NewsTaco

By Tony Castro, Voxxi

Eric Garcetti was elected mayor of Los Angeles on Tuesday, sweeping into office with a slew of new expectations, not the least of which is what he will mean for Hispanics, not only in his hometown, but beyond.

For Garcetti is the new face of being Latino in America — even as some of his critics charged that he wasn’t Hispanic enough — and he is raising a more serious question in this nation’s multi-ethnic society: Who is or who isn’t Latino?

As for Garcetti, Los Angeles’ new 42-year-old mayor elect’s grandfather was born in Mexico. His great-grandfather, Massimo Garcetti, was a Mexican judge who was hanged during the Mexican Revolution. Garcetti speaks perfect Spanish. He not only considers himself Hispanic, he has also called himself Chicano.

His critics, though, may have been judging Garcetti as much on his skin coloration. He is as huero as they come in a city and in the Southwest, where caramel brown-skinned Mexican Americans make up the majority of Latinos.

Perhaps those critics don’t watch Spanish televisions novelas which is full of hueros speaking Spanish — and on which Garcetti would easily fit.

Just as easily, he passed the test among Latino voters in Los Angeles, where they largely went for Garcetti and not his runoff opponent Wendy Greuel — though she had a lion’s share of endorsements from Hispanic politicians and leaders, including United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, County Supervisor Gloria Molina and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s cousin, Assembly Speaker John Perez.

Villaraigosa, who didn’t endorse in the race, leaves office June 30 as the city’s consummate Latino politician — the first Hispanic elected mayor in modern times and at one time the hope of Latino aspirations to higher office.

But he will be leaving with those hopes dashed, as least for the moment, and replaced both in office and in promise by Garcetti, who undoubtedly soon will be embraced by all the Latino organizations, especially those that lean Democratically, looking for a fresh face for national leadership.

In Garcetti, they have an ideal candidate: A former Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, one of the few American Latinos so honored; a graduate of Columbia University, who also studied at the London School of Economics; the son of a former district attorney; a lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserves; and scandal-free, married to Amy Wakeland, with whom he has a daughter — Maya Juanita, a name after any Latino’s heart.

Add to that a built-in political asset that few other Latino politicians have.

Eric Garcetti’s background was a great asset in Los Angeles mayoral race

Garcetti is Jewish. Jews in Los Angeles today are celebrating that he is the city’s first Jewish mayor.

“Weekends involved bowls of menudo at my grandparents’ and bagels at my cousins’ house,” Garcetti says of his childhood with a Mexican and Jewish background. “I think if you’re Latino, you’re very comfortable with the idea of mestizo, being mixed.

“So I kind of joke that I’m mestizo double, double mixed.”

It enabled Garcetti to fashion a coalition built around two of the most powerful political elements in Los Angeles — and in America today — Latinos and Jews.

It is also a natural native constituency for Garcetti that now has almost elevated him to a recognizably national level and the precipice of even higher office in California.

The Golden State’s three top elected officials — Gov. Jerry Brown and U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer — are in their 70s. And Garcetti has joined the pool of younger blood around them.

And in upsetting preconceived notions about what being Hispanic and what Latino power is today, Garcetti has shown he may have a unique understanding that Latino voters want more than just pandering to their ethnicity.

“My grandparents were from northern Mexico, Chihuahua and Sonora,” Garcetti told a Latino group in Spanish at one of his last campaign stops. “But I don’t want your vote just because I speak Spanish.”

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Los Angeles based writer Tony Castro is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America” and the best-selling “Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son.”

Read more: http://www.voxxi.com/author/tony-castro/#ixzz2U8IIBEhA

[Photo by  Eric Garcetti]

By Timothy Spangler, The Guardian

Mayoral elections in Los Angeles are typically quite parochial affairs, and this year’s outing is something of an exception. As Angelenos go to the polls today under hazy May skies, everything from jobs to deteriorating schools to the dire condition of LA’s roads has dominated the campaign between Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel, both Democrats and city hall insiders who made it through March’s open primary.

For those who don’t count themselves among LA’s four million inhabitants, this election is an interesting case study in how the Latino vote may (or may not) impact the 2016 presidential.

