The Empty Chair in City Hall

The empty chair in the Los Angeles City Council chamber is becoming hard to ignore.

The chair belongs to Councilman Gilbert Lindsay, 89, paralyzed by a stroke and unable to speak. He breathes through a tube inserted in his windpipe. Visitors to his room at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood report that he stares blankly at the ceiling. Occasionally Lindsay moves his head when his name is called.

He has been that way since he was stricken the weekend of Sept. 1. Even before that, old age and previous strokes had left Lindsay a shell of the powerful lawmaker who called himself “The Emperor of the 9th.”

That’s the 9th District, encompassing downtown’s biggest high-rises and hotels and some of South L.A.’s most pestilential slums. It also includes Little Tokyo, one of the city’s hottest corners for building and real estate speculation.

Up to now, the council members have pretty much ignored Lindsay’s illness; he’s a popular councilman. But that attitude is beginning to change.

Pressure is being placed on the council by land developers, who complain they miss Lindsay’s sure hand in steering projects through City Hall. He helped them in many ways, bullying planning officials and building inspectors, persuading his council colleagues to waive zoning regulations, even closing streets and alleys to allow bigger buildings.

Fourteen downtown office high-rises, hotels, apartments, condos and other buildings are under construction and 16 more are awaiting approval. More buildings are on the drawing boards for Little Tokyo.

That’s big bucks--demanding a faster track in City Hall than can be arranged by Lindsay’s aides, Bob Gay and Sal Altamorano.

The impoverished neighborhoods within Lindsay’s domain also are being hurt by his illness. His South-Central neighborhoods are being denied the help provided for other parts of the city, where developers are being forced to finance low-rent housing in exchange for development rights. Just west of downtown, in Councilwoman Gloria Molina’s district, developers are paying big fees, which will go for inexpensive housing.

Lindsay didn’t ask that of builders. But the politics of South L.A. are changing. Activist groups are beginning to make demands. If Lindsay hadn’t become ill, he would have undoubtedly been forced to require low-cost housing fees from builders. His assistants just don’t have the clout to make such demands.

In addition to hearing complaints from developers and community activists, Ferraro was told of rumors that some Lindsay employees were missing work and checking out city cars for long periods of time. So on Sept. 16, Ferraro put Lindsay’s office in trusteeship. He sent in his eyes and ears, Legislative Analyst Bill McCarley, as trustee to run the place.

McCarley set up a management committee, with him as chairman. Clearly reflecting Ferraro’s concern over office discipline, McCarley sent a letter to Lindsay’s staff saying, “I expect the City Hall and district offices to be open and staffed at all times during weekdays between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., which will be normal working hours for all staff. . . .” The workers were instructed to keep and submit weekly time cards and receive prior approval before taking home city cars.

The trusteeship arrangement is a stopgap. McCarley is managing the office, not speeding projects for builders or building low-cost housing for Lindsay’s most impoverished constituents. Only the councilman could do that.

But Lindsay’s associates and council colleagues say they do not expect him to return. In fact, they say he may not revive enough to be capable of resigning.

Under the City Charter, it’s hard to remove city elected officials. Offices become vacant when the incumbent dies, resigns or is found to be insane. Removal also follows conviction of a felony or official malfeasance.

There is, city legal experts note, a provision authorizing removal if a council member has “been absent from the city without the consent of the council for more than 60 consecutive days.” By the end of October, Lindsay will have been hospitalized in Inglewood for 60 days.

Council members say they’re aware of the provision. But Tuesday Councilmen Richard Alatorre and Hal Bernson told me the council would not vote to remove Lindsay on such grounds. For the time being, his chair will remain empty.