As speaker, Villaraigosa was an advocate for working families and helped to write legislation protecting the environment, expanding healthcare access, and increasing funding for public schools.

As mayor, Villaraigosa spearheaded policies to improve student outcomes in the Los Angeles Unified School District, reduce city and highway traffic, and enhance public safety.

[6] Antonio Ramón Villar Jr. grew up in the City Terrace neighborhood of Los Angeles County's Eastside, and attended both Catholic and public schools.

[8] His father abandoned their family when he was 5 years old, and aged 16, a benign tumor in his spinal column briefly paralyzed him from the waist down, curtailing his ability to play sports.

[9] He later was graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School[7] in Boyle Heights after taking adult education classes there at night, and with the help of his English teacher, Herman Katz.

[7][11] At UCLA, he was a leader of MEChA, an organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through political action, but later renounced his association with the group citing its controversial stances on race.

In 2003, Villaraigosa defeated incumbent Councilman Nick Pacheco to win a seat on the Los Angeles City Council representing the 14th District.

[24] Its passage was credited in large part to Villaraigosa, who lobbied the Metropolitan Transportation Agency and County Board of Supervisors to place it on the November ballot, and helped organize the fundraising efforts.

[27] The accident converted Villaraigosa into "a new champion of cyclists' rights", when he declared a bicycle safety summit, and announced that he would push for the passage of a "3 foot passing rule" in California.

Villaraigosa has also supported implementation of Los Angeles' Bicycle Master Plan, adopted in March 2011, which set a long-term goal of creating a network of 1,680 miles (2,700 km) of interconnected bikeways spanning the city.

[29] Subsequent to the adoption of the plan, Villaraigosa issued an executive directive that mandated the construction of 40 miles of bikeways each year and requires city agencies to include bicycle-friendly features in their programs and expand public education and training campaigns.

[32] Villaraigosa proposed a Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness initiative, which would add certain units to the Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments and reorganize some of the current practices.

24 hours before the March 3 election, Villaraigosa and Bratton reannounced a statement from the Mayor's Office that the "citywide crime-rate drop to the lowest level since 1956, the total number of homicides fall[ing] to a 38-year low.

"[37] However, former Chief of Police Daryl Gates argued against this statistic, citing a trend toward lengthier prison sentences for career criminals as the reason for the change.

"[58] Villaraigosa then lobbied to place Proposition S on the ballot to fund new police officers, concerned that a pending court ruling could eliminate the 40-year-old 10% telephone tax.

[62] In April 2008, Villaraigosa set aside a large parcel of industrial land around the Los Angeles River to create a "clean technology corridor.

[64] In February 2006, Villaraigosa was presented with the Tom Bradley Legacy Foundation Achievement Award for "following in the footsteps of the first African American Mayor of Los Angeles who served the city for 51 years."

Citing the similarity of the two mayors in building coalitions among diverse communities, the speakers praised Villaraigosa for his vision for the City of Los Angeles.

In England, he visited London and Manchester, at the invitation of then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, and spoke about Los Angeles' efforts regarding global warming, homeland security and emergency preparedness, and its bid for the 2016 Olympic Games.

In Beijing, Villaraigosa opened a LA Inc. tourism office, in order to ensure a permanent welcome for the millions of Chinese tourists who will visit Los Angeles over the next decade.

[74] Villaraigosa has long retained strong ties to the Los Angeles Jewish Community, having spent part of his childhood in the once-Jewish dominated neighborhood of Boyle Heights.

"[77] In June 2010, a formal ethics investigation of Villaraigosa was launched due to his unreported acceptance of 81 tickets to concerts, awards ceremonies and sporting events.

On the second day, September 5, former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland introduced an amendment on the floor of the convention to re-insert language invoking God and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

[83] The story questioned whether Villaraigosa's relationship with Herbalife would become a significant hurdle in a statewide run, given the company's checkered reputation and ongoing U.S. Federal Trade Commission investigations.

[83] Villaraigosa's role as a consultant to the embattled company was condemned by the League of United Latin American Citizens,[83] an advocacy organization focused on Hispanic advancement.

[84] After his election as Los Angeles Mayor, Villaraigosa was featured on the cover of Newsweek, and in Time's story on the country's 25 most influential Latinos, but repeated questions concerning his marital infidelity issues appear to have damaged his reputation locally and nationally.

"[88] A November 4, 2008 election day poll, conducted by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University found that Villaraigosa had a job approval rating of 61%.

[89][90] In 2009, a poll by the Los Angeles times showed his approval rating had slipped to 55%, "relatively low for a sitting Mayor who faced little name opposition in his recent re-election victory.

Villaraigosa was featured in the editorial cover story of the June 2009 Los Angeles Magazine, which took him to task for a lack of effectiveness regarding many of his stated policy priorities, and a focus on election to higher office, to the detriment of the needs of the city.

[93] After he left the mayor's office, Villaraigosa was involved in Campaign to Fix the Debt, a movement for entitlement reform to cut Social Security and Medicare, which Democratic strategist Nathan Ballard said is "not just touching the third rail — it's an act of public self-immolation.