Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke publicly for the first time Monday about the breakup of his 20-year marriage, saying he was responsible for the split even as he refused to talk about what caused it. In a somber meeting with reporters at City Hall, Villaraigosa declined to answer questions about whether the break with his wife, Corina, was triggered by another romantic relationship.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg donated $350,000 to the Los Angeles school board campaign this week, records show. Bloomberg's contribution, which was filed Tuesday, will enlarge the already sizable war chest of the Coalition for School Reform, a political action committee led by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The goal of the coalition is to back candidates who will support the policies of L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy and pledge to keep him on the job. Before the March primary, Bloomberg contributed $1 million for the three board races - the largest contribution ever made in an L.A. school board campaign.

You know Los Angeles has become a tough real estate market when it's hard for even Jon Gray to find a bargain. “It's become harder, because the pricing has moved up,” said Gray, the global head of real estate for private equity firm Blackstone Group. “L.A. is probably the toughest market.” As chief of one of the world's largest real estate investment funds, with $60 billion in assets, Gray is the walking embodiment of the term “smart money.” To put it succinctly, he is “the man with the bank account,” which was how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced him Thursday at a chummy ceremony in downtown's Arts District.

Los Angeles will be one of 10 cities globally to host an all-electric race series - dubbed Formula E - as soon as 2014, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced. The series will be the first in the world to feature fully electric open-wheel race cars similar to those that recently raced at the Long Beach Grand Prix. "These cars are not your grandma's Priuses," Villaraigosa said Monday. "Imagine cutting-edge technology on display that will push the boundaries of what electric cars can do. " The races are organized and promoted by Formula E Holdings.

Ten weeks before he leaves office, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday offered a $7.7-billion budget that would begin reversing years of cuts to basic city services such as tree trimming and sidewalk repairs while avoiding employee layoffs and furloughs. Buoyed by an estimated $111-million uptick in revenue, Villaraigosa's spending plan for the coming year provides money to add 65 firefighters, purchase 533 new vehicles at the Los Angeles Police Department and trim an additional 35,000 trees - leaving the city on its most solid footing since it was engulfed in crisis five years ago. The mayor also offered a long-term blueprint for financial recovery that would require the city's elected officials to be far less generous to their public employees than he and the council were during his eight-year tenure.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will join tens of thousands of Angelenos in participating in the sixth CicLAvia, which will open up several car-free streets Sunday to cyclists, rollerbladers and thousands more on foot. Villaraigosa and other city leaders will gather in front of downtown's La Placita Church at 9:30 a.m. to help launch CicLAvia, said Ashley Rodgers, spokeswoman for the event. Villaraigosa is expected to ride his bike the entire length of the 15-mile route -- the longest ever -- running from downtown to Venice Beach, Rodgers said.

Perhaps Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa remembers his 2005 campaign, in which he repeatedly told voters he would "restore trust and confidence" in City Hall. Los Angeles looked forward to having a mayor who set the highest standards of ethical conduct and transparency after four years of what Villaraigosa liked to call "the most investigated administration since Frank Shaw." That lofty rhetoric is at sharp odds with the behavior of the mayor who, recent reports in The Times and elsewhere show, claims that his role as chief executive and promoter of Los Angeles entitles him to accept tens of thousands of dollars' worth of free tickets to concerts and sporting events.

By this time next year, electric vehicles could be popping up all around Los Angeles, and the "quintessential city of sprawl" plans to be ready, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Tuesday. Along with a network of partners, the city plans to update 400 existing charging stations around the region while adding 100, Villaraigosa said. Electric vehicle owners also probably would receive tax rebates to construct home chargers and would have access to high-occupancy-vehicle lanes and preferential or free parking.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's call six months ago for voluntary water conservation in a record dry year has failed to persuade Los Angeles residents and businesses to rein in water use substantially, city records show. Despite the mayor's June 6 plea for a 10% reduction, water use in the city remained largely flat through October, compared with the same period last year, according to records from the city Department of Water and Power.

If the Los Angeles mayoral race were a dinner party, the folks around the table would have plenty to talk about. At one time, all four of the leading contenders served together at City Hall. But one year before the primary election, the candidates are beginning to play up their differences as they quietly work to assemble key blocs of voters. The field includes two officeholders vying to be the city's first female mayor; a well-seasoned scion of a Los Angeles political family; and a wealthy one-time Wall Street investment banker who oversaw a large swath of city government for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Heading for the exit at City Hall, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday proposed to cancel the last installment of the pay raises that he and the City Council granted thousands of city workers in late 2007. The raises, which totaled 25% over five years, contributed to a succession of budget shortfalls that forced the city to furlough workers and cut public services. Although Villaraigosa and the council persuaded city unions to delay some of the raises, Monday's budget was the first to propose that any of the increase be rescinded.

