Air Board Elections to Play Pivotal Role in Smog War

Southern California’s 40-year struggle against the nation’s most intractable air pollution problem is approaching a turning point under a reorganization of the South Coast Air Quality Management District board that takes effect in January.

The AQMD’s governing board will be reduced in size to 11 members from the current 14 and vested with new powers to bring the nation’s smoggiest urban area into compliance with national clean-air standards.

How the district exercises those powers--from new controls on polluting industries to banning heavy trucks from freeways during rush hours--will depend in large part on who sits on the board.

Under terms of the reorganization, the governor, the state Senate Rules Committee and the Assembly Speaker each have one appointment to the board. In addition, each of the four county boards of supervisors in the South Coast Air Basin has an appointment. They are the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino. Another four board members will be chosen to represent cities in each of the four counties.

Local officials, business interests and environmentalists said they are closely watching developments. So far, four appointments have been made to the board, including the selection Wednesday of Redlands Mayor Carole Beswick to represent San Bernardino County cities. She defeated AQMD incumbent Faye Myers Dastrup and two other candidates.

Hotly Contested

But seven appointments remain, and nowhere is interest more intense than in a hotly contested race that could be settled tonight when Los Angeles County’s 84 cities are scheduled to elect their representative. Orange County cities are also scheduled to elect a representative tonight.

The meeting of Los Angeles County cities is open to the public and is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. at AQMD headquarters, 9150 Flair Drive, El Monte. The Orange County cities meeting is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. at the City of Orange City Council chambers, 300 E. Chapman Ave., Orange.

Five candidates are vying for the Los Angeles cities seat, and there is concern that a stalemate could result, temporarily leaving the cities without a voice on the AQMD.

While business interests appear to be sitting the race out, environmental groups and local government officials are actively lobbying for their favorite candidates. Environmentalists said they believe the outcome will have a significant impact on the future course the board takes.

One candidate, Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude, is backed by three major environmental organizations--the Coalition for Clean Air, the American Lung Assn. of California and the Sierra Club.

Another candidate, Rolling Hills City Councilman Thomas F. Heinsheimer, has won non-binding endorsements from organizations of smaller cities and is playing to concerns by smaller cities that the City of Los Angeles’ interests and concerns would dominate if Braude is elected to represent them.

Braude and Heinsheimer are incumbents on the AQMD board. Currently Heinsheimer represents all Los Angeles County cities and Braude represents the City of Los Angeles. Under the reorganization approved by the Legislature, the City of Los Angeles will lose its seat.

Others in Contest

There are three other candidates, Duarte City Councilman John Hitt, Baldwin Park Mayor Leo King and Glendora City Councilwoman Lois Shade. All three are viewed as “favorite son” candidates from the San Gabriel Valley, but King, a former member of the California Coastal Commission, appears to have more support.

Each city will have a vote. To win the new seat, a candidate must not only have the votes of two-thirds of the cities in Los Angeles County (56 of 84), but the votes of cities that combined account for at least two-thirds of the county’s 7.3 million population.

The population requirement gives an edge to Braude because he has the backing of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and Los Angeles by itself accounts for 45% of the county’s population.

But the other three candidates may be able to deny Braude support from the required 56 cities. “A half dozen cities would have veto power and might represent a fraction of 1% of the population of the county,” Braude complained.

To Urge L.A. Seat

On the other hand, Braude’s opponents said that Los Angeles by virtue of its population can make their election difficult. “There’s no doubt that the City of Los Angeles has a veto. Basically, no one can get in there without L.A. voting for him,” said Hitt.

Braude told The Times that no matter who is elected, he will urge the Legislature to restore the City of Los Angeles’ separate seat on the AQMD that it lost in the reorganization.

“The process itself is cumbersome. I don’t know whether it’s workable,” agreed USC political scientist Larry Berg, who was reappointed to the new AQMD board by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. Others, however, are more optimistic, although they said there will be numerous ballots before a winner emerges.

The race affords a good example of local government concerns.

