Mayor Takes a Walk on the Westside : Bradley Gets Cheers and Jeers in a Day of Pressing the Flesh

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley started strong and finished weak, at least in the eyes of his critics, during a daylong tour of the Westside this week.

The strong part came as Bradley kicked off his visit by assuring Venice community leaders that the Venice Pavilion will not be used as a shelter for the homeless.

The weak part came when a weary-looking Bradley, nearing the end of a 13-hour day, squared off with hostile slow-growth advocates from Mar Vista.

In between the mayor fielded pointed questions from Westchester High School students, had a touching meeting with needy children in Mar Vista, exercised with Japanese senior citizens in Venice, addressed business leaders in Westchester, toured a youth center and spoke at a poolside meeting of condominium owners.

The appearances came as Bradley, who has been roundly criticized by some Westsiders for his policies on growth, prepares for the 1989 mayoral race.

He identified himself as a “candidate for mayor” at several stops and made constant references to his political achievements. In two instances he even gave highly personal accounts of his battles against poverty and racism.

“Nobody had it harder than I did,” Bradley said at one point during the tour. “But I was determined I was never going to let anything stop me.”

By all accounts, the mayor was at his best during the beginning of Monday’s schedule when he attended a meeting of the Venice Action Committee, a group of artists, businessmen and developers devoted to upgrading the community.

As Bradley strolled into the old Venice City Hall at 8 a.m., he was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of about 100 people. The mayor told the group that he remembered visiting Venice as a child.

“Venice has always been the playground for Los Angeles,” Bradley said. “And it could be made great . . . again.”

Committee members told Bradley that Venice is far from great today because of severe neglect and an overwhelming influx of homeless people who have set up encampments along the beach.

Bradley said he will inspect the area in the near future. He also allayed some people’s fears with his pledge that the homeless will not be housed at the Venice Pavilion.

“One thing I am absolutely opposed to is using the pavilion as a center for the homeless,” Bradley said to applause. “If you begin creating a homeless center in Venice, people will come here from all parts of the city.”

Bradley also offered to appoint a committee to study new ways to use the pavilion, a beachfront facility that has fallen into decay in recent years.

To the surprise of many, Bradley even encouraged Venice Action Committee members to convey their concerns to him by letter. Michael L. Dieden, the group’s founder, said he was impressed by the mayor’s visit.

‘Very Positive’

“It’s very positive that Mayor Bradley is paying special attention to Venice,” Dieden said. “The meeting was extremely productive. The mayor is a very astute politician. He obviously came prepared for the meeting and was willing to roll up his sleeves and do some work. It was a working meeting.”

By 9:30 a.m., Bradley’s entourage was en route to Westchester High School’s senior class assembly. Nearly 500 students awaited Bradley inside a cavernous auditorium, and uniformed volunteers from the Reserve Officers Training Corps were stationed outside.

Principal Jim Davis was reminding the students about school pride when Bradley walked in, waving. The mayor, dressed in a cream-colored suit with a brown tie, gave an extemporaneous talk on the U. S. Constitution as a “living, breathing document,” spoke of the days of segregation and encouraged the racially mixed student body to fight for their rights and to protect other people’s rights.

The students then asked him some surprisingly astute questions. One wanted to know what Bradley thought about Black Muslim Minister Louis Farrakhan, who has been accused of anti-Semitism. “Anyone who preaches a message of hate is unwelcome in this city,” Bradley said.

Another asked if Bradley supports the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s bid for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. “I have not endorsed anyone,” Bradley replied.

A third student asked if Bradley would run for higher office. “I am taking it one step at a time,” he said. “I have not at all decided what my next step after mayor will be.”

From Westchester, Bradley traveled to the Mar Vista Family Center, a publicly funded child-care facility in the heart of a poor, graffiti-ridden residential neighborhood. Children at the center, which serves 34 families, had painted a rainbow sign in watercolors with the words “Welcome Mayor Bradley.”

After Bradley walked in, he immediately crouched down beside several children sitting at a miniature table, cutting pictures out of magazines. Later, the children and their mothers presented Bradley a poster containing each of their names and handprints and formed a circle on the floor as Bradley spoke.

“I’m glad to see the wonderful work you are doing,” the mayor said. “I’m sure you will continue to have support from the entire city of Los Angeles.”

From there it was on to the Venice-Mar Vista Japanese Community Center, where the elderly members had formed into a military-like line to greet Bradley. The mayor was presented a red lei and taken on a brief tour of the well-maintained facility that serves more than 1,000 people.

Joining In

As Bradley re-entered the courtyard, someone asked if he would like to see the seniors demonstrate their exercise routine. Within minutes there were rows of people stretching and rolling their heads as an instructor on tape barked out commands in Japanese.

To everyone’s surprise, Bradley joined the group, making a spirited but clumsy effort to follow their well-practiced movements.

“He’s so tall! He’s so tall!,” said 76-year-old Elizabeth Nishikawa.

It was a far different crowd that greeted Bradley at the Israel Levin Senior Adult Center, a facility on Venice’s Ocean Front Walk that caters mostly to Jewish senior citizens. Police guarded the entrance and pickets carried signs calling for more support for the homeless as Bradley entered.

