Re-elect Eric Garcetti

There’s still room for improvement, but the mayor has earned a second term.

Mgot lucky. When he took office in 2013, the national and regional economies were on the upswing, and he was able to spend a little money instead of being forced to slash programs and services dramatically, as his predecessor had to do. Garcetti had an ally in President Obama, who directed billions of dollars to L.A., including funding for rail lines and anti-poverty programs. And there were no major crises in the city during the next four years — no secession votes, no earthquakes, no civil unrest.

Now, the calm is ending. Los Angeles will be challenged in many new ways in the coming years: by the Trump administration, by the possibility of another recession, by the increasing effects of global warming and by the changing demographics of the city itself. L.A. needs a steady, experienced leader who can champion a progressive, humane and modern vision for the years ahead. Garcetti is the best — really, the only — choice on the ballot. Voters ought to give him a second term.

Two years ago, the Times Editorial Board gave Garcetti a midterm report card grade of “C,” noting that he ducked too many difficult decisions and too often refused to speak out on issues of importance unless he knew that it would be good for him politically. Garcetti, we wrote, was a mayor with a laudable vision for the future of L.A., but who might lack the political courage to make that vision a reality.

To his credit, Garcetti has begun to show more backbone. Last year, he was the public face for two hard-fought ballot measures designed to address some of L.A.’s most pressing challenges. Garcetti was both an architect of and unrelenting advocate for Measure M, the county sales tax increase that will raise $120 billion over four decades to double the size of the region’s mass transit system and invest in crucial transportation infrastructure. In the end, Measure M received 71% of the vote. It is an ambitious program that will help the mayor and his successors create a more modern, viable and efficient Los Angeles.

Garcetti didn’t initiate Measure HHH, the $1.2-billion bond measure to build housing for the homeless; the City Council did. But Garcetti hustled to help it pass. With 28,000 homeless people living in the city, he decided to put himself on the line. He made a compelling case for the measure and voters responded. It passed overwhelmingly.

If Garcetti is committed to fulfilling the promises of Measure M and Measure HHH, however, he needs to demonstrate that same kind of political leadership early and often. He was late to respond when slow-growth advocates proposed the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, the two-year moratorium on major building developments now on the March ballot as Measure S. This measure not only jeopardizes Garcetti’s pledge to build 100,000 new housing units by 2021, but also threatens his vision of L.A. as a livable, affordable, transit-oriented, environmentally friendly city. Yet until last week he had barely made a public peep about it. Like it or not, Measure S will be a referendum on Garcetti’s vision of L.A.’s future, and he should be using every ounce of his political capital to fight it, while also showing that he intends to fix the city’s broken land-use process that has undermined trust in City Hall.

What’s more, he will need to be a champion for building the permanent supportive housing funded by Measure HHH, as well as a watchdog to make sure the program lives up to its promise.

Garcetti has rightly pushed the city to focus on the fundamentals. He was out front advocating citywide earthquake retrofitting. And he should also stay committed to his “back to basics” agenda that emphasizes improving services and government accountability. It’s difficult, however, to invest in new computer systems, training and efficiency and other basics when the city continues to spend 20% of its budget on workers’ retirement benefits. Garcetti says he’s controlled costs by limiting employee raises earlier in his term, but he agreed to generous 4% pay hikes for police and firefighters last year.

Garcetti pledged in 2013 to reform the Department of Water and Power, but the utility is on its third general manager under his watch, and voters rejected his proposal to improve governance of the department.

Ten Angelenos are running against Garcetti for the job of mayor. They offer interesting ideas for increasing transparency and improving services, but none have the experience to run the nation’s second-largest city for the next 5½ years.

Garcetti, meanwhile, appears to have greater political ambitions. Though he has no serious challenger, he’s raised $3.1 million and is still fundraising. So what’s going on? Is he planning to stick around — or will he jump ship to run for the next big seat that comes open? Rather than a placeholder mayor, Los Angeles requires a committed leader willing to invest the time and energy needed to help L.A. become a modern city. If Garcetti wins, he should stay put and do the job.