L.A. Mayor Garcetti swings through Ohio
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a potential Democrat candidate for president in 2020 is shown here in a Youngstown barbershop with Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown this week. Garcetti was also the featured invited speaker at the renowned City Club and visited LeBron James I Promise School in Akron during his multiple day swing the Northeast Ohio.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was in Cleveland last week as part of a three-day swing through Ohio to build support for Democratic candidates and hear from Ohioans and their mayors how local communities can help themselves and help each other during this time of extreme dysfunction in Washington.
As part of his Cleveland visit, Garcetti addressed The City Club of Cleveland's storied Friday Forum series, which regularly plays host to US Presidents and other luminaries.
"Our leaders in Washington tell us every day that there are two Americas. That we live in a divided country, where you’re either a rural person or an urban one. Where you live in a blue state or a red one. Where you come from the coast or the heartland. I reject all of that," Garcetti said. "I say we are divided into
these two Americas: Washington, D.C. and the rest of us. The rest of us, who can’t stand a Washington that is increasingly indecent and corrupt. The rest of us, who can’t stand a Washington that seeks to amplify power for the powerful, and further enrich the super-rich."
"As mayor, my position is designed so that I have more in common with my constituents than Washington politicians can ever have. I have to get things done. Americans work hard. And they deserve a government that does, too. That’s why our founding documents talked about power coming to Washington from the people and their local communities -- and vice versa.
"Our Declaration of Independence states: “Whenever any form of government
becomes destructive… it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to
institute new government. My friends, it is time for the people of America to institute a new government. It’s time for power in our country to come from the people and from the places where we live.
"This isn’t about re-claiming the House; it’s not about new leadership in the White House. Those things are necessary; but they are not enough.
We must demand that Washington follows the lead of local communities, instead of the other way around. We must flip Washington on its head.
"Even on their best day, right now we can’t count on 536 politicians to adapt
quickly enough to prepare us for the future. That’s at the core of why we’re falling behind. Those two Americas? It’s an analog Washington vs a digital world. A steam-engined Capital trying to keep up with a rocket-propelled planet.
This is what it is all about. This is why we urgently need change."
Garcetti also toured Cleveland, including stops at the Ohio City Farm and West Side Market. During his Ohio trip, he also toured Youngstown and the Youngstown Business Incubator with Mayor Tito Brown; in Akron toured Lebron James Foundation's I Promise School; in Cincinnati, rallied Hamilton County Democrats for Aftab Pureval and Jill Schiller for Congress and helped raise funds to re-elect US Senator Sherrod Brown and the Ohio Democratic Party. He spent time during his trip with Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, Parma Mayor Tim DeGeeter, Columbus Mayor Andy Ginther, and Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan.
