[Photo Credit: L.A. Times]
Mayor Villaraigosa may have found himself proclaiming a bit of hypocrisy. Traffic gridlock, public transit, and the Subway to the Sea have all been causes that the Mayor has taken up in his term. But the Mayor doesn’t practice what he preaches. The champion of public transport who also sits on the board of the MTA takes none other than a gas-guzzling SUV to work! As the L.A. Times points out, Mayor Villaraigosa could take a bus now or then if he wanted:
The mayor rarely, if ever, takes the bus or the train to work. Instead, he rides around town in a GMC Yukon chauffeured by a Los Angeles police officer who doubles as a bodyguard. Unlike many others in Los Angeles, Villaraigosa has easy access to public transportation.
He lives just one block from Wilshire Boulevard, one of the city's most accessible and heavily traveled public transit corridors and one where, he often says, he would like to extend the subway.
Yes, he may be busy, but the kids rarely listen when Daddy’s philosophy is “Do what I say, not what I do.” At the very least, he could opt for a hybrid.
· Mayor Rides the SUV, Not the MTA [L.A. Times]