City Commission Posts : Bradley Asked to Choose More Valley Appointees

A Los Angeles City Council panel on Tuesday called on Mayor Tom Bradley to appoint more people from minority areas and the San Fernando Valley to city commissions dominated by residents of the affluent Westside.

The Charter and Elections Committee, however, declined to push for an amendment to the city charter that would require the mayor to appoint commission members equally from each geographical area of the city.

A study released last month by the city clerk’s office showed that 69 of 191 commissioners, most of whom are appointed by the mayor, live in the largely Westside districts represented by Councilmen Marvin Braude and Zev Yaroslavsky.

Only 17 commissioners live in the four northernmost Valley districts represented by council members Ernani Bernardi, Hal Bernson, Joy Picus and Joel Wachs.

Another 18 commissioners live in the Valley, in portions of Braude and Yaroslavsky’s districts that extend into the south Valley, according to a check of the home addresses of commissioners. That gives the Valley, which accounts for about a third of the city’s population, 35 commissioners or 18% of the total.

The city clerk’s study was prompted by a May, 1984, request from Bernson, who complained about what he called “disproportionate West Side representation” after a shake-up of the city commissions by the mayor that year. Bernson’s request languished in committee until December when the clerk was ordered to conduct the study, which was completed last month.

A Bradley spokeswoman said the mayor would be “happy to look at whatever the committee proposes.”

The spokeswoman, Dee Dee Myers, also said committee members dropped the idea of a charter amendment “because they looked at the commissions and saw they are balanced ethnically and sexually.”

Bernson, however, said he may still seek a charter amendment. “I understand there’s a large number of commissioners whose terms expire in June. We’ll see what happens at that point.”

The committee directed the city clerk to draw boundaries dividing the city into five areas of equal population. The map will be returned to the committee for approval before it is sent to the full council for a vote.