Click HERE or on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by Korean Resource Center]

By Maeve Reston and David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday waded into the heated contest to choose his successor, calling for two ads aimed at Latino voters that attack candidates Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel to be taken off the airwaves. Both were financed with independent donations not controlled by the candidates.

By Michael Martinez, CNN

Los Angeles (CNN) – Voters in the nation’s second-largest city will elect a new mayor Tuesday in a race that will make history and offer a possible indicator on public sentiment toward unions representing municipal employees during a budget crisis.

Incumbent Antonio Villaraigosa, the first Latino mayor here in more than 130 years, is stepping down after eight years because of term limits.

Tuesday’s faceoff is between City Councilman Eric Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel. Both are longtime political players in Los Angeles.

Click HERE or on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by theocean]

By Elson Trinidad, KCET

Take a look at the future of Los Angeles, and what will you see? Less smog? A subway that reaches the sea? Flying cars? A professional football team at long last?

All of the above are still uncertain things. But what is certain will be our demographics: Los Angeles County’s population will be predominately Latino and Asian. With the Latino population in California projected to surpass the white population sometime in 2014, and Asians now eclipsing Latinos as the largest immigrating group overall into the United States, our region will likewise follow suit.

What should we make out of all of this? Will there be racial tensions? Will there be socio-political power struggles?

Click HERE or on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo courtesy Elson Trinidad/KCET]

By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times

The two candidates vying to be mayor of Los Angeles courted Latino voters Saturday, promising to do more to help those who are seeking citizenship and to make greater efforts to clean up and enhance Latino neighborhoods such as Boyle Heights and Pacoima.

By EFE/Fox News Latino 

Outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in an interview with KTTV-TV that among his plans for the future is to run for governor of California, although he did not specify when that might occur.

The 60-year-old Democrat, who will end his tenure as mayor on June 30 after two consecutive terms, the maximum allowed by law, reiterated that his first move after leaving office will be joining a think tank.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District]

By Nadine Natour, NBCLatino

This is the second installment of Latinas empowering other Latinas to succeed in honor of Women’s History Month. 

For ten high school girls enrolled in the photography program Las Fotos Project, the summer of 2012 was a lesson in disguise.

Rather then a host of drowsy days spent on the sidewalks of Los Angeles, they traipsed through the San Gabriel Mountains and snapped photos of rocky cliffs and lazy rivers, lilies in full bloom and vistas of the California landscape.

The group then used the same film to capture scenes in their community, edited the double exposure photographs and wrote poems to accompany the art. Finally, the girls published a bookfeaturing the photographs and presented it at a public exhibition which they personally marketed.

Founded by freelance photographer Eric Ibarra, Las Fotos Project helps its young Latina members build their photography skills and their confidence.“The program is such a unique setup,” says the 28-year-old Ibarra, who launched the club three years ago after he noticed a lack of extracurricular opportunities in the area for young girls. “They learn all these life skills almost without realizing it.”

Ibarra partners with Los Angeles organizations to find Latinas aged 11-17 who could most benefit from the experience. The girls, who often come from low-income or middle-income communities, then enroll in ten-week classes where they’re quickly taught the basics and given a personal point-and-shoot camera.

Las Fotos mentors help the students brainstorm possible field projects, with the freedom to choose any theme or landscape near the Boyle Heights headquarters. Every project ends with a community exhibit, photo book or mini-documentary.

Lizbeth Rojas, now a student at Loyola Marymount University,  joined the group at 17 and suggested the San Gabriel trip for their summer project. She says it gave her a different perspective on her East Los Angeles neighborhood.

“We feel like we have to live in a place where it has to be busy but being in the mountains is different,” says Rojas, who ultimately led the trip. “I was able to notice things. It gave me another view of the world.”Another member of the group, Ana Cortes, created a photograph of a craggy mountain scape over the facade of the East Los Angeles Municipal Courts. She captioned the photo: “We owe nature justice!”

“I took a picture of the courts because I’ve always been into law and law enforcement,” says Ana, now a freshman studying criminal justice at California State University, Los Angeles.

Cortes joined the group at 17, never having handled a film camera. She says the group made her feel more confident and stood in marked contrast to her experience at her high school.

“At school, everyone’s judging everyone ,” says Cortes. But the project, she says, was “totally different. I was shy at first but it was fun and you just felt welcome.”

