Legality — Even If They Remain Frus- Trated by Traffic Jams, Sub- Standard Schools, Costly License

LABroadsheet_ 06-30-2013_ A_ 1_ A1_ WEST_ 1_CMYK TSet: 06-29-2013 21:29

USC PRICE / L.A. TIMES POLL L.A.’s voters mostly upbeat

Traffic, schools and housing are top gripes, but Angelenos are optimistic about the future under incoming

mayor Eric Garcetti. Wally Skalij Los Angeles Times By Michael Finnegan ARMY SGT. Michael Potoczniak, left, and Todd Saunders exchange rings during their marriage ceremony at San Francisco City Hall.

Los Angeles voters are upbeat about the city’s qual- ity of life as Eric Garcetti pre- pares to take over as mayor Their ideal wedding gift: legality — even if they remain frustrated by traffic jams, sub- standard schools, costly license. Right now. That combination of joy housing and the backlog of Frustrated in the past, Sandy Palmer and Mary Prop. 8 backers try to halt weddings and tension radiated unrepaired streets, accord- Dang knew they couldn’t get throughout the beaux-arts ing to a new USC Price/Los same-sex couples want the crucial piece of paper As gay couples race to marry, sponsors of the measure building all day Saturday, as Angeles Times poll . this marriage window over the weekend in Orange contend the court ruling is not yet legally final. A19 couples from throughout Those long-standing County, where they have the state converged on what gripes aside, solid majorities to stay open for good. lived together for 10 years. A shifting view of equal justice was believed to be the only said they were satisfied with And they worried that the government office in Califor- By Maria L. La Ganga, The Supreme Court’s landmark decisions this term the city’s police, parks, li- right to marry granted by nia issuing marriage li- Chris Megerian mark the end of one era of civil rights laws. A14 braries, public transporta- the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of censes. By the time the or- and Joseph Serna tion, emergency services Appeals on Friday after- nate doors swung open at and healthcare system. noon could be taken away state 5, the 90-minute wait swords and hats, friends and 9:10 a.m., a line of more than Most were also optimistic SAN FRANCISCO — again Monday morning. on the steps of City Hall as family. “It was amazing, but 100 people snaked along the that after four years with They piled into their white Such a matrimonial bait early morning traffic rushed the legal piece was missing. I building’s north side. Garcetti as mayor, Los An- Prius in Los Alamitos at and switch had happened to by and the line for licenses wanted to make this a part of And on its south side? geles will be better off than it midnight and arrived at City gay and lesbian couples be- swelled. my personal history, to grab That’s where a miniature is today. The councilman Hall here not long after sun- fore — not once, but twice. “We had a wedding in the moment, be part of tent city for the San Fran- from Silver Lake will hold an rise Saturday with one sim- Hence the sleepless night, 2010,” said Palmer, 33, a pi- something special — not just cisco Pride Celebration & inaugural ceremony at City ple goal in mind: A marriage the moonlit sprint up Inter- rate-themed affair with for me, but for the country.” [See Legality, A18] Hall on Sunday and start work as mayor Monday. Garcetti opens his term with a positive, if undefined, public image: 53% of voters viewed him favorably, 17% unfavorably. The rest offered Two shrine towns: no opinion. “Garcetti’s still a blank slate with most voters,” said pollster Jeff Harrelson of M4 Worlds apart yet Strategies, the Republican firm on the bipartisan team that conducted the survey [See Poll, A21] united in battle

Split approval for the outskirts of each locale. outgoing mayor In Syria, Christians And both are fighting back. Poll shows Villaraigosa’s and Shiites say they Here in Sednaya, a cadre favorable rating at 47%, face constant threat of Christian militiamen unfavorable at 40%. A29 armed with AK-47 rifles and from Sunni rebels. other weapons staff check- points and closely scrutinize By Patrick J. Wally Skalij Los Angeles Times everyone who comes and McDonnell JIMMY LUCIA, an actor by day, transports passengers in Hollywood at night. goes, day and night, coordi- The job is a hit with entertainment-industry workers for its flexible hours. nating closely with the Syri- Campaign SEDNAYA, Syria — This an military. The militia chief prosperous hillside town is a burly pizza shop owner north of Damascus appears who goes by the moniker to prevent a universe away from anoth- “the Whale.” It’s a win-win situation, er capital suburb, Sayyida About 12 miles away, on Zainab, a cluttered, frenzied the southeast fringes of the pandemic urban patch off the road to capital, Shiite militiamen, the international airport. including a contingent of unless you’re a cabbie Sednaya is a Christian fighters from the Lebanon- mountain bastion ringed by based Hezbollah move- goes viral monasteries; Sayyida Zai- ment, head the defense of night, Lucia will transport who get around the city in nab is a lowland Shiite Mus- the golden-domed shrine as many as 60 people. rides by Lyft drivers — usu- lim island in the midst of a said to house the remains of App-driven businesses But while Lucia’s a nice ally at a lower price than largely Sunni Muslim na- a granddaughter of the By Eryn Brown put paying riders in guy, he doesn’t give them a they would pay for a taxicab. tion. prophet Muhammad. lift for free. He is one of hun- The service uses smart- But, in war-ravaged Syr- “We will forfeit our blood ATLANTA — In a war private cars that aren’t dreds of actors, musicians phone apps to connect ride- ia, the two are in a similar po- and lives for Sayyida Zai- room of sorts in a neatly ap- subject to taxi rules. and filmmakers who are needy users with car-ready sition: Both are renowned nab,” says a brown-uni- pointed government build- making extra cash with their drivers. shrine towns whose resi- formed volunteer manning ing, U.S. officers dressed in By Salvador Rodriguez cars by hooking up as driv- Lyft and rivals Sidecar dents say they live under the checkpoint leading to crisp uniforms arranged ers with the taxi-like firm and Uber Technologies Inc., constant threat of attack — the mausoleum, one of the themselves around a U- Lyft, which bills itself as a which operates the Uber and even annihilation — by Is- most revered sites in the shaped table and kept their By day, Jimmy Lucia is an ride-sharing service. [See Ride services, A22] lamist Sunni rebels active in [See Syria, A4] eyes trained on a giant actor. By night, he roams the “Everybody has a sur- screen. PowerPoint slides streets of Los Angeles as vival job, and some people, ticked through the latest BatLyft. like me, are lucky to have a movements of an enemy Cruising in his blue 2013 ‘thrival’ job — I can thrive in that recently emerged in Kia Rio hatchback, Batman- this job while I pursue my Saudi Arabia — a mysteri- masked Lucia picks up dreams,” Lucia said. ELSA PERETTI

ous virus that has killed strangers and takes them Lyft is only a year old but © more than half of the people wherever they want to go. already has attracted thou- known to have been infected. On a Friday or Saturday sands of customers a week Here at the national Cen- ters for Disease Control and T&CO. 2013. DESIGNS

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