Richard Riordan on Unions and Dysfunctional LA (Extended Interview)

"They put incompetent adults ahead of children," Richard Riordan says of teachers unions who stand in the way of school reform.

The former mayor of Los Angeles took office shortly after the 1992 riots and shortly before the massive 1994 Northridge earthquake. Today, notes Riordan, the City of Angels faces a slate of different crises, from failing public schools to a fiscal calamity that has put the city on the brink of bankruptcy.

In this wide-ranging extended version of an interview that aired in January (and was shot in December), Riordan sits down with Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh to discuss public-sector unions, privatization, LA's dysfunctional government, why businesses are leaving the city, and why Arnold Schwarzenegger won't golf with him.

Approximately 40 minutes.

Shot by Zach Weissmueller, Paul Detrick, and Alex Manning. Edited by Detrick.

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