Bigger Ideas for the Runoff

In a fog-delayed ballot count, Los Angeles City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa appeared late Tuesday night to be heading for the May 17 mayoral runoff, judging from exit polls and a growing lead in reported returns. Whether the runoff will put him in a rematch against Mayor James K. Hahn, to whom he lost in the last mayoral runoff, or a race with challenger Bob Hertzberg was uncertain as ballots trickled in. One message, however, seemed clear. Voters -- at least what few turned out -- wanted change.

Imagine how many voters might have gone to the polls if they believed that the mayor of Los Angeles could change things, could fix the problems Angelenos complain about every day. Like traffic. Schools. And the issue that many, rightly or wrongly, see as linked to all others -- illegal immigration.

Most of these, strictly speaking, do not fall under the mayor's direct control. Crime does, and in this campaign virtually every candidate pledged to find money in the budget for hiring additional police officers. Voters should hold the runoff candidates to that promise. But money for road construction and public transportation comes from lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington, and both have gotten stingier under the strain of their own budget woes.

The L.A. Unified School District is governed by an independently elected board, and judging by the turnout on Tuesday in that election, voters don't have much faith in it either to fix the schools. And the federal government is responsible for controlling, or failing to control, the nation's borders.

Is the mayor's office, then, irrelevant when it comes to these key issues that residents confront every day? Villaraigosa and his runoff opponent have two months to convince voters it is not.

Traffic

Residents are getting so fed up with gridlock that even those who once adamantly opposed spending on subways and light rail, particularly on routes through their neighborhoods, seem willing to reconsider. A mayor should seize the moment to press Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) to work for reversal of a law that prohibits using federal money for extending the Red Line subway down Wilshire Boulevard. A mayor should also persuade voters to override a ban on using local sales taxes on subways and galvanize riders' support against the inevitable NIMBYs.

Other, smaller fixes are possible -- and cumulative.