A Pacific plod

摘要

The only contest Los Angeles cared about this week shut off part of Hollywood Boulevard for nine days and featured an off-colour song about actresses' breasts. With the Oscars out of the way, the candidates for mayor hope that voters in America's second city may finally start paying them some attention in the run-up to the election primary, on March 5th. They should be so lucky. Turnout rarely exceeds one-third. This is not wholly surprising. The Progressives who drew up the city charter in 1925 created a weak mayor (and a strong council). The mayor's powers slightly increased in 1999, but unlike in Chicago and New York, the office still has little control over schools and health care. Moreover, the city's unwieldy sprawl, with a mountain range running through it and independent fiefs like Beverly Hills carved out within it, hardly fosters civic unity.