I couldn't have imagined saying this a few years ago, but I wish Antonio Villaraigosa could run again for mayor of Los Angeles.
You can look at broken promises and judge the mayor a flop: too many potholes, and not enough cops.
But I think his legacy is bigger than that. And most Angelenos, it seems, agree. More than half the voters surveyed by Times pollsters last week said they view Villaraigosa favorably.
That public endorsement shocked local pundits, who consider the mayor all style and no substance.
But style counts in Los Angeles. His ego may be bigger than his intellect, but the mayor has managed to leave his mark in ways that matter more than fixing sidewalk cracks.
He helped get us out of our cars and onto subways and bikes. His team took over some of the city's worst schools and showed that test scores could rise. He helped tamp down crime in struggling neighborhoods by bringing nighttime sports and arts to parks once claimed by gangs.
CicLAvia. Subway to the Sea. Summer Night Lights. The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. It isn't rocket science, but it is a reflection of the personality and passions of this particular mayor.
Villaraigosa swept into office eight years ago by trouncing dependably dull James Hahn, the incumbent whose signature accomplishment was hiring former LAPD Chief Bill Bratton.
The contrast was striking, with Villaraigosa showing that charisma counts, in measurable ways.
And with the election just three weeks away, I'd feel a lot better about the next four years if I glimpsed even a little pizazz from the candidates vying to replace him.
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Villaraigosa was his grandiose best during his mayoral campaigns. He was going to plant a million trees, reform hundreds of city schools, put a thousand more police officers on the street.
He fell short on much of that. His effort to take over the school system failed. Money troubles limited hiring. And his sordid affair with a TV newscaster embarrassed the city and damaged his credibility.
And yet the city he'll hand over to his successor in June is better, busier and more alive than it was when he took the reins in 2005: Crime is down, school test scores are up, the city's budget shortfall has shrunk.
The mayor doesn't deserve credit for all of that. But he ought to get points for sowing seeds of a renaissance in a city accustomed to dull mediocrity as the status quo.
People rolled their eyes when Villaraigosa proposed closing streets to cars occasionally to make room for cyclists. Then hundreds of thousands of people on bikes turned CicLAvia into the city's most popular recurring street party.
The mayor's passions and programs are a product of his background:
He brought us CicLAvia after he broke his arm on a bike ride along busy Venice Boulevard. He launched Summer Night Lights because he knows what can happen to aimless, jobless, fatherless boys; he was one. He pushed for new blood in failing schools because he understands the power of one caring teacher to turn a student's life around.
And it was his outsize confidence in his own vision that helped shape the civic zeitgeist.
The drudgery of this campaign has brought our lively mayor into sharper focus. I found myself missing him already as I watched Villaraigosa charm supporters of the United Negro College Fund at its "Mayor's Masked Ball" fundraiser last month.
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