Art Snyder in the Sprint for Growth

Art Snyder’s back. That was clear Tuesday when the veteran councilman-turned-lobbyist wrote, directed and produced the City Council’s approval of a big high-rise project in downtown Los Angeles.

It happened on a significant day for planning and traffic policy. After the downtown project was approved, a council committee endorsed the 1,300-acre Porter Ranch development, an office building, commercial and residential complex planned for the northwest San Fernando Valley. Taken together, the two votes are a sign of the council’s pro-development direction.

Since both actions were expected, those who watch the sport of City Hall politics were most interested in the performance of Snyder. He now represents Ray Watt, a powerful developer whose residential and commercial projects are all over the city. A big campaign contributor, Watt usually gets his way.

The council voted 14 to 1 to approve Watt’s project, with Marvin Braude dissenting. The vote means two downtown office towers will be built between 7th and 8th streets, just west of the Harbor Freeway--one 62 stories tall, the other 27. They are just two of a large number of office buildings and residences planned in and around downtown in the next few years.

There’s a downside to this for commuters. The Watt project and the rest of the planned downtown area developments will dump an estimated 250,000 vehicles a day onto the Harbor Freeway, which is presently packed with an average daily volume of 263,000 vehicles. This volume, a city planner says, will tie up the Harbor and the connecting Hollywood, Pasadena and Santa Monica freeways, as well as downtown surface streets.

Because of that, Watt’s project troubled city planners. Last year, after listening to testimony from all sides, a city hearing officer recommended that the project be reduced. Even that didn’t satisfy his superior, Chief Hearing Officer Bob Rogers. Expressing deep concern over the potential freeway and street congestion, Rogers recommended the project be rejected. The planning commission approved it, but in a scaled-down form. Then it went to the council for final approval.

Snyder’s task was to restore the project to its original size. To do this he needed approval first from the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee, and then the council itself. Students of the man were sure he would succeed.

Arthur K. Snyder is a smart man--red-faced, blond, solidly built, with an outwardly friendly, persuasive manner. He has a terrible temper, which got him in trouble until he learned to control it. Now, when he’s mad, he speaks with polite menace.

After many years on the council, Snyder suffered a severe case of job burnout. His attempts to advance to higher office failed. His personal life was messy. There was a drunk driving arrest in 1980 that ended with a hung jury trial. The state political watchdog agency investigated his campaign contributions and fined him for violating conflict-of-interest and campaign-disclosure laws. Deciding to get out of politics, Snyder opened a lobbyist/lawyer practice.

He does it all for a client--legal matters, planning advice, the works. You could see it last week when he appeared before the Planning Committee for a hearing on Watt’s project. He had loose-leaf books for the committee members, containing the complete description of the project, plus a supporting legal analysis. Snyder even provided his draft of a proposed final ordinance that the council could adopt, once it decided to approve the project.

All this work is usually done by the planning department and the city attorney’s office. Snyder had saved them the trouble--and the taxpayers some money. Grateful, the two committee members present, Chairman Hal Bernson and Michael Woo, approved the project as written by Snyder. Bernson usually supports development projects, but Woo’s vote was surprising. He was elected as a controlled growth candidate.

Then Snyder literally followed the measure through City Hall to see that it wasn’t changed. On Friday morning, he attended a meeting between representatives of the city attorney and city clerk as the final ordinance was drawn.

His job was far from finished. He visited every council office, spending half an hour or more with each representative. He was at it again the morning of the vote, starting his rounds of council offices at 8:30 a.m. The vote itself was anticlimactic.

It showed the lobbyist’s influence. But it also showed his understanding of the council’s political mood. We reporters have written a lot of stories about the new controlled growth spirit at City Hall. Snyder knows better. The council wants this place to grow.