I dropped in on one of Los Angeles Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti’s town hall meetings this week, one of six he is holding in different geographic areas of the city (and another he plans to hold online). As part of his transition plan, Garcetti is meeting with constituents asking them for suggestions on how the city can do things better.
The meetings are broken into working groups of 15-20 people and they are asked to opine on three topics: the economy & jobs, government efficiencies and neighborhoods. Under these topics are sub-topics, for instance, transportation issues fell under neighborhoods column.
The goal: to gather many ideas for the new administration to consider.
Garcetti is also talking to others who ran for the mayor’s job. Kevin James was at the town hall, and Garcetti revealed he was meeting with his defeated rival Wendy Greuel this week.
In addressing the attendees, Garcetti told them he wanted to listen as much as talk to them. In that regard, he plans to continue reaching out to voters, telling them he plans to do walking tours in city neighborhoods and knock on doors much as he did in his campaigns for office. He also plans to occasionally work out of the regional city halls scattered around the city.
Garcetti plans a swearing in an outdoor ceremony on Sunday, June 30. On his first full day in office, July 1, he plans to have an open house at downtown city hall for people to come in and say hello.
Hopefully, the event will go smoother than President Andrew Jackson’s first inaugural open house when revelers got out of hand.
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View of crowd in front of the White House during President Jackson’s first inaugural reception in 1829. The furnishings of the White House were destroyed by the rowdy crowd during the inaugural festivities.