8th-Graders Get Civics Lesson: How to Fight City Hall and Win

Eighth-graders at St. Vincent School near USC took a field trip to Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday and learned this civics lesson: Sometimes, pressure politics works--even against a stubborn city councilman accustomed to getting his way.

Ending a nearly two-year struggle with community residents, 87-year-old Councilman Gilbert Lindsay bowed to demands and killed a proposal that would have allowed a garment factory to move into the working-class neighborhood northeast of USC. Instead, Lindsay said, he would work with residents in obtaining low-interest home-improvement loans.

More than 200 residents and schoolchildren, some wearing “Save Our Community” tags, stood and applauded the beaming councilman. The conciliatory gesture masked the rancor between them and the councilman, who had once called their neighborhood “a disgrace.”

Left unresolved, however, is the fate of the Kluger Co. Inc. and its employees. The 50-year-old garment company, located in the downtown garment district, had obtained approval for a low-interest, $3-million government loan to build a new, larger facility on land it owns at Maple Avenue and 28th Street.

Owner Ben Kluger said Lindsay’s office has promised to help efforts to find another site in Los Angeles. The company hopes to remain in Los Angeles, Kluger said, but a move to Orange County “isn’t out of the question.” If the company moves far away, it is unlikely that its 100 employees would be able to follow.

Long Controversy

The residents’ victory was a primer in grass-roots political persuasion, and illustrated that so-called “quality-of-life” controversies now dominating much of the public agenda are not confined to affluent communities. Although the Kluger factory promised to bring more jobs into their neighborhood, residents decided that the residential integrity of the community, with its affordably priced homes, is more important.

“Everybody sees the need for jobs. But we see the need for housing also,” said Lee Flournoy, whose home is across the street from the Kluger property.

Flournoy was among of the scores of residents rallied to action by neighbors and the church-based South-Central Organizing Committee after Lindsay proposed a zoning change on March 4, 1986. Lindsay, long a friend to business interests, was trying to aid garment companies in their southward march for cheaper land.

But the rebellious residents twice persuaded the city Planning Commission to reject Lindsay’s plans--and twice Lindsay came back with revisions. The Klugers, meanwhile, promised extensive landscaping to make their facility more palatable to residents. But the residents would not budge--and neither, it appeared, would Lindsay.

In a crowded, emotional meeting on Jan. 12, Kluger brought in his employees, all wearing tags that said “Save Our Jobs,” and his lobbyist, former council member Arthur K. Snyder. Lindsay argued that the garment factory would be a plus for the community. More than 100 residents listened in anger as their councilman described the neighborhood as a “disgrace” and declared “anything we do . . . is an improvement.”

The City Council ultimately decided to postpone a decision in the hope that a solution would emerge.

Last week, one did. Neighborhood leaders met with Lindsay and were surprised to learn that the rezoning plan was dead.

Edward Dilkes, the residents’ volunteer attorney, concluded that Lindsay simply succumbed to the pressure. “He realized he made a serious mistake when he realized how many people were opposed to it,” Dilkes said.

Moreover, Dilkes suggested, Lindsay probably saw that he “didn’t have the votes” on the council to win the zoning change.

Lindsay, announcing his decision Tuesday, said, “I don’t like to fight my constituents. I don’t like to fight churches.”

But later, in an interview, the councilman suggested that it was his wisdom and benevolence, not the residents’ pressure, that prompted his reversal.

“I wasn’t worried about pressure. I could have won it if I wanted to,” he said. “I looked into it. I thought maybe they had a right to be concerned.”

Whatever the reasons, neighbors and the eighth-graders of St. Vincent were pleased. Earlier, community organizer Sister Diane Donoghue had lectured the students about how City Hall could be successfully fought.

“It’s good that we won. Once they move one factory in, more would come in,” said 13-year-old Margaret Ibarra, echoing the lessons of Sister Donoghue.

“We need our homes for the future.”