L.A. Middle-Class Clout Grows Amid Political Diversity

At the upper end of Haines Canyon Avenue, where goats browse on a stubbly hillside 2,000 feet above sea level and snowflakes swirl in a cold spring wind, people talk about the rest of Los Angeles as if it were the Casbah--a place to lose their wallets or their virtue.

Part of Tujunga in the San Fernando Valley, Haines Canyon belongs to the city’s northern tier, one of the fastest growing, most well-off areas of town. Pushing out beyond flatland suburbs, the North Valley can be self-consciously “country,” with hitching posts in front of supermarkets, jokes about seceding from Los Angeles and much tub thumping about self-sufficiency and rugged individualism.

Yet, you can’t always take the country out of the city, and as the April 14 City Council elections draw near, it is clear that the mostly white, middle class and increasingly conservative voters in the Tujunga high country are in many ways characteristic of voters throughout Los Angeles.

White and Affluent

In a city that thinks of itself as the nation’s modern melting pot, the political controls rest securely in the hands of the middle class, with the number of white, affluent voters increasing at a greater rate than voters from the city’s burgeoning nonwhite, immigrant population.

Moreover, there is a reminder of rural values in the voters’ agenda, as they press for clean air, uncrowded streets and small-town scale in the midst of the nation’s second-largest city. The voters’ preoccupation with quality-of-life issues comes at a time when City Hall is hoping to revive the city’s anemic industrial base and solve an acute housing problem that has been dramatized recently by bands of homeless people setting up camp along downtown streets.

Between 1980 and 1985, population growth spread rather evenly across rich and poor quarters of the city. But the majority of the voters (59%) live in the city’s whitest and wealthiest neighborhoods on the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley, areas that contain less than half (48%) of the city’s population. These areas are 75% white and include 88% of the households in the city with incomes of $50,000 or more.

Voting Patterns Analyzed

That picture of the electorate in a changing city comes from Times interviews and from an analysis of local voting behavior done for the paper by Bruce E. Cain, professor of political science at Caltech. Cain’s work relies in part on demographic information supplied by the Southern California Assn. of Governments.

Cain’s analysis sheds light on the voting habits of the city’s middle class majority. It also invites some disquieting thoughts about the future of a city with a rapidly growing non-voting population whose needs could go unrepresented.

“If the trend continues, you are going to see a kind of class warfare, with the newer, less affluent people pushing for new economic opportunities and the established middle class fighting to keep the city a nice, familiar place to live,” said Arnold Steinberg, a pollster and analyst who works mostly for Republican causes and candidates.

Others discount the threat of class friction, arguing that most immigrants find work and shelter here, and that by the time they are interested enough in local politics to vote they are likely to be as concerned about smog and congestion as the natives are.

Political Tension

For the time being, the political tension between the slow-growth movement and the city’s impulse to grow is reflected in Mayor Tom Bradley’s efforts to regain the respect of environment-minded voters without sacrificing his popularity with business leaders.

Recently, Bradley made his first policy statement on planning matters in over a year, endorsing a series of curbs on new development while spurning more drastic measures proposed by leaders of the City Council’s slow-growth faction.

It is clear from 1986 vote totals that Bradley has lost ground in all parts of the city, but on the Westside in particular. Over the years, the Westside has been the wellspring of the black mayor’s white liberal support, but it has also become the nucleus of the citywide movement against growth and pollution.

That movement poses a more immediate challenge to City Council President Pat Russell, who is working hard to refute the claim that she has become an agent of real estate developers in her district. Russell, who has represented the 6th Council District for 18 years, faces five opponents in the April 14 election.

Bradley and Russell are liberal Democrats in a city where party loyalty is beginning to wane. According to the Caltech analysis, Democratic affiliation is growing slightly or holding its own among 54% of the city’s voters, with strongholds in south Los Angeles and along a broad corridor from East Los Angeles to the coast.

However, Democratic Party registrations are off in both the north and south San Fernando Valley. These are the two areas where new households are growing fastest and where voter wealth, as measured by household income, is also rising faster than elsewhere in the city.

For example, Democratic registrations dropped from 58% in 1982 to 54% in 1984 in the south valley, where new home construction was the highest in the city between 1980 and 1985 and where the number of households with incomes over $20,000 is also the highest in town. The same trend applies to the north valley, which has a slightly higher rate of Democratic attrition and slightly lower rates of household growth and income.

