JUST KINDA LOOKS LIKE IT
Rick Caruso IS Not Running for Mayor. Really!
Rick Caruso, chief of the highly popular retail centers The Grove and The Americana at Brand, has flirted heavily with running for mayor of Los Angeles in the past.
While he bowed out of the most recent mayoral election cycle, the man sometimes cannot escape looking like a candidate.
On May 2, The Los Angeles Police Foundation will honor him at its True Blue Gala at Paramount Studios. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck will be in attendance along with outgoing mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. There will be splashy photo ops and dinner co-chairs include pols like Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and current mayoral hopeful Eric Garcetti. Let’s hope the gala’s band doesn’t play Hail to the Chief when Caruso makes a speech.
While he last served as president of Los Angeles’ police commission in 2003, Pat Berni, director of marketing and events for the Los Angeles Police Foundation said Caruso is being honored for his work with the commission, along with his charitable donations to the foundation. Berni did not confirm how much he has donated to the foundation.
Caruso also gives generous gift cards to the families of LA cops serving in the U.S. military overseas. Some of those gift cards can be more than $400 Berni said. Caruso also served on the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission, but he resigned in 2011. He currently serves on the USC Board of Trustees.
