LOS ANGELES ( Associated Press) – Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti delivered a farewell speech in his city on Thursday, at a time when it is unclear when and where he is leaving.
The two-term Democrat delivered his final State of the City address as his nomination to the Senate by President Joe Biden to become the US ambassador to India appears incomplete. The vote has been delayed because of an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against a former top adviser to Garcetti.
Nominations have been pending since July and it is not known when the voting will take place, if at all. If Garcetti remains at City Hall, his term runs through the end of the year.
The speeches—alternatively optimistic, melancholic, defensive and emotional—marked a cornerstone of sorts for Garcetti’s two decades at City Hall, nearly half as mayor.
He reaches the end of his term with the city grappling with an uncontrollable homelessness crisis that has spread to nearly every neighborhood, rising crime and housing prices that are out of reach for many working-class families.
He appeared suffocating, thanking his family for being with him “every step” and expressing gratitude to colleagues for their support through “the most difficult times”.
At another point, he warned that without more affordable housing and shelter for the homeless “the California dream would be an old chapter in the book of distant history.”
Last month, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, said in a statement that he had received “multiple credible allegations” that Garcetti was aware of sexual harassment of city employees perpetrated by his former adviser and close friend Rick Jacobs. . But did nothing to stop the misconduct. His office is investigating.
Garcetti denies having witnessed or reported any inappropriate behavior by Jacobs. A lawsuit against the city alleges that Jacobs often sexually assaulted one of the mayor’s police bodyguards, while Garcetti ignored it or laughed it off.
Jacobs called the allegations against him “pure fiction.”
