Alhambra : Lawyer, 35, Begins Stint as Mayor

Michael A. Blanco, a 35-year-old attorney, was installed as mayor of Alhambra this week, succeeding Talmage V. Burke under a system that rotates the office among City Council members every nine months. Councilman Michael J. Messina succeeded Blanco as vice mayor.

Blanco said he hopes to improve basic services, emphasize business development and help create a new general plan that will deal with traffic congestion and other growth problems. Among the steps Alhambra is planning, he said, are addition of a police officer to work on crime prevention, expansion of library hours to again include Mondays, and catching up on a backlog of sidewalk repair requests.