Primed to take the reins as the District’s next mayor, Adrian Fenty returned last week from a three-day trip to California with a better idea of how he will reshape the D.C. government.
The Democratic mayoral nominee, who is expected to cruise to victory Nov. 7, spent one day in Los Angeles and 36 hours in San Francisco, meeting with the respective mayors, cabinet members and deputies. His visit to the West Coast followed recent visits to New York and Chicago.
“It’s interesting how these cities have a different personality, shaped I think in large part by the mayorand vice versa,” Fenty, the Ward 4 D.C. Council member, said Monday. “A lot of these guys, their personalities are larger than life and they really impact not only the government decisions but the social fabric and the general sense of community in these cities.”
In Los Angeles, Fenty’s focus was schools, as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was recently handed a modicum of control over the city’s public education system. But Fenty also met with the director of the permit offices and “took boatloads of information from him,” in addition to the police chief and others.
“We met with the Homeland Security guy,” Fenty said. “He was helpful, but I think we actually may be a little further along than they are, which is fine. It’s good to find that out.”
In San Francisco, in addition to being recognized during the State of the City address, Fenty met with Mayor Gavin Newsom to discuss health care, transportation and human services policy.
There was no time for the District’s presumptive chief executive to enjoy the California beach, but he did make time for the waterfront.
“We took a tour of the San Francisco waterfront and came back with good ideas about development around the waterfront and also downtown,” Fenty said. “Their downtown retail is a lot further along than ours, just ground-floor storefront retail.”
