When Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined workers who were fixing the city's potholes Monday, he decided not to ceremoniously pick up a shovel, figuring the public had grown weary - if not suspicious - of photo-ops.

Instead, the newly elected mayor cheered on the workers, while promising to keep them busy filling the potholes peppered across the city.

"Government shouldn't wait for the people to come to us," Garcetti said. "We need to be where they are."

Through Garcetti's Neighborhood Blitz plan, the mayor is pledging to send a street services crew into each LA neighborhood at least twice a year to hunt down and fix problematic potholes, the kind that flatten tires and destroy suspensions.

Garcetti, who is one month into his term, said he's focused on getting City Hall to work, from launching the help desk last week outside his office to breaking ground on a new fire station to cut response times, as well as fixing the city's crumbling streets.

The Ivy League-educated Naval Reserve officer and former professor of global politics wants to build credibility with his city, one asphalt rake at a time.

"The small stuff is the foundation, because if people don't believe you can do the small things, they won't trust you'll do the big ones, too," Garcetti said.

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