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This Saturday and Sunday, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa — along with friends, family, and supporters — will take a bus tour of Los Angeles, making more than 20 stops all across the city.

You can follow Mayor Villaraigosa’s bus tour here on our blog where we’ll be posting video updates throughout the weekend.  You can also receive updates through the Mayor’s Twitter account (he’s @villaraigosa on Twitter).  Or, even better, join us in person along the tour route!

Here’s the schedule:

Saturday, February 28th

6:40AM    USC Fight On! Triathlon
Location: Parking Lot behind Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. 3720 Stephen M.  White Dr. San Pedro, CA 90731

7:25AM    Omelet & Waffle Shop
Location: 1103 S Gaffey St., San Pedro, CA 90731

8:00AM    Eat at Rudy’s Drop By
Location: 558 E. Anaheim St., Wilmington, CA 90744

9:15AM    Measure B Kick-Off
Location: 5625 Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90037

3:30PM    Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza
Location: 3650 West Martin Luther King Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90008

4:30PM    Leimert Park Merchant Walk
Location: Leimert Park, 4331 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, 90008

5:15PM    South LA Campaign Office Visit
Location: 3427 Crenshaw Blvd., LA, CA 90016

8:00PM    Westwood Village Walk
Location: Westwood Village, Corner of Westwood and Weyburn

9:00PM    The Grove Walk
Location: 189 The Grove Drive, LA 90036

10:00PM    Canter’s Deli Drop By
Location: 419 N Fairfax Ave., LA 90048

11:00PM    Pink’s Hotdogs Drop-By
Location: 709 North La Brea Avenue, LA

Sunday, March 1st

8:30AM    Church on the Way
Location: 14300 Sherman Way, Van Nuys

9:45AM    La Costa Azul Restaurant Drop By
Location: 9771 Laurel Canyon Blvd. Pacoima, 91331

10:30AM    Lakeview Terrace American Baptist Church
Location: 11901 Foothill Blvd., Sylmar, CA 91342

12:00PM    Valley Campaign Office Visit
Location: 7100 Hayvenhurst Avenue, Encino 91406

1:00PM    Little League Opening Day Ceremonies
Location: 5120 Hayvenhurst Avenue, Encino 91436

2:00PM    Jewish Home for Aging
Location: 7150 Tampa Avenue, Reseda, CA 91335

3:15PM    Art’s Deli Drop By
Location: 12224 Ventura Blvd., Studio City 91604

4:00PM    Chinatown Merchant Walk
Location: Bamboo Plaza, 988 N. Hill, Los Angeles

4:40PM    East LA Campaign Office Visit
Location: 109 N. Boyle Ave., Los Angeles, CA

5:20PM    El Tepeyac Café Drop By
Location: 812 N Evergreen Ave., LA, CA 90033

One of the goals of this campaign was to provide our supporters with a variety of online tools to help them get engaged and take part in our movement. That’s why, last week, we released a new Facebook application that we want to share with you. Our grassroots supporters can now pledge to vote for Mayor Villaraigosa and share their pledge with all their friends by adding the application.

By taking the pledge, you’ll be letting your friends and family know how you’ll be voting this March 3rd and helping to spread our message to your community. It’s what makes the internet such a powerful tool: the invaluable capacity to connect us directly to our grassroots supporters and their own communities of influence. Check the app out here:

We also wanted to give you a first look at our new ad, just released today. Markham Middle School student Zoe Hodge describes the considerable progress in her neighborhood thanks to Mayor Villaraigosa’s crackdown on crime and close involvement in improving LA schools. We’re proud to have Zoe and her family’s support and vote. Join them by adding the Antonio for LA Facebook Application and pledging your vote as well.

Yesterday was a big day for Mayor Villaraigosa, Los Angeles, and our continued push to make our city greener. We were honored to be joined by former President Bill Clinton, who appeared with the Mayor and praised Los Angeles’ plan to modernize our energy use by refitting the city’s incandescent street lights with more efficient LEDs. With 140,000 residential street lights slated for retrofitting over the next five years, the initiative is the largest effort by a US city to reduce energy consumption and reduce pollution. The project should cut carbon emissions by 40,500 tons and save the city $10 million annually, effectively paying for itself.

