department, given the trouble that they've had in the past. And yet, I guess, as the case with any police department, but certainly here in LA, we continue to read stores about drama, for lack of a better word, involving our police department. How comfortable are you with Chief Bratton's leadership? What do you make of policing in the city of LA now?

Villaraigosa: I'm very comfortable with Chief Bratton. I saw him this morning at a general manager's meeting. He is without question one of America's finest police professionals, period. He's sought all over the country for his expertise and his management techniques. He's reduced crime in Los Angeles. He supported our reform effort.

He is working with the Federal Monitor and the consent decree, the federal government is currently overseeing our department because of problems that we've had in the past. I'm very comfortable with him. He's working well with our police commission, which is among the most progressive of anybody, any police commission in the United States of America, and probably the best suited, the best experienced in LA history.

We have John Mack, a friend of yours, former executive director of the Urban League, civil rights leader, who's the president of that commission. Andrea Ordin, a former US attorney that was involved in the Christopher Commission recommendations right after the Rodney King beating. Anthony Pacheco, a former assistant US attorney. Shelly Freeman and others, we've got a great commission, one that is doing a great job for us and is gonna ensure that we're not only a department that keeps the city safe, but also that works with community and respects people's rights.

Tavis: Speaking of community, LA is a microcosm of the world. We take pride in the fact that we are that microcosm of the world. The most multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multicultural city arguably in the country, certainly.

Villaraigosa: In the world.

Tavis: In the world. That said, there are challenges with that. I live in the 'hood. I work, have my office building in the 'hood, and I see the potential for tension, primarily between black and brown. You were able to pull together a wonderful coalition of black and brown to be elected. But that was to get you elected. That doesn't, by itself, stop the boiling that's going on where this issue is concerned. What you do about that?

Villaraigosa: Well, first of all, let me share something with you. I was at Jefferson High School in South Los Angeles when that conflict erupted.

Tavis: The day you got elected. Right around election day.

Villaraigosa: Right around election time. And I'll tell your something. There were 20 to 30 kids involved in that conflict. There were some 200 kids watching it. But 20 or 30 that were actually fighting. There are 3,600 kids at that school. Most of the kids are not engaged in this conflict that you read and see about when you turn on the TV and read the newspaper the next morning. Having said that, it's unacceptable. So what we've put together is a collaboration with the school district, where we're going to focus on safety in the schools, on safe passages, on mediation.

On giving kids alternatives to that kind of conflict, and certainly violence. We're working together to kind of celebrate things, like Martin Luther King's birthday and Cesar Chavez' birthday together, so people get to see the commonalities. I was at the Rosa Parks funeral. It was an honor to be there.

Tavis: You spoke there, yeah.

Villaraigosa: I spoke there, both here at first AME Church, but also in Detroit. And what I said was, "I'm here today because it was a civil rights act. I'm here today because it was a voting rights act.' I acknowledge the fact that I wouldn't be here as the first from my community, Mayor of the city of Los Angeles if there hadn't been a voting rights act and a civil rights act. I think it's very important for us, for people of color, to work together, to see our commonalities for all of us, white, black, brown, yellow, all of us, to make it work.

What I say to people is, this is the most diverse city anywhere in the world. It's a great experiment. We want to make it work for two reasons. One-because if we make it work, it's gonna be the key to our prosperity and our - destiny. Some 30 different nationalities that have their largest population here. You know, we have the third largest port and the fifth busiest airport. Our ability to make this diversity work in a global economy is going to make us the Venice of the 21st century.

We need to get beyond those conflicts, work together. And you're gonna see a Mayor who is going to roll up his sleeves. I'm gonna be at Crenshaw, I'm going to be at Jefferson, I'm gonna be at Locke. I'm going to be at all of the schools where there are issues, but also I'm going to go to Washington Prep, where kids are working together on a biracial basis and really making things happen. You know, the newspapers and the cameras focus on the conflict and not on the opportunities to work together and on the successes.

Tavis: Just less than a minute here to go. You've passed now the 100 day mark. Just between the two of us, what grade do you give yourself?

Villaraigosa: I give myself a passing grade. I'm never, you know, never satisfied, frankly, with my performance, nor the performance of the people who work for me. I'm always pushing. I said to people, I'll work as hard as they do from my first day in office to my last. I think I've done that. And I think people are seeing the energy that I bring to this job. Today I just announced, you know, a new initiative to green up Los Angeles.

We want to go to 20 percent green power by the year 2010. With this project, we'll be at 15% by the year 2010. Everybody said it was possible. The rest of the state is going 20 percent renewables by 2017. So you're gonna see whether it's stopping construction during the rush hour, supporting public transit, dealing with civil rights, growing our police departments, focusing on education. You're gonna see a Mayor with his sleeves rolled and ready to take charge and get people involved.

Tavis: You're gonna have to do that to deal with that agenda. Mayor, I'm glad to have you on the program.

Villaraigosa: It's good to see you, Tavis.

Tavis: Talk to you again soon.

Villaraigosa: Thank you.

Tavis: That's our Mayor, the city of LA, Antonio Villaraigosa. Now you got it. Up next, another installment of our 'Road to Health' series. Stay with us.