One of the more striking signs of local conservatism was the citywide majority vote for a 1986 ballot measure that declared English the official language of California. The measure empowers Californians to sue the state if it fails to “take all steps necessary” to make sure that English is “preserved and enhanced.”

But the issue of urban growth, more than any other, has rallied voters from all parts of town.

A comparison of recent voting records in two very different City Council districts, the semi-rural, mostly white 2nd District and the inner-city, largely black 10th District, offers a good example.

On state and national issues, the two districts remain far apart.

In 1984, Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale received about 80% of the 10th District’s votes and but 40% of the votes in the 2nd District. Two years later, the two districts broke much the same way on votes for Bradley.

Some Similarities

But on other issues, there was a meeting of minds in the two districts.

By almost identically wide margins, voters in both districts joined a citywide majority in approving the two growth and environment measures on the 1986 ballot. One was a toxics initiative requiring government and industry to warn consumers about the cancer-causing effects of hundreds of products. The other measure, known as Proposition U, put new restrictions on the size of commercial construction near residential neighborhoods.

A majority of voters in both districts also approved the English-language initiative.

At recent political forums in the two districts, as well as in other parts of town where council elections will soon be held, talk continues to dwell on the unwanted consequences of urban growth.

In settled, single-family neighborhoods in the 10th District, residents bemoan the unruly spread of auto body shops along Pico Boulevard and the profusion of corner shopping centers and convenience stores that sell liquor.

Racial Tensions

Residents also speak of the growing tensions between longtime black residents and first generation Korean shopkeepers, and they fret about the overcrowding they say is occurring as Latino immigrants with large families move into apartment buildings.

Mary Thompson has lived for 30 years in her house on Ridgeley Drive between Pico and San Vicente boulevards. She calls herself “a city person” and says she is proud of her neighborhood’s ethnic diversity. She said she and her family, part of the black majority, worked hard to persuade whites not to flee the area when the racial balance began to shift many years ago. But Thompson said she is again beginning to worry about the ethnic stability of the area as a result of the influx of Latino renters.

“A lot of the tenants who are already there don’t want to live next to a family with six or seven kids,” Thompson said. “With the overcrowding, there are naturally concerns about health and safety.”

Wants Managed Growth

But Thompson, who sells real estate for a living, insists that she is not opposed to change or growth as long as it is carefully managed. She says she believes the council candidate in the 10th District best able to achieve that balanced growth is Myrlie Evers. An executive with Atlantic Richfield Co., Evers is the widow of Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who was murdered in Mississippi in 1963. Vying for the open 10th District seat, Evers is up against a field of 12 candidates, including the mayor’s choice, Homer Broome, a former police commander.

Twenty miles and two small mountain ranges north of the 10th District, the most heated political talk is also about preserving neighborhood integrity. The issue here, in the upper end of the 2nd District, is a proposal to build 1 million square feet of commercial and residential development in a vast, wild gully known as the Tujunga Wash.

A landscape out of the old West, the wash is what residents like former City Councilman Bob Ronka are talking about when they say they live in Marlboro Country. The wash is a symbol of something many in Los Angeles have always wanted--a hint of arcadia in the midst of metropolis, whether it comes in the form of a western vista, a sea view, a canal in Venice, or a Moorish skyline in Hollywood.

Move for Wachs

No politician has worked harder to fit into the local landscape than City Councilman Joel Wachs has lately. A gay rights activist, art collector and all around boulevardier, Wachs found himself exiled to the 2nd District after a bitter council redistricting fight last year moved him out of the Hollywood Hills.

Wachs bought cowboy clothes and sponsored a country and western jamboree. He also latched onto the one issue--local environmentalism--capable of endearing him to a broad segment of his new constituents. He established himself as a slow-growther and came out against the proposed development of the Tujunga Wash. Now, despite facing a largely new electorate, he stands a good chance of winning the election April 14.

The voters’ preoccupation with growth, development and the environment is most intense in the 6th Council District along the coast, where Council President Russell could be facing a difficult reelection fight.

Sixth District voters have already handed Russell a rebuff of sorts by overwhelmingly approving Proposition U. Russell opposed the development limitation measure, only to have votes for Proposition U pour in from all quarters of her diverse district.

Black-White Mix

In some ways a microcosm of the city, the 6th encompasses black and white homeowners in Westchester and Crenshaw, has its own black ghetto--”The Jungle”--and a bohemian flavor in Venice. The district’s location has made it a magnet for tourists, traffic and corporate development. The 6th fronts on Santa Monica Bay and takes in Los Angeles International Airport. It is the western terminus of the Santa Monica Freeway and is bisected by the San Diego Freeway, one of the state’s most heavily traveled thoroughfares.

