Today will be a historic election for Mayor of Los Angeles, almost regardless of the outcome. If Jim Hahn is able to pull off “an upset”, he’ll be overcoming recent polls that have indicated he was down by double-digits in pre-polls. And if Antonio Villaraigosa wins, not only will he be the city’s 1st Latino Mayor in over 130 years (1887), but he’ll be the first challenger to defeat an incumbent mayor in over 30 years.I’m not political expert, but in addition to the always debated political “record” of candidates, I believe that Villaraigosa will win because he has appealed to voters with a stronger vision for change. Take a look at their campaign websites as an example. For Hahn, he has 7 issues listed - with only a word title to catch you: “Economy”, “Education” (which the mayor has little direct influence in), “Environment” (read=LA River), “Housing”, “Neighborhoods”, “Public Safety” (read=more cops shooting more guns), and “Transportation”. More on the issues in a second. Looking at Villaraigosa’s website, under VISION, he has things listed like the following: “a safer LA”, “a greener LA”, “Affordable Housing”, “Cleaning house at City Hall”, “a healthy city”, “getting traffic moving”. What’s not to like about all of those visions.

I’m not saying that Villaraigosa will be a better mayor just because he has a cooler campaign website. But I do think it reflects a different approach that people are looking for. Politicians are notorious for making lots of promises - this is not new. But a politicians ability to inspire and direct people with vision is important.

Now for all of the attention that is being “paid” (pardon the pun) to different scandals in both campaigns, I think that there are 3-4 key issues that the next mayor must address: “a smarter city”, “a commuter city”, “an affordable city to live in for everyone”, and “a safer city”.

Though it is not under the direct supervision of the mayors office, this mayor must address the substandard school system. LAUSD needs to double the number of SCHOOLS (not just teachers) in order to serve the current student population. Forget doubling the police force. That may or may not (probably not) reduce crime in the immediate future, but it will do nothing to reduce the wave of crime that will come when the current generation of students - under-equipped, unmotivated by overcrowded schools that were unable to adequately educate them - is unemployed with no skills and no direction. If public safety is such a huge issue - which I believe it is - then more attention and more money needs to be invested in creating new schools, involving parents and the community in those new schools and in preparing kids for success, not dooming them to failure.

I don’t have any answers for the ridiculous housing situation faces Los Angeles, but it is approaching a dangerous place. If by last summer’s housing market, only 18% of non-homeowners could afford to buy at the median house price, then LA is in trouble. Equally, despite the abundance of freeways in Los Angeles, I see the transportation issue - with growing gridlock and soaring gas prices - to be a major issue for this mayor.

I may be a prophet. I may just be standing on a soap box. What do you think? What motivated (or didn’t) your voting today?