Inside, about 30 elderly people sat in somber silence as stories unfolded of the elderly being terrorized by vagrants. One person said the homeless had taken over Ocean Front Walk. What, they asked, was Bradley going to do about it?

“I know the problems you are facing,” said the mayor, who was standing on a small stage. “But homelessness is a citywide problem and the answer has to be citywide. We will be working on getting the homeless off of the beach.”

Chamber Speech

Bradley’s 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood, which has tallied nearly 200,000 miles, pulled up to the Marriott Hotel in Westchester as the lunch hour approached. Roughly 200 members of the Westchester/LAX Chamber of Commerce awaited the mayor’s arrival for a luncheon inside one of the hotel’s grand ballrooms.

Bradley sat at the head table and ate a plate of lasagna before rising to speak to the crowd about the Pacific Rim, traffic, the airport, plans for forming citizen advisory committees on planning, misconceptions about growth and his goal of making Los Angeles a premier city of the world.

“There are people who think that we have to put a damper on development,” Bradley told the enthusiastic crowd. “But we have to distinguish communities that need growth from communities that don’t need growth. . . . I know that growth is going to occur. I just want to see it planned well.”

The audience peppered Bradley with questions about the airport, which borders on Westchester. But there was no discussion of the 30 million square feet of commercial development slated for the Westchester area--a controversial issue that led to the downfall of former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Pat Russell, Bradley’s closest ally on the council.

By 2 p.m. Bradley had already met with seven different organizations. The mayor, who spent the morning speaking without prepared texts, returned to City Hall during the middle of the afternoon, but was back on the Westside by 6:20 p.m. for a meeting at the Neighborhood Youth Assn. in Mar Vista.

The youth center, located in a residential section, caters to young people who might otherwise get into trouble on the streets. There is a recreation room with pool tables, some exercise equipment and several meeting rooms.

Latino youngsters of all ages and community volunteers milled about as they awaited Bradley’s visit. When the mayor finally arrived--20 minutes behind schedule because of freeway traffic from downtown--he spent several minutes observing the pool games and commenting on the difficulty of certain shots.

Then he spoke briefly and opened the floor to questions.

When one woman in the audience said there is a need for more job training programs, Bradley answered that employment training is important, but added that it is a “cop out” to claim people cannot advance themselves without special training.

When the woman challenged his assessment, Bradley briefly lost his temper. Recounting his own success story, the son of a Texas sharecropper said education is the real key to success.

“I succeeded when there was no hope,” the 69-year-old mayor said forcefully. “You have to do it on inner faith.”

Journey into Night

Darkness was settling in as Bradley headed to his next stop, a meeting of the Villa Marina Council, a group that represents some 685 condominium dwellers. About 100 people were sitting on chaise lounges around a swimming pool, some sipping drinks and talking quietly, as Bradley arrived.

The mayor repeated his plans for forming citizen advisory committees on planning and said zoning regulations should be consistent with community plans. The subdued crowd then expressed their concerns about commercial development, vagrants and the increasing presence of gangs in their area.

“The gang problem is citywide,” Bradley replied. “You may have just been the last to feel the impact. It has escalated to the point where extraordinary action is required.”

Bradley also told the group that the beaches “belong to the public, not to the homeless. . . . They just occupy that territory.”

By 8 p.m. Bradley was off to his final and by far his most challenging stop. Members of Homeowners Organized to Monitor their Environment, a small Mar Vista group, were still fuming over their unsuccessful efforts to stop construction of an apartment building that towers over several homes. The tension was palpable as the mayor entered the Mar Vista Recreation Center.

Bradley sat beside group leader Gregg Thomas at a long white table and made a brief statement to the group about his “great day” on the Westside. Then he watched, with a look of some surprise, as several hands shot into the air.

One man wanted to know when Los Angeles was going to wake up to the horrors of over-development. A woman told the story of how the balconies of four newly apartment units towered over her backyard, which was once private.

Bradley called an administrator from the city Building and Safety Department up to the dais to answer some questions, but the pointed comments continued. Ivan Strensky asked for Bradley’s vision for the Mar Vista area.

“I don’t think I can deal with that,” Bradley said.

“Well, with all due respect, you have to deal with it,” Strensky replied.

Bradley said that zoning guidelines were the best indicator of where growth will occur.

But Strensky said that the mayor still had not gotten the point. “I want to hear something from you on the distinctiveness of neighborhoods,” Strensky said.

‘Hung On Too Long’

Stan Lampert, another homeowner, said Bradley should step aside. “You have hung on too long,” Lampert told the mayor. “And with all due respect you are the mayor of a city that is choking.”

Bradley, looking stunned and sounding indignant, replied: “I am proud of the way this city has developed. I am committed to economic development, not growth for the sake of growth. . . . I am not one who rests on my laurels. I believe that the best days of the city are still ahead of us and I am going to be the one to direct this city.”

Bradley fielded several more questions, most of them pointed, before the hourlong session finally ended. As the mayor’s big black car headed into the night, completing his arduous Westside tour, many of the Mar Vista homeowners left the meeting grumbling.

“We don’t think the meeting went real well,” Thomas said. “The mayor had a vision 14 years ago but he has gotten older and his eyesight has gotten worse. . . . If anything, I think this meeting left people more frustrated.”