[Quixote]

^ I hope LA city population gains vis-à-vis stagnation/declines in the other 87 municipalities will be a continuing trend. LA city already dwarfs the others in terms of population, but unfortunately, it's not a neatly defined geopolitical entity like NYC (a city-state), DC, Philly, Chicago, and SF owing to extremely arbitrary borders and fewer contrasts in density and built environment. As a result, LA city is reduced to being a co-competitor among a field of 87 other participants (Garcetti himself as alluded to this challenge).

The good news is that LA city is pretty much the only place in the county where you can accommodate hundreds of thousands of new residents through increased density and designated affordable housing, as there are miles and miles of crosstown arteries that you could line with 7-story buildings. My hope is that all of this will lead to the creation of some sort of LA city-specific funding mechanism (i.e. parcel tax) for a half-dozen or so heavy rail projects... actual difference makers. A Pico-Venice line, for instance, would run entirely through LA city proper.