It’s been a busy six months for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – and not all of it has been photo ops.

Since taking office last summer, the mayor has brokered a deal for a Convention Center hotel next to Staples Center, helped settle litigation involving homeowners near Los Angeles International Airport, and assembled an experienced team of advisors, commissioners and department heads.

Now comes the really tough part: determining which campaign promises take priority, given a structural deficit approaching $250 million, and making headway on longstanding issues like traffic, schools and housing.

“He’s been great on style and getting people energized about L.A., which is just what we needed after the last few years,” said Martin Cooper, immediate past chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. “But now, he’s got to move from the style to the substance. He’s begun to do this, but these next few months will be absolutely crucial.”

In an interview, Villaraigosa outlined shorter term goals for the coming year to promote economic development, including three international trade missions and trips to other parts of the country to drum up new investment in the city. The three trade missions, as currently planned, include one to Asia in the early spring and trips to Mexico/Central America and Europe later in the year.

“Look, I get it,” Villaraigosa said. “I understand the need to create wealth, promote investment and strategically look to create industries in the city. One of my top goals has been to bring more investment to this great city and our business teams have been, and will continue, to be very aggressive in that regard.”

Honest broker
A key milestone will come in June, when Villaraigosa wraps up his first year in office. By that time, he will have crafted his first budget and his commission and management teams will have had enough time to begin implementing some of his policies.

The mayor has no shortage of big ideas, including extending the Red Line subway down Wilshire Boulevard to the ocean, pitching a $1 billion housing bond, and looking to assert more control over the L.A. Unified School District. But even Villaraigosa acknowledges that some of those goals are several years from getting off the ground.

His most notable work has been as an honest broker for labor and economic development, something that former Mayor James Hahn had steered clear of.

He renegotiated the development agreement for Marlton Square in South L.A. He brokered an agreement with Westin Bonaventure owner Peter Zen, allowing Zen to convert some hotel rooms to condominiums in exchange for dropping his opposition to a Convention Center hotel. And he moved to eliminate fees for filming on city property and supported a state tax incentive package for Hollywood production companies wanting to shoot in California. That legislation fell apart last summer but is expected to be reintroduced next month.

On traffic, the mayor deployed officers to 50 of the city’s busiest intersections and announced the formation of a panel to look at the feasibility of tunneling under Wilshire Boulevard for a subway extension.

Villaraigosa said he has secured an agreement from state Senate President Don Perata, D-Oakland, to include $130 million for carpool lane construction on the San Diego (405) Freeway in any transportation bond that emerges from Sacramento next year. He said he also intends to allocate $250 million in funding more traffic signal synchronization and to make sure that construction begins on the Exposition light rail line to L.A.’s Westside.

“We’ve been working very hard on traffic issues,” he said.