Ten weeks before he leaves office, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday offered a $7.7-billion budget that would begin reversing years of cuts to basic city services such as tree trimming and sidewalk repairs while avoiding employee layoffs and furloughs. Buoyed by an estimated $111-million uptick in revenue, Villaraigosa's spending plan for the coming year provides money to add 65 firefighters, purchase 533 new vehicles at the Los Angeles Police Department and trim an additional 35,000 trees - leaving the city on its most solid footing since it was engulfed in crisis five years ago. The mayor also offered a long-term blueprint for financial recovery that would require the city's elected officials to be far less generous to their public employees than he and the council were during his eight-year tenure.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will join tens of thousands of Angelenos in participating in the sixth CicLAvia, which will open up several car-free streets Sunday to cyclists, rollerbladers and thousands more on foot. Villaraigosa and other city leaders will gather in front of downtown's La Placita Church at 9:30 a.m. to help launch CicLAvia, said Ashley Rodgers, spokeswoman for the event. Villaraigosa is expected to ride his bike the entire length of the 15-mile route -- the longest ever -- running from downtown to Venice Beach, Rodgers said.

Despite stubborn financial problems and reductions in city services, a majority of L.A. voters give departing Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa good marks, a USC Price/Los Angeles Times poll has found. In a telephone survey conducted last week, nearly 53% of respondents said they had a favorable view of the mayor, who was barred by law from seeking a third four-year term. He leaves office this summer. Nearly 42% of voters said they viewed Villaraigosa unfavorably. Whites were about evenly split -- 46.3% viewed the city's first Latino mayor in modern history favorably; 46.9% had an unfavorable view.

As he mounted his bike for the CicLAvia ride to the beach Sunday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took the occasion to remind residents that the city had installed 148 miles of new bike lanes during his two terms. It is part of a wider plan to make the city less dependent on cars, Villaraigosa said. “It's not a walkable city yet, but it's becoming a walkable city,” he said. Villaraigosa joined thousands of bike riders Sunday morning to enjoy a rare car-free stretch of Los Angeles streets from downtown to Venice Beach as part of the increasingly popular CicLAvia event.

The candidates for Los Angeles mayor proved they could be almost as disagreeable before a Spanish-language audience as they have been in front of English speakers - challenging each other's integrity in a debate Friday night on a Spanish-language television station. Councilman Eric Garcetti renewed his charge that opponent Wendy Greuel is beholden to the union that represents Department of Water and Power workers, while Greuel, the city controller, repeated her rebuttal that her rival is a hypocrite who has supported raises and other benefits for the same workers.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came into office seven years ago with a remarkably ambitious agenda, proposing to solve many of L.A.'s most intractable problems: He would be the mayor who fixed the schools, cleaned up the gang problem and beefed up the Police Department. And, most important, he branded himself as the city's "transportation mayor. " Some of these promises have been fulfilled, yet progress in most areas has been incremental and not necessarily attributable to Villaraigosa.

Before sitting down for tea in Echo Park, the poet reaches for her iPhone. "I have to turn this thing off," she explains, silencing the ringer. "It's getting too noisy these days. " As a publisher, educator and author of seven books of poems, Eloise Klein Healy is a stalwart of the Los Angeles literary scene. Her phone has been buzzing more than usual in recent weeks as she prepares to take on a new title. On Friday, Healy will be named L.A.'s first poet laureate. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa decided earlier this year that his city, like others, should have a namesake poet.

Since retooling her campaign message last month, mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel has gone on the offensive against City Hall, telling audiences that the place is mired in mediocrity and needs to "return to a time of strong leadership. " "We must change the L.A. that has emerged over these past few years," she said in a recent speech. "Today, paralysis rules. " Yet a review of campaign records shows Greuel has publicly supported much of the current city political leadership. Over the last eight years, nearly two-thirds of the council's 15 members were endorsed by Greuel, who appeared in mailers, fundraising invitations and other campaign materials promoting them.

You know Los Angeles has become a tough real estate market when it's hard for even Jon Gray to find a bargain. “It's become harder, because the pricing has moved up,” said Gray, the global head of real estate for private equity firm Blackstone Group. “L.A. is probably the toughest market.” As chief of one of the world's largest real estate investment funds, with $60 billion in assets, Gray is the walking embodiment of the term “smart money.” To put it succinctly, he is “the man with the bank account,” which was how Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced him Thursday at a chummy ceremony in downtown's Arts District.