Council Reverses Vote, Accepts Olympic Swim Funds

The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday backed off on its resolution of last Friday not to accept $27,708 in surplus Olympic funds for increased swimming training this summer for youngsters at 19 public pools, voting 11 to 0 to accept the money after all.

The action came on a motion of reconsideration supported in a letter by Mayor Tom Bradley, who is a member of the board of the Amateur Athletic Foundation, the private group charged with distributing Southern California’s 40% share of the Olympic money. Twenty-three county facilities and YMCAs are also receiving money under the foundation’s Summer Swim ’86 program.

The original rejection apparently came about as a result of a misunderstanding by some council members that the swim program, as constituted, bypassed black youngsters. Later, it was pointed out to them that actually several pools in the black community were to receive funds.

However, in speeches that preceded the reconsideration vote, several council members--including Howard Finn, Robert Farrell and Joan Milke Flores--suggested that the foundation should be careful in its push to aid youth sports in economically deprived parts of the community not to bypass small parts of council districts outside of core areas that might also be deprived.

The foundation has encountered considerable touchiness among some council members, who seem eager, as Finn was Tuesday, to ensure that their own districts get a proportionate share of the Olympic grants.

AFL-CIO leader Bill Robertson, who is on the foundation board and appeared on behalf of the swimming program before the council, said after the vote that one councilman, David Cunningham, has been seeking a seat for a council representative on the 17-member foundation board so that the council could directly participate in making the grants. He said there is no prospect the board would accept this.

The foundation makes grants throughout Southern California. A spokesman, Steve Montiel, said the City of Los Angeles has received about $1.5 million of the $4 million in program grants thus far.