Villaraigosa sheds light on second-term plan, touts 'Solar L.A.' to business group

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will officially lay out his plans for the next four years in his inaugural address  Wednesday. But he dropped a few hints in his speech today at the Los Angeles Business Council’s 2009 Sustainability Summit – vowing to “recreate L.A. as the CleanTech, green manufacturing center” of the world.

“This clean-tech future is ours,” said Villaraigosa, who announced last week that he would not run for governor and would instead focus on completing his agenda in Los Angeles. "It is time that we create that new economy, that we center it here in the capital city of the Pacific Rim, that we join business, labor, institutions of higher learning, city, county, all of the public institutions and really reinvent L.A., really begin to put our stamp on the future economy, the green economy here in L.A.” 

The mayor said Los Angeles had been “late to the game” in its environmental agenda – chasing cities including Austin, Chicago and Seattle. Although he touted the city’s progress toward drawing more energy from renewable sources, its water conservation efforts and the retrofitting of city buildings to make them more energy efficient, he said efforts so far had been a “pittance” compared to what could be done.

Villaraigosa signaled that a major focus this year will be building public support for his plan to draw more of the city’s power from solar energy. The mayor said the narrow failure of the solar energy initiative he backed in the March election – which would have installed 400 megawatts of DWP-owned solar panels throughout the city by 2014 – had not dampened his resolve.

Speaking at the Getty Center, Villaraigosa acknowledged that the voters of Los Angeles "had some concerns." "So we’re going back out," he said. "We’re not going to allow an election to impede the future, to impede what we have to do in the city.”

The mayor called the “Solar L.A.” plan “a commitment to Angelenos that the Department of Water and Power will install over 1200 megawatts of solar power over the next five years, ensuring that we become a solar powerhouse.”

-- Maeve Reston at L.A. City Hall

-- Solar panels atop Staples Center. Photo for The Times.

Comments

[cv]

Wow, so he is not going to listen to the will of the people! Is this anything like his plant 1 million trees?

[phantom71]

How about if we revisit his 1st platitude layered speech. What did he do to bring the other los angles, the people who sweep the floors, to bring them into the great civic dream that the city embodies? What of his talks to improve schools and transit and greening and cops. He said "I am going to ask people to dream and think big about Los Angeles," Villaraigosa said. "I am committed to the idea that a great city is a city where we are growing and prospering together." I remember these words like they were yesterday. We had hope that they guy wasn't just another stuffed suit. Sadly, 4 years later, he missed his calling. He should have been a ventriloquist. I mean, one side of his mouth is moving, but the voices of sadness are coming out of the other side. Bye Bye Tony. Good luck reaching into our souls one more time. You throw a good party but, sadly, the hangover still lingers.

[City Hall Outsider]

My bill is high enough already, thank you very much. Unless there's a publicly vetted plan that allows for real competition and not just some LADWP monopoly, let it die.

[Joshua]

I would love for L.A. to become the green-tech center of the world. However, is it really going to be, or will it become 'green' in a manner similar to the way it gets its 'clean, cheap' water? My guess is that L.A. will fight tooth and nail to ensure that the negative consequences of its actions will continue to be borne by people beyond its borders: In the case of water, allowing environmental and community water to be damaged in the North, instead of bearing the consequences of getting its own water from de-sal or some other form. In energy, I'll be L.A. will want to build its giant plants out in the desert, wreaking havoc on wildlands and rural communities, and drawing down already-diminshed water sources (for solar plants) so it can tout its green cred.

[Kenny M]

Sounds like a re-run of the last four years! The second time around, same as the first!
Better times will just have wait.

[Louweegie272]

Right now our biggest industry according to the Times is tourism. I wonder if he has a plan to bring back the entertainment business?

[Hammering Hank]

The city,county or state governments are not really serious about going green. If they were they would learn from great cities such as London,Berlin,Amsterdam,Tokyo (my favorite), or even New York City, or Chicago. Instead of building railways we build busways. Busses are good, but cater to primarily the less fortunate. Where as railways can cater to everyone. There is no reason why we do not have a train or monorail system parallel every freeway in so.cal..We need a thought out community that incorporates pedestrians,bicyclist,vehicles along with mass transit...