Fellow Angelenos, it's time to remember the values that got us here.
Let us all swear a common oath today.
Let's make Los Angeles a city of purpose.
And, to do that, I'm asking you to dream with me.
For more than a century, Los Angeles has been synonymous with big dreams. The Australian writer and critic Clive James said it this way. "Call Los Angeles any dirty name you like… The fact remains that you are already living in it before you get there."
Los Angeles is not only the one city that best embodies bold dreams. It is the destination of people's imaginations, all around the world, whether or not they ever set foot here.
Fellow Angelenos, I'm asking you to dream with me, because our city not only represents America's greatest hope. We also face many of its most daunting challenges.
Seen from the Hollywood Hills at night, L.A. spreads out like a field of diamonds. And it truly is. But we also know that this shimmering vision obscures a darker truth. We know that there's a whole world of frustration lurking in the shadows between the lights, where too many parents fear for their children's safety, where too many people are denied the opportunity to fully develop their God-given talents, and where too many families are swimming against the tide of a declining quality of life.
Here in Los Angeles we have more museums and theaters than any other American city, but too many of our young people can't imagine life beyond the nearest street corner. Today, over one third of our students drop out before reaching graduation.
We are the undisputed commercial and cultural capital of the richest state, in the wealthiest nation in the world, but we're also home to the largest homeless population of any metropolitan area in the United States.
We stand at the global economic crossroads of Latin America and the Pacific Rim and the great consumer markets of North America, but we also face the daunting task of educating the most ethnically and economically diverse population in America — and maybe the world.
In short, we stand poised between the promise of immense possibility, and if we fail to act, a future of profound uncertainty.
I am asking you to dream with me. Dream with me of a Los Angeles where our kids can walk to school in safety and where they receive an education that gives them a genuine opportunity to pursue their own dreams.
Dream with me of a Los Angeles that's the leading economic and cultural center in the world. As Venice was in the 15th century, as London was in the 19th century, Los Angeles can and will be the great global city of our century.
Dream with me of a Los Angeles where it doesn't matter whether you're African American, Latino, Caucasian, or Asian. Whether you're Jewish or Muslim, Protestant or Catholic. Whether you're from Watts or Westwood. Where every Angeleno is an equal stakeholder in our city's future.
Angelenos, we need to start thinking big again, and facing up to our biggest challenges. I intend to be a mayor who confronts those challenges. And I'll begin by leading the fight to making our neighborhoods safer.
Crime affects every Angeleno and every community. But it is nothing less than a plague on our society's most vulnerable. A plague on children drawn to the streets by the lure of gangs and drugs. A plague on the poor whose neighborhoods bear a disproportionate share of the burden.
I want you to join me in the battle against crime, gun and gang violence. Join me in working with Chief Bratton and the brave men and women of the LAPD. Together we'll finally give them the tools they need to get the job done. It's time once and for all to put the police on our streets that will keep our city safe.
Surely, in this city of boundless creative genius and incalculable wealth, we can find the resources and the political will to hire more police officers!
But we also have to recognize that we will never address the problems of gangs and crime unless we reach out and expand opportunity for more of our people.
I can't say it more clearly: Reforming public schools is the central challenge facing Los Angeles. And it will be a central priority of my administration.
I'm a proud progressive. But it's time for those of us who call ourselves "progressive" to do more than just defend existing government programs. We need to be passionate advocates for change.
I will immediately create a Council of Education Advisors made up of our brightest education leaders, whose charge it will be to draft a comprehensive proposal to make long-needed improvements to L.A. Unified School District.
