If I hear that Quito, Ecuador, is doing something to have a whole area of town that's zero emissions, and we're thinking about that in Los Angeles' downtown, I'm like, 'I better catch up.'

When it comes to public safety, I listen to police chiefs and cops, not to a cable-news station.

Homelessness is like public education - something that for far too long we haven't put the resources or love or attention to.

If you want to cut crime, if you want to end homelessness, you have to deal with sexual violence, sexual harassment, and domestic violence.

I want to turn momentum on traffic. I want to make in a dent in homelessness on the way to eradicating it on our streets. But there's always something else to do tomorrow. And you have to be at peace knowing you're not going to finish it all.

If you can speak Spanish, then you can have a stronger connection with the residents of Los Angeles.

You don't have to be Latino to speak powerfully about how important it is to have a police department that cares for our immigrant communities.

I think I bring a perspective that local communities are what make this country great, and they are the laboratories of democracy.

We're looking to rebrand L.A. Not in some sort of radical way, but we've forgotten to sell this city, internationally and nationally... it's important for us to say who we are.