State of the City: Grim

HARBOR CITY - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa painted a grim picture of the state of the city Tuesday in his annual address, renewing a call for shared sacrifice and saying there was an urgent need for Angelenos to work together to get through the rough economic times. Daily News.

Speaking to a crowd of 400 people at the BalqonElectric Truck Manufacturing Co., Villaraigosa said the financial crunch was throwing hundreds of thousands of city residents into unemployment lines and forcing many people to seek handouts and other aid for the first time in their lives.

He called on unions to make wage and benefit concessions or face up to 2,800 city layoffs.