How to Fill Helfeld’s Shoes?

Los Angeles is losing an administrator of quality and perseverance with the departure of Edward M. Helfeld from the Community Redevelopment Agency. The facelifting that downtown Los Angeles has undergone in recent years is the product of many forces--including leadership from Mayor Tom Bradley and initiatives from major corporations--but no small amount of credit goes to the sound but imaginative financing efforts of the redevelopment agency during Helfeld’s tenure.

Helfeld and the agency’s board were unable to reach agreement on the long-term contract that Helfeld sought. From all accounts, the board wanted more authority, which meant that Helfeld would have less. Letting a director go is certainly a board’s prerogative, although other city agencies have been far slower to act with far, far more cause. It is unfortunate that Helfeld and his board could not resolve their differences, because the city will have to look hard to find as competent a successor who will be willing to step into the existing situation.

In many cities urban renewal has been accomplished with concern only for steel and glass, not for people. But the redevelopment agency under Helfeld has been a key player in providing loans for housing for the homeless and other poor people, remembering that Los Angeles is their city, too. Neither has the agency neglected aesthetics as it does its work, for it has steadily encouraged the display of art in public spaces and moves to create gallery space downtown.

But now the city must search for a new administrator for the agency. The No. 1 goal should be to find someone with the vision to help carry Los Angeles into the 21st Century with a minimum of urban woes.