Westside Gets Big Share of City Commission Posts, Study Shows

Residents of the comparatively affluent Westside numerically dominate Los Angeles city commissions in comparison to residents of poor, predominantly minority areas and the more distant reaches of the San Fernando Valley, a study shows.

A long-awaited survey released Tuesday by the city clerk’s office showed that 69 of the 191 commissioners, most of whom are appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley, live in the two Westside districts represented by Councilmen Zev Yaroslavsky and Marvin Braude. Thirty-eight live in Yaroslavsky’s district and 31 in Braude’s.

By comparison, none of the commissioners live in Councilman Robert Farrell’s depressed South-Central district, and only three live in Gilbert Lindsay’s downtown/South-Central district.

System Defended

Moreover, only 16 commissioners live in the four northernmost districts of the San Fernando Valley--mostly middle-class, Anglo neighborhoods. Both Braude’s and Yaroslavsky’s districts include affluent southern parts of the Valley.

Deputy Mayor Mike Gage said that, despite the numerical imbalance, the commissions’ memberships nevertheless reflect the city’s ethnic diversity. He said it is “absurd” to gauge fairness purely by the location of where commissioners reside.

Two black community leaders said they, too, were not troubled by the findings.

“They (commissioners) are selected not by their district location but by their expertise, what they bring to the commission,” said Raymond Johnson, president of the NAACP in Los Angeles. “If I were mayor, I’d be looking more for expertise, not where they live.”

Mark Ridley-Thomas, executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said that ethnic balance is more important than geography.

Study Requested

The study was prompted by a request from Valley-area Councilman Hal Bernson, who complained about “disproportionate West Side representation” after a 1984 shake-up of the city panels by the mayor. The study had been delayed in the council’s government operations committee until Councilwoman Gloria Molina assumed the chair of the committee last year.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi, whose Valley district includes only two commissioners, said he was not surprised by the report.

“Whether it makes it right or wrong is beside the point. That’s the system,” he said. “Invariably, the people who get appointed to commissions are people who have actively supported the winning candidate. That’s the system . . . I don’t like the system . . . but I have to live with it.” Bradley has long had strong support on the Westside.

Bernson, whose district includes the homes of six commissioners, and several other council members were attending a League of Cities conference in Washington Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. When Bernson press aide Margaree Klein was told the survey’s findings, she had this comment: “The Valley gets the shaft.”

Gage, in an interview with United Press International, defended the mayor’s appointments.

Emphasis on Diversity

“The key is that there is ethnic and sexual diversity in this city and these commissioners do in fact reflect that,” Gage said. “The notion that some artificially gerrymandered council districts which change every 10 years should be the compelling justification for commission appointments is absurd on its face.”

Bradley appoints, and the City Council confirms, 186 members to the 34 citizens’ commissions, including such influential bodies as the Planning Commission, the Police Commission, the Airport Commission and the Community Redevelopment Agency Board of Directors.

The study also included specialized panels overseeing library services, rent control and animal regulations. Most commission appointments are for five years. Most panels have five members.

Historically, many commissions have been filled in part by political allies of the mayor, by his campaign contributors and their friends. The commissions are virtually the only form of political patronage available to any mayor of Los Angeles--and even that is limited since commissioners are paid only a token fee for their part-time service.

The only exception is the Board of Public Works, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars a year in city contracts. The five members of this board work full time and are paid $62,807 a year.

One of Bradley’s more devoted advisers, labor chief Bill Roberston, is a long-time member of the Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners. Another trusted friend, attorney Daniel P. Garcia, is chairman of the city Planning Commission.

They were among the few who survived the 1984 purge when Bradley demanded and received the resignations of all his commissioners. In a move widely seen as a drastic step to revitalize his Administration, Bradley then named more than 120 new commission members that he said would more fairly represent the city.

Among Bradley’s other appointees since the shake-up have been lawyers who do considerable business for clients in City Hall. Maria Hummer, president of the Airport Commission, has been the lead attorney for Occidental Petroleum Co. in its bid for city approval to drill for oil in Pacific Palisades. Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., another member of the Airport Commission, has represented City Council members Farrell and Richard Alatorre as their personal attorney.

In recent months, some commission appointments by Bradley have also been seen as aimed at helping the mayor repair political damage. The appointments of Kathleen Brown, sister of former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., and Felicia Marcus, an attorney for the activist group Heal the Bay, were regarded by many as steps to soften criticism of the mayor over sewage dumping in the ocean and other environmental issues.

Bradley’s former chief of staff, attorney Tom Houston, is himself also a commissioner now as president of the Environmental Quality Board.

Times staff writer Richard Simon contributed to this article.

WHERE CITY COMMISSIONERS LIVE

An official study shows an imbalance in the areas of Los Angeles where members of city commissions live, ranging from 38 in Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s relatively affluent Westside district to none from Councilman Robert Farrell’s low-income South-Central district.

COUNCIL MEMBER OF DISTRICT NO. OF COMMISSIONERS Zev Yaroslavsky 38 Marvin Braude 31 Michael Woo 20 John Ferraro 19 Nate Holden 18 Ruth Galanter 15 Joan Milke Flores 12 Richard Alatorre 9 Hal Bernson 6 Gloria Molina 6 Joel Wachs 5 Gilbert Lindsay 3 Joy Picus 3 Ernani Bernardi 2 Robert Farrell 0

The city report said four other commissioners live outside Los Angeles; all are members of commissions that do not require city residency.