Ecotality Blink charger at Hillsboro, Oregon Kohl's department store.

Bicycle parked outside Secret Garden, East Village in Manhattan.

Modec-developed E-Star all-electric delivery van in Barcelona, Spain.

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23-May-2013

PHOTO CAPTION: Mayor-electric Eric Garcetti is a strong supporter of cycling.

LA's Next Mayor Brings A Streak of Green to the Job

City Councilmember Eric Garcetti has long been a supporter of sustainable practices from urban gardening to cycling.

Los Angeles got a new mayor this morning: City Councilmember Eric Garcetti beat City Controller Wendy Greuel, a fellow Democrat, more handily than expected in a historically low-turnout race (a pathetic 19 percent of L.A. voters cast ballots). He takes office July 1.

Garcetti, a Rhodes scholar and L.A.’s first Jewish mayor, has big shoes to fill: Will he carry on current Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s celebrated efforts to combat L.A.’s image as a smog-choked, car-worshipping, freeway-entangled sprawlsville?

So far, the signs point in that direction. Some have criticized Garcetti for being too friendly to business interests, but he sees working with developers as a necessary component of the smart-growth strategy he’s pursued to revitalize once-blighted areas of Hollywood, Echo Park, and Silver Lake, his home turf.

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