ABC7 Los Angeles was there to report on the event and has some great coverage. Check it out:

Click here to watch video coverage by ABC7

President Clinton directed his praise to Mayor Villaraigosa’s efforts to make LA a more efficient city, pointing out that “This is like taking 6,000 cars off the road.” He added, “If every major city followed your lead, we could eliminate two and a half coal-fired power plants.”

Click here to read more about Mayor Villaraigosa’s energy accomplishments on his issues page.

More coverage by NBC Los Angeles can be found here.

Hundreds of the Mayor’s friends, family, and supporters joined him to kick off his campaign on Saturday afternoon at his Eastside campaign office in Boyle Heights, not far from where he grew up. We all had a great time listening to music, enjoying some fantastic food, and talking with friends about how to make this great city a better place over the next four years. We were lucky to have our friend, Meeno Peluce, there taking some photos that I wanted to share with you. Check them out!

Click here to view this slideshow in Flickr

As you can see, everyone had a blast!

We’re opening some more offices this week, so come join us to celebrate there as well. Here are the details:

South LA Campaign Office Opening
Sunday, February 15th, 1PM
3427 Crenshaw Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90016
Click here to RSVP

Valley Campaign Office Opening
Monday, February 16th, 3PM 2:30PM
7100 Hayvenhurst Avenue, Suite 109
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Click here to RSVP

In preparation for our official campaign kickoff tomorrow, I wanted to share with you two new TV ads that feature the reason why we’re in this campaign: real Angelenos. The ads feature Olga and Eleni, two Angelenos who have felt first-hand the effects of the Mayor’s tenure and want to share with you the reasons they’re supporting his re-election. Check them out:

Hey everybody! We’re getting excited around HQ today as we get ready for the official campaign kickoff this Saturday. It’s going to be a fun event, celebrating the opening of our Eastside campaign office and featuring Mayor Villaraigosa, hundreds of our grassroots supporters, and you! It should be a great chance for all of us to touch base in person and talk about how we can continue the positive changes Mayor Villaraigosa has brought to LA for another four years.

Click here to RSVP online now!

Here are the details:

When
Saturday, February 7
1:30-4:30PM

Where
Eastside Campaign Office
109 N. Boyle Ave.
Los Angeles

Who
You, Me, and hundreds of our friends!

Click here to RSVP now!

I hope you can make it! -Dan

One of the biggest lessons learned from Barack Obama’s historic campaign and election has been the power of the internet to harness and direct the strength that you, the grassroots online supporters, bring to a campaign. As campaigns are increasingly won and lost online, they become more and more a campaign by and for the people. Instead of the old model of top-down politics, we can see that online activists working together can truly build a campaign from the ground up.

We want you to have that kind of access and power in this campaign, which is why we want you to join us at the Mayor’s Facebook page. Building a strong and active online community will help us build the vision of a green, safe, and strong Los Angeles that we all share. But to create that community, I need your help to recruit your friends and make the Mayor’s Facebook page a place where we can all come together and look to the future. Here are a few quick tips:

1. Become a supporter. The quickest way to start growing our numbers is for you to make sure you’ve signed up as a supporter. And better yet, when you become a supporter, your friends will see it in their News Feeds, so just by joining you’ll be helping spread the word! Click here to visit Mayor Villaraigosa’s Page and become a supporter right now!
2. Click the Share button on the page. By sharing the page, it will be posted to your profile and in your friends’ News Feeds. You can also add a comment about why you are supporting Mayor Villaraigosa’s candidacy and why you think others would want to as well!
3. Post a link to my page in your Facebook status. Use a message like, “Join me in supporting Mayor Villaraigosa!” and include this link to the page: http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Antonio-Villaraigosa/29657564614
4. Write a note about why you’re supporting my campaign and tag your friends in it. Then, include a link to the page (http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Antonio-Villaraigosa/29657564614) so they can join us!
5. Email your friends. Share your story about why you’re supporting Mayor Villaraigosa’s candidacy for Mayor with your friends by email. The most powerful story you can share is your own. Then, include a link to our page (http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Antonio-Villaraigosa/29657564614) and encourage them to tell their friends as well!

At the Mayor’s Facebook page, the Mayor, myself, and other staff will be posting videos, articles, and messages for the community, but you will also have the chance to share your videos, photos, and thoughts. Together, we can discuss the future of Los Angeles and ways to make it brighter for everyone.

I hope you’ll go over, sign up and get involved in the discussion. It’s just one more way for you to join us as we work to bring people together and get things done. See you there! -Dan