Mayor Appoints 2 from San Pedro to Environmental Quality Board

Two San Pedro residents--one a newcomer, the other a community fixture--were appointed Thursday by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley to the city’s Environmental Quality Board.

Gary Ayala, a contractor who moved to San Pedro last year from Hermosa Beach, and Ken Malloy, a retired businessman who moved from Wilmington nearly 50 years ago, were among 17 new commissioners named by Bradley to various city boards.

The mayor also named Westside homeowner leader Bill Christopher to replace San Pedro’s Sam Botwin on the city’s Planning Commission. Botwin, citing the heavy workload and long commutes, asked Bradley not to reappoint him when his term expired in June.

Malloy, 76, is the guru of naturalists in the harbor area. He has worked as a volunteer for the Department of Recreation and Parks for 18 years, is president of the San Pedro chapter of the Izaak Walton League, has helped lead a campaign to spare much of White Point from the developer’s shovel, and most recently has established a wildlife sanctuary and youth camp at Harbor Lake in Wilmington.

“Well, that is all I need: another job,” Malloy quipped, when told by a reporter about his appointment. “They asked for my resume, but I didn’t think they were serious about it.”

The five-member board acts as an advisory panel to the mayor and to Planning Director Kenneth Topping on environmental issues. Members, who are paid $50 a meeting, usually operate outside the close public scrutiny other city boards receive. Occasionally, however, the board captures headlines, as in a case last year when it questioned a controversial trash incineration plant proposed by Bradley for South-Central Los Angeles. The mayor eventually abandoned the project.

Ayala, 36, is vice president of Cal Asphalt Inc., a road-repair contractor based in downtown Los Angeles. He came to know Bradley through his involvement with the Sea Mammal Assist and Rescue Team, a group he founded in 1986 to help free migrating gray whales trapped in gill nets. Ayala, who has a degree in marine biology, said he has asked Bradley for an area in Los Angeles Harbor to keep rescue boats and supplies.

“I think we are all concerned about the environment, from the air down to the ground,” he said. “We need to make the public aware of the dangers, the highlights and the pitfalls of our surroundings.”

Malloy, who described his selection to the board as an honor, said he nonetheless accepts it with ambivalence.

“Environmental stuff gets pretty deep sometimes,” he said. “I just don’t want to get into something that is going to be too time consuming. I haven’t had a vacation in 12 years.”

Bradley’s appointees must be confirmed by the City Council before they begin their new jobs. City officials said it should take about two weeks.