April 15--Mayor Eric Garcetti sought to draw attention to Los Angeles' march toward economic recovery during his annual State of the City speech Thursday, celebrating falling unemployment even as he acknowledged that many Angelenos -- including tens of thousands who sleep on the streets each night -- have missed out on the city's rebounding jobs and real estate market.
The speech, delivered at the Harbor City headquarters of an LED lighting manufacturer, saw Garcetti striking a delicate balance: Claiming credit for the city's improving economy while addressing other important measures of civic health, such as violent crime and homelessness, that are growing worse on his watch. A draft of the speech was reviewed in advance by The Times.
In its broad framing around policies meant to encourage prosperity, the speech seemed calculated to tap into the concerns over income inequality that have come to dominate politics at both the local and national levels in 2016. On that front, Garcetti pointed to one of his administration's signal legislative achievements: The enactment last summer of a $15 citywide minimum wage, which he called in his prepared remarks "the largest anti-poverty measure in our city's history."
But Garcetti's economic message wasn't purely populist. Indeed, it was clearly intended to appeal to an audience very different from the progressive Democrats who have advocated for low-wage workers: The business owners and developers who have helped fuel L.A.'s revival and have long complained of bureaucratic obstacles at city hall.
"When I raised my hand to become your mayor, I described City Hall as a place where jobs came to die," a transcript of Garcetti's speech read. Three years later, he added, "City Hall is widening the circle of opportunity ... and we're seeing those benefits ripple across every corner of our city."
To illustrate that success, Garcetti pointed to jobs data, asserting that the city was not simply being buoyed by the nation's broader economic recovery. He noted that unemployment in L.A. dropped more steeply last year than in California and the U.S. as a whole.
"Some may say that this is just coincidental, that we're riding a national wave. But that's not what the numbers say," he said in his prepared remarks. "In Los Angeles, we're not riding the wave. We're creating one."
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A somewhat different picture emerges from a more thorough view of the numbers themselves. In February, when the city's most recent jobs data were published by the UCLA Anderson School of Management, L.A.'s unemployment rate was 5.8%. That's higher than both the state's 5.5% unemployment rate and the U.S. unemployment rate of 4.9%.
Since Garcetti assumed office in June 2013, L.A.'s economy has added 109,000 jobs, a 6% increase. The number of jobs in California increased 5.8% over the same period.
Unlike his first two State of the City speeches, Garcetti's address Thursday was not a vehicle for announcements of any significant new initiatives, with one notable exception: The mayor disclosed that his administration is offering its support to the Los Angeles Community College District on a program to provide qualified Los Angeles Unified School District students with a free year of community college.
School officials have not previously announced the program, which resembles President Obama's proposal in his 2015 State of the Union address to offer two free years of community college for all U.S. students.
Garcetti spokeswoman Connie Llanos said that the initiative would be run by the community college district but that the mayor -- who, unlike the mayors of some other large American cities, has no official authority over the school system -- would help raise money to offset students' tuition costs.
"What the mayor's doing is offering his support," Llanos said. "He will be very involved and engaged in philanthropy.... He believes this needs to happen."
Toward the end of his speech, Garcetti looked ahead to a series of contentious fall ballot measures that will ask voters to approve billions in funding to expand public transporation and house the homeless.
The mayor also gave a preview of the budget he will release next week, saying it includes $131 million to reduce homelessness, a figure in excess of the $100-million sum that the City Council pledged last year but that has so far failed to materialize.
peter.jamison@latimes.com -- @petejamison
emily.alpert@latimes.com
