Boom time for Los Angeles under gung-ho Democrat mayor
Eric Garcetti, a Rhodes scholar, former Navy reserves lieutenant and jazz pianist says Olympic aspirations are a sign of the city’s strength
Los Angeles (LA) mayor Eric Garcetti is almost 12 months into his second term and the economy of the second-largest city in the US is outperforming number one New York, number three Chicago, and the rest of the US. Measured by the growth of personal income, GDP per capita, jobs, home prices, global trade and transportation, corporate equity and municipal debt, Los Angeles has become the most productive of the five biggest US cities.1 Even its perennial calamity of homelessness receded significantly for the first time last year since the city’s youngest mayor took office in 2013. Garcetti didn’t set off the LA boom, but there’s no doubt the city has prospered under his leadership. The Rhodes scholar, former Navy reserves lieutenant and jazz pianist says that Olympic aspirations are a sign of strength for the sunny metropolis of 10-million people. In 2028, LA will host the summer games for the third time, the only US city to do so and a rarity globally in making them a money maker.
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