Local politicians have good reason to watch what happens in the 6th District. A close contest could send a message to Bradley, or anyone else who is thinking about running in the mayor’s race two years from now.

Bradley and Russell are old allies. He stood with her against Proposition U, endorsed her in the 6th District and recently incorporated many of her ideas in a major policy speech on growth and development in the city.

Pressure Could Develop

If Russell is forced into a runoff, there will be pressure on Bradley to make a firmer commitment against commercial growth.

Bradley began to fall from grace with local environmentalists two years ago when he approved a plan he had previously vetoed to allow Occidental Petroleum Corp. to drill for oil in Pacific Palisades. He hurt himself again by not acting quicker to treat sewage flowing into Santa Monica Bay.

While Bradley carried Los Angeles in his unsuccessful race for governor last year, he received a smaller percentage of votes in every area of the city than he got in his first run for governor in 1982.

Bradley’s lackluster hometown showing last year cannot be blamed entirely on his record on environmental issues.

Comparison With Cranston

Still, it is interesting to compare Bradley’s 1986 citywide vote totals with those of Sen. Alan Cranston, another veteran Democrat but one who has held on to his reputation as a staunch environmentalist. In office since 1967, Cranston was running for reelection last November.

He not only won, but he also fared better than Bradley in Bradley’s backyard.

On the Westside, one of the few places in Los Angeles where Democratic registration has grown--from 58% to 59% between 1982 and 1984--Bradley received 50% of the votes and Cranston 64%.

On the Eastside, where Democratic registration is among the highest in the city at 78%, Bradley got 65% of the votes and Cranston 75%.

In the south Valley, where Democratic registration dropped by four points to 54% in 1984, Bradley received 44% against Cranston’s 57%.

And in the north Valley, where Democratic registration was falling fastest, from 56% in 1982 to 51.5% in 1984, Bradley got 37% of the votes, trailing Cranston by 11 points.

Only in south Los Angeles, with its largely black and 90% Democratic majority, did Bradley best Cranston, 94% to 93%.

LOS ANGELES’ POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

Analysis by Caltech Prof. Bruce E. Cain shows that almost half of the city’s population growth between 1980 and 1985 occurred in more affluent white areas. While 51% of the growth was in poorer areas, their low voter turnout weakened the impact of population gain. Thus, the main effect of population growth has been to strengthen the political power of white areas. Data was also provided by the Southern California Assn. of Governments and Ted Leibman of The Times’ marketing department. Here is an area-by-area summary of demographic information and political ananlysis: NORTHERN VALLEY: Roscoe Boulevard north. Fast-growing, conservative. Population 67% white. Large number of blue-collar, technical and upper- and lower-echelon white-collar workers give it prosperous, wage-earning tone. Democrats in majority but are city’s greatest party switchers. Probable center of opposition to Mayor Tom Bradley in 1989. SOUTH VALLEY: Central Valley to Mulholland Drive. Also a growth area, with 82% white population. Younger tech and white-collars, older professionals, high-paid tech and white- collars with wealthy professionals and the rich in the hills. That combination, which includes large number of strongly Democratic, Jewish voters, make it more loyal to party than Northern Valley. Political change area with Democratic registration dropping. WESTSIDE: La Cienega Boulevard to beach, Mullholland to Westchester. Democratic, liberal area, long influenced politically by large Jewish population. 75% white. Population growth lower than Valley. Highest median income in the city. Large number of professionals, artists, movie people, business owners and managers, along with high school-educated tech workers and some poorer immigrants. SOUTHSIDE: Generally south of Pico and Venice boulevards. Population 70% black, with growing number of Latinos. Population growth higher than Westside but lower than Valley. Low median income but with sections of middle-class and upper-middle class blacks. Continues strongly liberal and loyal to Democratic candidates. NORTH INNER CITY: Mid-Wilshire, through Hollywood and Hollywood Hills. Includes low-income Lincoln Heights, working class Highland Park and Eagle Rock and more upscale Mount Washington and Los Feliz. Latinos and others of recent immigrant stock are largest demographic groups in ethnically diverse, liberal, Democratic area. Fastest-growing section of city with population 47% white, 33% Latino, 13% Asian and other and 7% black. DOWNTOWN AND EASTSIDE: Latinos 70% of population. Politically unchanging. Predominantly poor. Second lowest growth rate in city. Democratic, but low voter turnout dilutes political power. Although containing 8% of city’s population, accounted for only 3% of voters last November. SAN PEDRO: Narrow corridor from downtown widening at harbor. Latino barrios and neighborhoods of older blue-collar workers and younger tech and lower-echelon workers are two largest demographic groups, with some empty-nesters in expensive homes. Low-growth area. Population 47% white, 39% Latino, 6% black and 8% Asian and other. More conservative than Westside but less conservative than the Northern Valley. HOT SPOTS IN THE ELECTION