The various field projects offer the students a chance to explore their community but, more often, they wind up exploring their inner selves. For one assignment, the girls were told to take photos of the most inspiring person in their life. They then fashioned the photo series into a revealing video documentary.

Las Fotos Project maintains a roster of around sixteen girls at a time, in several California locations as well as a project in Guatemala. According to Ibarra, the girls can remain in the program once they pass the 17-year-old age limit, but many go on to attend college or find work elsewhere.

Though she has aged out of the program, Ana Cortes says she still retains a love of photography. She said she plans to take photos and create a scrapbook of her family, friends and memorable events.

“It was my own idea, something to keep all the nice memories I’ve had,” says Cortes. “I’ll do it just for fun, just for me.”

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

[Photo by ric Ibarra/Las Fotos Project]

By Los Angeles Times

City Councilman Eric Garcetti and Controller Wendy Greuel remained ahead of the pack in the race for mayor of Los Angeles early Wednesday morning with all city precincts reporting.

The top-two finishers in Tuesday’s election will face off in what is expected to be a bruising May 21 runoff. Only 16% of the city’s 1.8 million registered voters cast ballots in the election.

Standing on a stage lined with supporters Tuesday evening, Garcetti thanked the those in the crowd for their help and said he’s ready to get to work on winning the runoff election in May. Garcetti held a slim margin over Greuel and a significant lead over the six other candidates in the mayoral race, returns showed.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by Korean Resource Center]

By Tony Castro, Voxxi

For the first time in history, Latinos on March 5 will either elect a Hispanic or at least decide who represents traditionally black South Los Angeles on the City Council.

Latinos now make up 78 percent of the South L.A. political district, known as “The Great 9th” since the mid 20th Century, when the area was an almost exclusively African-American haven.

But Hispanics account for less than half the district’s voters, while blacks — though 15 percent of the residents — compose 40 percent of the voters.

It makes for a political toss-up, confused even more by the fact that South L.A.’s longtime African American councilwoman is stepping down because of term limits, leaving this election wide open.

Three Hispanics, three African Americans and a Japanese American are on the city election primary ballot, though most experts agree that the Latino vote could likely determine the outcome.

“For the black community, [the loss of a black council seat] is the bad medicine they’ll have to swallow to get to reality and help themselves,” says Dermot Givens, a longtime political operative in the district. “Because the reality is, we’ve lost a lot of political power.”

African Americans currently hold three of the 15 city council seats.

Cubas for South L.A.

The leading Hispanic candidate is Ana Cubas, the Cal Berkeley-educated daughter of Salvadoran immigrants who has extensive connections to all communities and has been campaigning for almost a year.

Most recently she has been the $147,000-a-year chief of staff for Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents a district on the other side of the city.

Cubas, 41, has long ties to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and State Sen. Alex Padilla — who was formerly city council president — as well as to various Latino lawmakers and their extensive fund-raising and campaign operations. She has been endorsed by La Opinion, the city’s Spanish-language daily, and the Mexican American Bar Association.

“One of my biggest dreams is to make a difference in my community,” she says. “To come back and use my skills and my education to help others.”

The last time a Latina served on the Los Angeles City Council was 25 years ago, when Gloria Molina was on the lawmaking body.

For years, African Americans have been losing power to the influx of Latino immigrants and overall Hispanic growth in the city. Latinos are now a majority in all but one of the council districts long held by African Americans, but they represent a minority of eligible voters in those areas.

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Los Angeles based writer Tony Castro is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America” and the best-selling “Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son.”

[Photo courtesy Cubas for Council]

By Sam Quiñones, A Reporter’s Blog

So yet another school has lost its sousaphones to thieves who apparently will spare no effort, and overlook many other valuable items, to make off only with the tubas.

San Fernando High School’s marching band had its only two tubas stolen last month. The thieves broke into one band room, stole nothing, then broke into another and stole nothing but the tubas — overlooking guitars, violins, trumpets, drums, etc.

It’s all about banda music and the tuba’s newfound popularity here in LA, where it’s really the emblematic instrument of the era, much like the guitar was in the 1970s.

This article was first published in A Reporter’s Bog.