To be sure, the long-standing concerns of business and industrial interests as well as environmentalists remain on the table.

But the decision tonight rests with the mayors and city council members involved. And while they are mindful of the adverse health effects of air pollution, their concerns are basic: What voice will cities have in the development of public air pollution control policy into the next century?

Motivation for Growth

Historically, cities have promoted growth as a means of broadening their tax base. Increasingly, however, the impact on air pollution of such decisions is being scrutinized. For example, when an outlying city approves a huge new residential subdivision it could mean more commuters on the freeways.

While the AQMD has no authority to overrule local zoning decisions and cities are not required to take air pollution effects into account in their planning decisions, there is nothing to stop a future AQMD board from requiring a subdivision developer to offset the new pollution the commuters would make by, for example, helping to underwrite a local bus system.

Ironically, environmentalists who might be expected to support AQMD’s involvement in local planning decisions are using an apparent endorsement of the concept by Heinsheimer against him.

In testimony before a state Senate committee in October, 1986, Heinsheimer said, “Without management of growth in the basin, the battle for good air quality is lost . . . Land developers go about their business without control and mitigation. This is an absurd situation . . . The AQMD must have authority to regulate growth . . . .”

Support for Braude

Environmentalists are sending copies of Heinsheimer’s testimony to local officials in hopes of winning votes for Braude.

Asked for comment, Heinsheimer told The Times, “I possibly could have worded it better.” Heinsheimer said cities should control land use decisions, but that the AQMD could act “as a resource to help them do that in an environmentally sensitive and constructive way.”

Another issue at the forefront of tonight’s contest is how much of a voice smaller cities will have on the AQMD if their representative is Braude.

“Small cities do have concerns,” said King. “They would like some input. They’d like to call a person close to home and ask, what are you doing? They want to get a hold of the person and talk to them.”

Heinsheimer is making the most of such concerns and pictures his own campaign against Braude as a metaphor for relations between Los Angeles and smaller cities. “Here I am all alone against the city of L.A. and their public relations and their political machine. It does of course remind the other cities that this is the way things would be done in the future,” Heinsheimer said.

Braude dismisses such concerns as “a myth” and has countered with a proposal to form a local government advisory committee to keep him apprised their concerns.

The reorganization of the AQMD board was pushed through the Legislature by Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) after widespread complaints from environmentalists and critical reviews of the AQMD’s performance by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Air Resources Board.

Despite some of the toughest air pollution control measures in the nation, the basin continues to fail to meet national air quality standards, and critics have said the district could have done much more.

NEW AQMD BOARD

The new South Coast Air Quality Management District board will have 11 members. Under terms of the reorganization, the governor, the state Senate Rules Committee and the Speaker of the state Assembly each have one appointment to the board. In addition, each of the four county boards of supervisors in the South Coast Air Basin has an appointment. Another four board members will be chosen to represent cities in each of the four counties.

MEMBERS APPOINTED

Jack R. Witz, an engineer and former chairman of the Los Angeles Regional State Water Control Board, by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Larry L. Berg, a USC political science professor and current board member, by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

Riverside County Supervisor Norton Younglove, currently AQMD board chairman, by the Riverside Board of Supervisors.

Carole Beswick, mayor of Redlands, by the cities of San Bernardino County.

PENDING APPOINTMENTS

Cities of L.A. County: (Vote scheduled tonight.)

Cities of Orange County: (Vote scheduled tonight.)

Cities of Riverside County: (Vote scheduled for Dec. 9.)

Senate Rules Committee: (Expected to reappoint incumbent member Sabrina Schiller in January.)

Los Angeles County: (Undecided.)

San Bernardino County: (Undecided.)

Orange County: (Undecided.) Supervisor Harriett Wieder likely to be reappointed in January.

The original AQMD board had 14 members. The city of Los Angeles had its own seat and the counties of Los Angeles and Orange each had two representatives. Under the reorganization, Los Angeles lost its separate seat and Los Angeles and Orange counties were alloted one seat each.