A strong theme in the April 14 Los Angeles primary election is growth and its consequences--traffic, high-rises, waste disposal, neighborhood preservation, crime and tension among ethnic groups. Furor over growth has surfaced in a typical Los Angeles way, not through a citywide protest over one or two dominant issues, but as a series of regional uprisings expressing neighborhood concerns. Although the facts of each protest are different, they convey a common fear--loss of the Los Angeles dream, a peaceful home sheltered from the city’s tumult. These are some of the uprisings: THE PROTEST: Too Lenient Building Rules THE AREA: VENTURA BOULEVARD: Homeowners near this busy east-west San Fernando Valley thoroughfare complain of new office building overdevelopment, say present building limits are inadequate and have joined protests against city government planning policies. THE POLITICAL IMPACT: No immediate political consequences. One council member representing part of the area, John Ferraro, is heavily favored to win and the other two, Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael Woo, are not up for election. But growing anger about overdevelopment in this part of town could be a factor in the 1989 mayoral election. THE PROTEST: An Attack on Rural Life THE AREA: TUJUNGA WASH: This natural path for the water that periodically pours out of the San Gabriel Mountains through Big Tujunga Canyon is a symbol of the rural quality of life cherished by residents who are angered over a proposal to put 1 million square feet of development in the wash, including light industry, 500 homes and a hotel and office building. THE POLITICAL IMPACT: City Councilman Joel Wachs, who was shifted to the Northeast Valley from the more citified Sherman Oaks and Encino hillside neighborhoods, has taken up the cause of his new constituents with enthusiasm. His expected reelection would appear to bode trouble for the proposed Tujunga Wash development. THE PROTEST: Overbuilding Shopping Areas THE AREA: WESTSIDE PAVILION-WESTWOOD: The Westside Pavilion, a fashionable shopping mall that brought traffic jams to a quiet residential area, and Westwood, with its proliferating high-rises, are graphic examples of the development that has made the politically active Westside a center of the homeowner revolt. THE POLITICAL IMPACT: It was this revolt that helped prompt council representatives Marvin Braude and Zev Yaroslavsky to push the successful slow-growth Proposition U last year. Neither has to face the voters this year, but Yaroslavsky is counting on this area for his political base if he runs for mayor in 1989. Westside anti-development feeling is also working against Councilwoman Pat Russell, who represents part of the area and is up for reelection. THE PROTEST: Air Pollution THE AREA: LANCER: Working-class Southside homeowners organized a protest when city officials proposed a $170-million trash-to-energy incinerator a mile east of the Coliseum. City officials say the plant is needed for garbage disposal in a city running out of dump sites, but opponents object to toxic chemicals that will be released into the air. THE POLITICAL IMPACT: South-Central and Downtown Councilman Gilbert W. Lindsay, a Lancer backer, is not up for election this year but anti-Lancer anger could force the aging councilman into some hard campaigning two years from now. Lancer foes have also linked up with Westside anti-high-rise advocates in a coalition that could be a future force in citywide elections. THE PROTEST: Slum Housing and the Homeless THE AREA: SKID ROW-CENTRAL CITY EAST: A microcosm of social tensions and breeding ground of crime and unemployment. Business owners pressure the city to oust alcoholics, drug addicts and families without income forced into streets by decline of industry and shortage of low-cost housing. THE POLITICAL IMPACT: Few voters are found on these rough streets, but the political impact of tensions there is growing. For example, when police and city trash crews moved against homeless encampments, Mayor Tom Bradley--under pressure to get the homeless out of downtown--also found himself being accused of insensitivity to the poor. THE PROTEST: Commercial Congestion THE AREA: AIRPORT AREA: A classic example of the post-World War II Southern California residential subdivision, Westchester has changed dramatically. Many of its homes were wiped out as hotels, office buildings, industry