Bradley Moves Attract Praise and Skepticism : City Hall: The mayor has made a number of changes affecting issues of environment and housing. But some wonder if he’s just creating a diversion from his own problems.

The mayor’s staff had forewarned him, and Michael Bodaken was ready for the question. No, he firmly told reporters. He had not been co-opted by Mayor Tom Bradley.

“If you know me at all, you know I’m not that kind of guy,” Bodaken said.

A Legal Aid Foundation attorney and longtime critic of city housing policies, Bodaken suddenly entered the inner circle at City Hall this month, facing reporters and cameras and standing side-by-side with the mayor.

The selection of Bodaken as the mayor’s chief housing adviser was perhaps the most surprising move in a round of appointments intended to demonstrate Bradley’s commitment to housing and environmental concerns. In recent weeks, Bradley has signed on a number of activists who have been critical of his policies in both areas.

Some observers see the influence of Bradley’s new chief of staff, 32-year-old Mark Fabiani, a Harvard Law School graduate who took over as deputy mayor last November.

“In some other setting, I would think this was just co-opting the noisemakers,” said Gary Blasi, the homeless-litigation specialist for the Legal Aid Foundation. “I have every reason to believe it’s real.”

Other observers say that the appointments--as well as a flurry of Bradley press conferences since the first of the year--may be designed partly to direct attention away from allegations that have plagued the mayor.

Questions about Bradley’s personal finances began to surface a year ago, and he remains the subject of a federal grand jury investigation. Last month, Bradley agreed to pay a $20,000 fine to settle a lawsuit filed by City Atty. James K. Hahn, who alleged that Bradley had failed to disclose personal investments and stock holdings worth $160,000.

Last week, officials of the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the state Fair Political Practices Commission said they are examining documents to determine whether fund-raising carnivals were used to make illegal campaign donations.

But even as the troubles persist, the 72-year-old mayor is attempting to reassert his leadership, and he and his young staff are defining a new agenda for the 3 1/2 years that remain in Bradley’s term.

Sensing a new political climate, Bradley is trying to de-emphasize pro-development, pro-growth policies to focus on the problems of the homeless and “quality-of-life” issues--and is repairing cool relationships with some members of the City Council, aides say.

Two weeks ago, he appeared with Manhattan entrepreneur Donald Trump at a press conference to announce plans for a huge development on the site of the Ambassador Hotel, possibly including the world’s tallest building. But a week later Bradley sent Trump a letter asking him to scale down his plans and to invest in poorer areas of the city as well.

At a recent press conference to announce the appointment of a director for the city’s new Environmental Affairs Department, Bradley was flanked by three City Council members who have been identified with environmental issues--Ruth Galanter, Joan Milke Flores and Joy Picus.

Other recent appointments include Carlyle Hall, founder of the Center for Law in the Public Interest, who will fill a position on the board of the Community Redevelopment Agency. Hall is expected to help turn the agency away from its emphasis on huge downtown commercial projects and toward housing and social programs.

Larry Kirk, general manager of the Los Angeles Hilton and Towers, also will take a seat on the CRA board and is expected to help streamline and redirect the agency. Kirk said he accepted the position without hesitation. Bradley promised him, Kirk said, that his concerns also would be the mayor’s.

In moves intended to signal heightened concern about the environment, Bradley has appointed environmental activist Dorothy Green and former Deputy Mayor Michael Gage to the city’s Water and Power Commission.

Green is president of Heal the Bay, an environmental group formed to push for a cleanup of Santa Monica Bay, where the city has dumped tons of sewage over the years. Gage has a long record of involvement in environmental issues.

Bradley also appointed environmental activist Tom Soto, an organizer for Tom Hayden’s Campaign California, to organize a series of Earth Day activities for the city this year.

Blasi credited Fabiani with sparking a “new enthusiasm” among people who have long been disenchanted with Bradley. He described Fabiani as “a very principled person who does what he does because he’s interested in results.”

“We’re beginning to see the rejuvenation of the Bradley morality to what it was . . . in 1972.”

For his part, Fabiani downplayed the changes, saying Bradley has always been committed to housing and environmental issues. “One of the hallmarks of Tom Bradley’s time as mayor has been his ability to reach out to all parts of the community,” Fabiani said.

But some at City Hall say the changes are merely cosmetic.

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who has been at odds with the mayor on a number of issues over the years and considered running against him in the last election, said he is skeptical.

“It’s part of the overall strategy of trying at any cost to create the impression that he’s in charge,” Yaroslavsky said.

He said he thinks “very highly” of Bodaken, but doubts whether Bodaken will have significant influence with the mayor. “You’ve got Tom Bradley and his world of friends and associates and campaign contributors and the like,” Yaroslavsky said. “And then you have the staff that looks good. The two will eventually clash. . . .

“When the rubber meets the road and there’s a decision that has to be made that affects his (Bradley’s) big-business friends, then we’ll see.”

Bodaken concedes that initially he was hesitant about taking the job. “I think it was more of a generic concern about whether housing advocates can be more effective inside or outside the process,” Bodaken said last week. But he said he met with Bradley and was assured “that I would have a legitimate voice in promoting affordable housing policy.”

“It’s worth taking a shot,” Bodaken said. “I’m not interested in a fluff job. I’m interested in substantial progress. In recent years, Bodaken said, it has become apparent to Bradley that housing advocates are “a serious constituency and that he needed to build a constituency in that area.”

“The reason I was asked was that other people had put affordable housing at the top of the chart.”

Councilman Richard Alatorre, who is close to Bradley, said last week he does not think the staff changes are cosmetic and predicted more changes in the near future.

Bodaken, in particular, signals a “new direction” in the Bradley Administration, Alatorre said.

Alatorre is among those who credit Fabiani with pushing for changes. “He’s younger, he’s fresher and he isn’t jaded,” Alatorre said. “Mark has a different perspective and I think it’s going to be positive for the mayor.”

But Bradley is also getting praise from some unexpected quarters.

“It’s not window dressing,” said Councilwoman Gloria Molina, a frequent and vocal critic of the mayor.

She said she is especially impressed with the appointments of Bodaken and Hall. “These are not lightweights,” Molina said.

Molina said she is at a loss to explain the changes, but added: “Whatever it is, it’s very good. These are the kind of people who should be involved. . . . They’re not just going to be apologists for the system.”

If either Hall or Bodaken find themselves ineffectual, they would resign, Molina said.

But, she added, “I have high hopes.”