Our Bureau
Washington
Eric Garcetti is finally appointed the US ambassador to India. Kenneth Juster, was the last ambassador of the US in New Delhi but stepped down in January 2021. Garcelli has been appointed after more than 2.5 years of the announcement of his name.
The 52-year-old former Mayor of Los Angeles was raised in the San Fernando Valley and completed his BA and MA from Columbia University. He studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and the London School of Economics. Garcetti taught at Occidental College and USC. An officer in the US Navy reserve for 12 years, Garcetti and his wife, Amy Elaine Wakeland have one daughter. Apart from being a seasoned administrator, he is an avid jazz pianist and photographer.
Garcetti holds the distinction of being the city’s youngest mayor in 100 years When he was elected as the Mayor of Los Angeles in 2013 — a post he held till 2012. Before that, he was the President of the Los Angeles City Council for 6 years from 2006 to 2012. Garcetti served as a Council member of the 13th District before that.
It was during his tenure as the Mayor of Los Angeles that the city was announced as the Olympics venue of 2028. Garcetti earned applause for adopting a $15 minimum wage, improving Los Angeles’s transit system and making it more earthquake-resilient. When the pandemic struct, he was also appreciated for his regular briefings reassuring many residents. However, he was criticized for the homelessness crisis in the city. Protests erupted following the killing of George Floyd, and he was criticized by for his attempts at finding a middle ground to the ‘defund the police’ calls.
