Challenges for Bradley

Tom Bradley starts his fourth term today as mayor of Los Angeles, facing challenges that any urban mayor would recognize--crime, housing, transportation, growth, tight budgets and traffic jams.

For three terms he has kept those problems to manageable proportions in a city more ethnically diverse and geographically dispersed than any other in the nation. He engineered a dramatic downtown development and construction boom that continues to bring good economic news to the central section of Los Angeles. The good news is not evenly distributed, but it is shared in neighborhoods from the water’s edge in San Pedro to the hills of Calabasas. A shopping center opened in Watts last year, and redevelopment is planned in the Crenshaw District.

His budgetary skills, even in the lean years after the approval of Proposition 13, have left this city in better financial shape than many. His leadership has resulted in a sense of harmony among a greatly diverse population.

The spectacular Olympic Games, which the mayor worked hard to attract, showcased an immense city that works for most. Those are hard acts to follow. And he will need all his skills and sound judgment, along with some luck, to make the fourth term turn out as well.

Bradley cannot make traffic jams or the homeless disappear, but he can take the lead in breaking up the former, sheltering the latter and making people in the city feel safer.

He has made the best start that he can on safety; 100 additional police officers will be hired because he found $5 million in the budget to pay for them. There should be more, but voters rejected his special property tax, which would have paid for 1,000 new officers. He must find ways to keep adding officers without shortchanging other municipal services.

To make the fourth term work, he must be firmer in making some of his less spectacular choices for high office perform.

To his credit, he sought more control over department heads, but again voters said no on Charter Amendment U. In fairness, only a few employees’ actions have been questioned, and some of them have Civil Service protections, but Bradley has been reluctant to discipline or force them out. City Planning Director Calvin Hamilton remains despite his questionable moonlighting and his performance on zoning. City Housing Authority executive director Homer Smith continues in office despite a management style that caused the City Council to reduce his agency’s power.

To all these details, Bradley must turn his attention soon. But Tuesday will be time enough. He is entitled to enjoy the pomp and pageantry of today that he has earned with his election to an unprecedented fourth full term.