and waterside residences poured in from the airport to Santa Monica. THE POLITICAL IMPACT: This is Councilwoman Russell’s traditional political base, and homeowner rebellion against new buildings and increased traffic have added to her political troubles. THE PROTEST: Dirty Water THE AREA: SANTA MONICA BAY: For years, Los Angeles city officials neglected to modernize sewage disposal facilities and now are taking the blame for much of the pollution of this prized natural resource. THE POLITICAL IMPACT: Mayor Bradley and the City Council shared the decision to delay sewage modernization in vain hopes that the federal government would pay the bill. That makes it hard for city politicians to throw accusations at each other in attempts to dodge the voters’ wrath. A LOOK AT THE DISTRICTS Voters will elect City Council members in these districts on April 14: DISTRICT 2 Sunland, Tujunga, Van Nuys, Sepulveda, Mission Hills, North Hollywood, Panorama City, Lake View Terrace, Studio City. Average median income $19,990 Percentage homeowners 41% Percentage renters 22% Party Registration: Dem. 53% Rep. 38% Declined to state 8% Ethnic breakdown: Whites 85% Latinos 17% Asians 4% Blacks 3% Candidates: Jack E. Davis, retired railroad brakeman; Jerry Allan Hays, businessman; Joel Wachs, councilman; Georgetta Wilmeth, homemaker. DISTRICT 4 Hancock Park, Park LaBrea, North Hollywood, Atwater, Silverlake, Echo Park, Toluca Lake, Griffith Park. Average median income $16,756 Percentage homeowners 48% Percentage renters 36% Party Registration: Dem. 54% Rep. 34% Declined to state 9.8% Ethnic breakdown: Whites 66% Latinos 26% Asians 13% Blacks 5% Candidates: John Ferraro, Councilman; Sal Genovese, community activist. DISTRICT 6 Baldwin Hills, South Central Los Angeles, Venice, Mar Vista, Westchester, Playa del Rey and Playa Vista. Average median income $19,328 Percentage homeowners 42% Percentage renters 24% Party Registration: Dem. 68% Rep. 22% Declined to state 8% Ethnic breakdown: Whites 53% Latinos 16% Asians 5% Blacks 34% Candidates: Rimmon C. Fay, marine biologist; Ruth Galanter, planning consultant; Salvator Grammatico, realtor; Virginia Taylor Hughes, community activist; Patrick McCartney, community activist; Pat Russell, councilwoman. DISTRICT 8 South-Central Los Angeles. Average median income $10,811 Percentage homeowners 33% Percentage renters 21% Party Registration: Dem. 88% Rep. 6% Declined to state 4% Ethnic breakdown: Whites 16% Latinos 21% Asians 5% Blacks 68% Candidates: Mervin Evans, business consultant; Robert Farrell, councilman; John S. Jackson, businessman; Earlene W. James, community activist; Alice M. Moore, county probation officer; Tony Parent, university professor. DISTRICT 10 Wilshire Corridor, Palms, Mar Vista, Arlington Heights, West Adams and Mid-City. Average median income $13,025 Percentage homeowners 43% Percentage renters 33% Party Registration: Dem. 76% Rep. 14% Declined to state 8% Ethnic breakdown: Whites 31% Latinos 22% Asians 12% Blacks 44% Candidates: Jessie M. Beavers, human relations commissioner; Homer Broome, public works commissioner; Geneva Cox, council field deputy; Jordan Daniels Jr., county commissioner; Myrlie Evers, community activist; Denise G. Fairchild, city planner; Nate Holden, deputy county supervisor; Esther M. Lofton, educator; Kenneth M. Orduna, congressional staff chief; Arthur Song Jr., lawyer; Grover P. Walker, attorney; William A. Weaver, public utilities inspector; Ramona Raquel Whitney, educator DISTRICT 12 Granada Hills, Chatsworth, Northridge, Van Nuys and Reseda. Average median income $27,787 Percentage homeowners 34% Percentage renters 10% Party Registration: Dem. 44% Rep. 48% Declined to state 7% Ethnic breakdown: Whites 89% Latinos 9% Asians 5% Blacks 2% Candidates: Hal Bernson, councilman; Richard K. Williams II, university administrator. DISTRICT 14 Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Mount Washington, Glassell Park. Average median income $13,921 Percentage homeowners 30% Percentage renters 17% Party Registration: Dem. 67% Rep. 23% Declined to state 8% Ethnic breakdown: Whites 58% Latinos 69% Asians 7% Blacks 2% Candidates: Richard Alatorre, councilman; Rex Gutierrez, legislative aide; Loren Leonard Lutz, businessman. All figures do not total 100%: Census figures sometimes double count Latinos as Hispanic and white, voter registration numbers are rounded to the nearest percentage point.