Domingo tops Villaraigosa, Kobe as L.A.'s preferred lunch date

Which would you rather discuss over lunch -- the Lakers, the baffling minutiae of the Los Angeles city budget, or opening night at the opera?

According to the results of an online poll conducted by the Downtown News, when given the choice among four prominent downtowners -- including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Laker Kobe Bryant -- 66% of those responding to the poll would most like to have lunch with Los Angeles Opera's general manager and superstar tenor Plácido Domingo. He'd have a lot to talk about right now: The L.A. Opera's 2009-10 season launches Sept. 12 at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love" and the company will stage its first Ring Cycle later this season.

In last place was Mayor Villaraigosa, netting just 6% of the vote.

In the middle were billionaire Philip Anschutz, head of Anschutz Entertainment Group (16%), and Bryant with 14%.

The poll was conducted Aug. 17-28 and published in today's issue of the Downtown News. 

-- Diane Haithman

Photo: Plácido Domingo on the Music Center plaza.  Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Dear Mr. Mayor: Congrats, and here's your to-do list (UPDATED)

 

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who won reelection yesterday in lackluster fashion -- picking up 56% of the vote against a weak field -- was during his first term a major disappointment on issues relating to urban planning and mass transit. For all his talk of supporting green development and "elegant density," the mayor has often pandered to some very outdated and automobile-centric notions about growth and mobility in this city. Instead of using his bully pulpit to push for a comprehensive transit system for L.A., he has instead spent valuable political capital arguing for widening freeways -- when it comes to reducing congestion, a costly fool's errand if there ever was one -- and turning Pico and Olympic boulevards into one-way thoroughfares. He rushed an ill-thought-out solar plan onto Tuesday's ballot, only to see most voters apparently reject it.

Even if he has his eye on the governor's mansion in Sacramento, as has been widely reported, Villaraigosa still has time to turn that rather dismal record around. After the jump, a list of three things the mayor can do, quickly and without spending much money, to begin redeeming himself on these issues, which are crucial to the future financial health and cultural relevance of Los Angeles.

Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines

--Funeral services are planned this morning at 9:30 at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral for artist Robert Graham, who died Dec. 27 at age 70.

--Some producers of Broadway's "Speed-the-Plow" reportedly seek an investigation and consider a suit against the play's sushi-tainted former star Jeremy Piven.

--Mayor Villaraigosa launches LA Arts Month to draw attention to the arts, which generates "$100 billion in revenue for the area each year."

--On Thursday, PBS will air "Cyrano de Bergerac," starring Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner and staged by David Leveaux.

--Arts patron Betty Freeman dies at 87. Mark Swed recalls her support of young composers. Tyler Green shares memories of a tour of her art collection.

-- Conductor Daniel Barenboim calls off two concerts in Qatar and Egypt.

--Adam Shankman, who directed the film version of "Hairspray," is tapped to take on a film version of "Bye Bye Birdie." 

--The World Monuments Fund joins with Iraq's State Board of Antiquities to launch a management and conservation plan for Babylon.

--Lisa Fung

Photo: Robert Graham. Credit: Charley Gallay / Getty Images

New CEO Young: Seeing past the storm at MOCA

In late November, not long after Eli Broad made his very public offer of a $30-million bailout to the cash-strapped Museum of Contemporary Art, the billionaire philanthropist also extended a behind-the-scenes offer to Charles E. Young, chancellor emeritus of UCLA, to act as the museum’s first chief executive.

“It must be about three weeks ago or four weeks ago that Eli called me at home — I had just come back from New York — and asked me if I’d heard about what was going on at MOCA,” Young said in an interview the day after Christmas. “He said, ‘If MOCA accepts my offer, I think you’re the person they need to do this.’

“I thought, ‘This is kind of strange ....’ ”

MOCA agreed to Broad’s offer early last week, ending weeks of speculation that it might instead opt for a merger proposed by the larger, wealthier Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

At the same time, it announced that Young, 77, had accepted Broad’s “kind of strange” offer to head an effort to stabilize its management and finances as it looks for a new director to replace Jeremy Strick, who resigned last week.

Although the museum has not called Young’s position an interim job, it plans to return to the traditional structure of having a director/chief executive rather than retaining a chief executive to oversee finances. Young expects his post to last for nine to 18 months.

Young will also oversee the museum’s cooperation with the California attorney general’s office, which is looking into the museum’s finances following news reports that MOCA had used restricted funds to cover general operating expenses.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa makes a plea to MOCA

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, right, weighed in publicly today on the situation at the Museum of Contemporary Art. His letter to board co-chairmen Tom Unterman and David Johnson asks that the board take time to thoroughly review its options and set aside 30 days to allow the public an opportunity to provide input before a decision is made.

MOCA is considering at least two proposals to help bail out the financially troubled downtown museum. Billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad has offered $15 million if the museum will match those funds, plus an additional $15 million over five years for programming. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has offered to merge with MOCA, sharing resources and facilities.   

The board is scheduled to meet this morning.

Text of the mayor's letter follows after the jump.

-- Lisa Fung

Credit: John Shearer / Getty Images