Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa tours Mexico

While traveling in Mexico today, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took a swipe at efforts to build a massive fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying U.S. politicians should spend their time building bridges instead of walls, the Associated Press reported.

“We should focus on what we have in common instead of focusing on our differences,” Villaraigosa said after a meeting with Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard.

On Sunday, Villaraigosa met with Mexican President Felipe Calderón at the National Palace. Before the mayor was given a tour, the two discussed immigration and public safety issues, according to a representative of the mayor’s office.

Villaraigosa’s trip to Mexico started Thursday, when he led a delegation of authors, artists, filmmakers and musicians to the 2009 Guadalajara International Book Fair, where Los Angeles had been declared the guest of honor.

A $2.1-million grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs paid for the delegation’s trip to Guadalajara, including travel expenses for four staff members from the mayor’s office and a dozen from Cultural Affairs. Councilman Jose Huizar and City Librarian Martin Gomez also were part of the delegation.

The mayor’s trip to Mexico City cost an estimated $8,600 and was paid for by Villaraigosa’s office and Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that oversees Los Angeles International Airport.

It's unclear what source of funds will be used to pay the travel expenses of the mayor's LAPD security detail.

On Sunday, Villaraigosa met with Calderón. Today, he met with government and business leaders, including Secretary of Government Fernando Gómez-Mont and the majority owner of Volaris Airlines, Carlos Slim.

The mayor’s office did not release details of Villaraigosa’s Mexico trip until shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday, the night before the Thanksgiving holiday and a day before he flew to Guadalajara.

Since starting his second term as mayor July 1, Villaraigosa has averaged a trip outside Los Angeles about one out of every six days.

According to the mayor’s calendar, many of the trips were official business. Those trips included a visit to the National Clean Energy Summit Roundtable in Las Vegas for two days in August; traveling to Seattle in October when the National Conference of Mayors signed a climate protection agreement; and flying to New York for a day in September to announce a new public service initiative with New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

The mayor also vacationed in Iceland in late July and early August. In early July, Villarigosa took a nine-day vacation to South Africa to attend a summit sponsored by the Academy of Achievement.

Villaraigosa’s expenses for the South Africa trip were paid for by the academy which, according to its website, holds the annual event so that graduate students from around the world can meet with "the greatest thinkers and achievers of the age."

In mid-December, Villaraigosa will be traveling to Copenhagen for the Climate Summit for Mayors, which coincides with the separate international climate summit that will be attended by President Obama and other world leaders.

-- Phil Willon

Comments

[George Lopez]

I wonder if he was given the grand tour of all the slums in good ol Mexico and how many Prostitutes he was given.

Instead of bashing his mother country you know the U N I T E D S T A T E S.... he should have bashed Calderon and his croonies for allowing such poverty and desperation to exist in that "wonderful" place with so many natural resources - he should have bashed the ruling parties years of corruption and abuse and neglect of its indigenous people.

[la resident]

who paid for this trip?

[adoptivefather]

How much would it cost to keep vilar in mexico?

[pedro]

VIVA LA RACIST !!!

[Dou Lobbs]

He didn't get the Memo? He's been mayor of a mexican city for several years now.

[Victor]

Seriously, how biased can an article get? If you want to gripe about the Mayor's trips and the taxpayer expense, put it on the editorial page but don't try to mask it as news unless you're going to also analyze the potential benefits of these trips...

[Louweegie272]

You would think with the city in such dire straits the Mayor would stick around to deal with some of the problems at hand. How our tax dollars have gone towards a book fair in Mexico is beyond me. I wish the Times would focus on these obvious conflicts instead of printing the Mayor's press releases.

[West Valley Dave]

Will someone give the Alcalde, Greasy Tony, El Mayor La Raza a message from the legal citizens of Lost Angeles? Tell him to stay there. We don't want him and his corruption here anymore.

[Fed-up Taxpayer]

Mayor Tony can just stay in Mexico and build all the bridges he wants; he is useless here.

[Bill]

Has the Mayor toured South Central, Pacomina, eyc. This is just a question. Thank you.

[ferenc]

let's see, the pocho mayor of la is gonna defend the usa when he is in mexico. no way, no fences, no immigration laws, send them all here. villa(his real last name) would welcome 30 million more illegals and support them with la taxpayers money. hey villa, why don't you stay there.

[Dave]

Hopefully he will not be able to get back over the border into the U.S.

[Marcos El Malo]

Calling Carlos Slim the majority owner of Volaris Airlines is a bit of an understatement. He is Mexico's richest man, and owns and controls much of Mexico's economy.

[Steve]

Why isn't Tony touring Los Angeles where he was elected to be Mayor? How can politically corrupt, brutal, drug dealing Mexico possibly improve our lives here? Why is our precious tax dollars being spent on this wasteful junket? Is there a secret plan to turn Los Angeles over to the Mexican government? Oh wait...it's too late for that...thanks to Tony we are already living in Mexico

[MdW]

It seems to me that bridges have already been built both underground (tunnels) and across the Rio Grande.

[RichDavid]

The South Africa trip was for the "greatest thinkers and achievers of the age?......Let's get real: Tony V is no great thinker or achiever he is a shill for the movie companies and anyone who can pay big bucks for influence. He could not even pass the California Bar (flunked 4 times!)
Achiever? from gang member to mayor...how wonderful LA..now we can all pay for his junkets and watch him bankrupt the city.

[Xicana Med Student]

For those that assert Mayor Villaraigosa is aleady mayor of a Mexican city...let me remind you that Los Angeles means "City of Angels" in Spanish & was deemed so when it was still part of Mexican territory. If you are alluding that LA is a "mexican" city because of the large Latino population, please calm your xenophobic little heart because only 48% of the population is Latino (check Wiki). In my personal opinion, I love LA's diversity and the number of cultures represented can't be beat.

[Don Teofilo]

So Tony discussed immigration with the Mexican President.....what was the outcome of this "discussion"? Tony needs to dicuss "immigration" and the lack thereof with the people of this City!

[Jage]

Stay!

[Robert]

Gee maybe the LA Mayor should stay home and worry about his own city.

[Richard]

Originally California was invaded by the Spanish which raped, killed, and
forcibly converted the native American population. This is their historical
precedence for having a right here, the oppressed the native population first.

It is foolish to believe that everyone should accept that illegal and legal
immigration is supposed to be the same. The fact that various businesses
have managed to circumvent the law in importing illegals does not suddenly
legitimize their presence here.

Personally I have no problem with the majority of the hard workers.
I do have a problem with the militant "reconquista" types and those who
extract public services far in excess of whatever taxes they may pay, if any.

If they can get a job that give them medical care and allows them to pay
enough taxes to cover the costs incurred by their children, let them stay.
If they cost more, have them go back.

[Astonished]

Hey, if we ask nicely, do you suppose they'll keep him! I'll donate a dollar for his upkeep!

[Astonished]

For those of you wondering (nicely, I'll admit) why he is there and not here dealing with the budget crunch, let me put it in terms you'll understand. HE DOESN'T GIVE A RAT'S BEHIND! He gets his full pay, his slush fund, his private cars! He has no furlough hours, or pay cut. He has all his cronies around him to shield him from the public and private wrath he has created, and he refuses to be accountable for any of his actions, so WHY SHOULD HE CARE!