Sam Quiñones has been a working reporter for 25 years, including 10 years in Mexico as afreelance writer. He is the author of two books, and many stories about immigrants, gangs, drug trafficking and more.

[Photo courtesy a Reporter's Blog]

By Patrick Range McDonald, LA Weekly

Garcetti, who is half Jewish, part Latino, and part Italian, has controversially pushed himself as a “Latino” candidate to the annoyance of such Latino political leaders as California Assembly Speaker John Perez – and, apparently, Emanuel Pleitez, who appears to be eating into Garcetti’s base.

Click on picture to read story.

[Photo byEric Garcetti]

By Jennifer Medina and Ian Lovett, Los Angeles Times

With the release of documents that make it increasingly clear that Cardinal Mahony shielded priests accused of child abuse from investigations by law enforcement officials, his legacy as a champion of immigrants may soon be overshadowed.

[Photo by digitalshay]

By Tony Castro, Voxxi

Hispanic voters are at the heart of a plan to rebuild and reinvigorate the Republican Party in California, the politician expected to take over the leadership of the state GOP has been telling insiders.

Former state Sen. Jim Brulte, the frontrunner to become the next chair of the California GOP has made the state’s Latino electorate the centerpiece of a makeover he says will turnaround the Republican Party’s fortunes.

“Jim Brulte says he has a six-year-plan to make the GOP the party of Hispanics in California,” says political consultant William Orozo. “He says he’s going to make Latinos forget about Proposition 187 and Pete Wilson.

“And who knows? Politics sometimes has such a short attention span that in six years, 2019, he might just succeed.”

Prop 187 alienated Latinos and was the downfall of the California GOP

Proposition 187 is the anti-immigrant state measure that the GOP championed in the mid-1990s that many blame for alienating Latinos and for the downfall of the Republican Party in the state since that time.

Wilson was the Republican California governor who made Proposition 187 his personal crusade.

Approved by voters in 1994, the measure sought, among other things, to require police, health care professionals and teachers to verify and report the immigration status of all individuals, including children.

The courts eventually dismantled the measure and made it meaningless except as a symbol for Hispanics of GOP exclusion.

The decline of the state GOP became evident this past election in California when only 29 percent of the state’s voters were registered as Republicans, compared to 43 percent for Democrats.

On Monday, California Republican activists became the latest to meet in an attempt to figure out a game plan for making their party viable again.

It was at that meeting in San Diego that Brulte announced he would be a candidate for state GOP chairman, a position he is expected to win.

Jim Brulte may have a tough time with Tea Partiers

In pushing his plan to woo Latinos, though, Brulte will have to walk a fine line with the state’s die-hard conservatives and Tea Party people, say insiders.

“But Jim knows where the future of California politics is,” said one GOP insider. “It’s the Latino vote, and he knows you have to go after it as you would a pretty girl because, as 2012 showed, the Latino vote is the darling of American politics right now.”

According to insiders, Brulte’s rebuilding is a six-year-plan because the state party has problems that go beyond having alienated Hispanics, resulting in not having any Republican holding a statewide elected office.

The state party is almost broke, with a half-million-dollar debt and down to only three full-time staffers, two of whom work from home. It also has almost no grassroots organization to speak of.

In Brulte, the GOP has a leader who typifies the about-face the party faces, say insiders.

His legislative record was that of a conservative, but he recognizes the new political landscape in California.

“His voting record is strongly conservative, but he also knows how to reach out to moderates and Democrats,” said Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney.

Republican consultant Luis Alvarado, who is also president of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Greater Los Angeles, is among those Hispanics who are encouraged.

“We’re going back to the party of Shogun-type dynasties, where the Tea Party has their coalition, and the moderates have their coalition, and it’s going to be a battle to see who comes out on top,” he had said just weeks ago, in the aftermath of the election.

Now he says Brulte may be the ideal candidate for the political challenge at hand, adding:

“I have not heard a single person tell me that they would be opposed to him as a leader.”

This article was first published in Voxxi.

Los Angeles based writer Tony Castro is the author of the critically-acclaimed “Chicano Power: The Emergence of Mexican America” and the best-selling “Mickey Mantle: America’s Prodigal Son.”

[Photo by Steve Rhodes]