Top Bradley Aide Says He’ll Resign CRA Board Seat

Christopher L. Stewart, a top adviser to Mayor Tom Bradley and president of the influential Central City Assn., said Wednesday night that he is resigning from the powerful Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency board.

Stewart’s decision was unexpected and leaves the Bradley administration without a supporter who provided a link for the mayor between City Hall and the downtown business community. The Central City Assn. is the major lobbying group for the downtown Los Angeles business community.

Stewart told The Times that he made the decision after learning of a newspaper inquiry into his investment in a home in a redevelopment project area--an investment that Stewart had disclosed in the past and that was reported by The Times in February, 1986.

But he said that the likelihood of renewed controversy over the investment, along with an increased workload at the Central City Assn., prompted him to resign. He said he intended to notify Bradley Wednesday night of his decision.

“It (the investment story) caused me to sit back and reflect. I have always said there has been a conflict of interest (with the investment). I have always abstained on voting on that, the minutes of our meetings reflect that, but it caused me to sit back and reflect. The demands on my time (at the association) have increased. We have decided to double our membership.”

Stewart said that he felt that he had accomplished “90%” of what he had set out to do when he joined the part-time CRA board, including helping launch the restoration of the downtown Central Library and improving the operating efficiency of the CRA.

He said that his CRA post has limited his ability to make personal investments and has taken time away from his family and from the Central City Assn. “My family has suffered significantly,” he said. “And there are new challenges with the association, new staff coming on; I have to spend more time managing the association.”

The CRA board has been in charge of the redevelopment of downtown and has built housing in other areas around the city. One of its housing projects has been Monterey Hills, an area near downtown that the CRA wanted to develop as an upscale, middle-class residential area to appeal to young families who work downtown.

The project has been embroiled in controversy because some of the homes have been damaged by what homeowners have said is unstable landfill. The matter is the object of bitter dispute and litigation involving homeowners, the CRA and developers.

Stewart said that on June 30, 1981, before he was appointed to the CRA board, he bought a condominium in an area called Eaton Crest in the Monterey Hills development, which he said was one of the units involved in the current controversy.

On Jan. 1, 1983, Stewart was appointed to the CRA. In December, 1983, he said, the developer, J.D. Carley, offered Eaton Crest residents the opportunity to upgrade their investment by purchasing a town house. Stewart said he did that.

Stewart said he has a letter from the developer telling him that others exercised the same option, which Stewart said shows that he was not the object of favoritism.

By November, 1985, Stewart said, he and his family, now with a second child, wanted to move to the Westside.

He said he found a house on the Pacific Palisades, went to developer Carley and offered to sell his house back.

Stewart said Carley agreed to pay $176,000, which covered the $160,000 purchase price and $16,000 Stewart said he had invested in improvements.

Carley, Stewart said, asked that the deal not be consummated until Carley had resold the home. During that time, Carley lent Stewart $40,000 at 10% interest while Stewart was buying the Palisades home. Carley eventually sold the home, thus ending Stewart’s connection with the project.

Stewart said he had always reported the transactions, as required by law, checked his transactions with the CRA legal counsel, and “I made it clear to the developer that I would never discuss Monterey Hills with him and I never did. All the records indicate that.