Today’s News: Garcetti and Greuel in run-off; Feuer outpaces Trutanich; Voters reject sales tax hike

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Mayor’s race. It’ll be either Eric Garcetti or Wendy Greuel sitting in the mayor’s chair come July. With all precincts reporting, City Councilman Garcetti and City Controller Greuel easily outpaced their opponents to clinch a spot in the May run-off election. Garcetti captured 32.9 percent of the vote to Greuel’s 29.2 percent yesterday. Businessman Kevin James, the sole Republican contender, finished third with 16.4 percent, just ahead of Councilwoman Jan Perry with 15.9 percent. City officials say that just 16 percent of the city’s 1.8 million eligible voters cast ballots in the election. L.A. Times

City Council. New faces for the L.A City Council. In the 11th District, which includes the Venice area, Mike Bonin, an aide to sitting Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, crushed three opponents to claim the seat held by his boss. In the 3rd District, in the San Fernando Valley, Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield will replace the termed-out Denniz Zine. In the Valley’s 7th District, Felipe Fuentes won the seat being vacated by Richard Alarcon. Two incumbents – Joe Buscaino and Paul Koretz – both won second terms. L.A. Weekly

Controller and City Attorney. L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich will have to win a run-off with former lawmaker Mike Feuer to keep his job. Feuer won nearly 44 percent of the vote in the four-person field, to about 30 percent for Trutanich. In the race for city controller, Denniz Zine and lawyer Ron Galperin are heading for the May run-off. In a crowded field, Zine and Galperin each wrangled about 37 percent of the vote. L.A. Times

Prop. A. L.A. voters rejected a proposal to hike the city’s sales tax by a half-cent to bolster police and fire departments hit by years of budget cuts. Proposition A went down 55 to 45 percent. That was a bit of surprise because a recent poll found Prop. A leading among voters who had already made up their minds. L.A. Daily News

Seized vehicles.
The LAPD impounded almost 40 percent fewer vehicles last year than it did in 2011. The main reason for the decline: controversial new rules that limit when police can take the vehicles of unlicensed drivers. Special Order 7 was pushed through by Police Chief Charlie Beck last year. It instructs officers not to put to 30-day holds on cars and trucks if an unlicensed driver meets several conditions. The motivation was to make the system fairer for illegal immigrants. L.A. Times