How Tom Bradley Runs Los Angeles
What a surprise to read that Bradley treats ordinary people with the same consideration as he does former city aides turned lobbyists.
Excuse me for not applauding. But I must speak as I find. Case in point: On behalf of Westside residents living next to Occidental Petroleum’s gas processing site, I begged Bradley to enforce fundamental zoning laws. Please stop Oxy pulling up tons of metal pipelines from the oil pits during families’ dinner hour. Please order Oxy to cover the skeletal frame derrick in a soundproof unit.
Far from “welcoming ideas,” I got the bum’s rush.
After years of the City Hall run around, I wore a sign around my neck: “NO OXY RIG FOR DINNER.” Of course, residents didn’t expect the mayor to trot out the red carpet as he does for the mega-bucks lobbyists. But I did expect to exercise my First Amendment rights without being threatened with arrest unless I got out of the City Hall public corridors.
The Times report allays our suspicion: Ordinary people with no cash have no clout at City Hall.
ELIZABETH MORTIMER
Los Angeles
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