Fixing an Awkward Problem

There may not be any easy or quick fix to the pathetic Gilbert Lindsay situation. It’s sad, but that’s how it looks.

Mayor Tom Bradley opposes, with good reason, the city attorney’s suggestion that the Los Angeles City Council can appoint a temporary replacement for their incapacitated colleague. Nice try, but no dice.

The 9th District certainly needs representation, but not from a temporary caretaker who serves until Lindsay recovers or his term expires in 1993. Now that Bradley has shot down that option, he should vigorously support an amendment to the city Charter, which would allow the removal of council members who are incapacitated. Council President John Ferraro and Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, to their credit, are working on an amendment that would prevent this disgraceful and tragic situation from happening again. The council should move quickly on the Ferraro and Flores proposals.

Lindsay was partially paralyzed by a stroke on Sept. 2 and has remained hospitalized for more than three months. The 90-year-old councilman cannot speak, and according to his stepson, does not recognize visitors.

In his current state, the veteran councilman cannot effectively represent his district, which includes downtown and much of South-Central Los Angeles. The Charter, however, provides no way to remove him from office before his term ends unless his constituents mount a successful recall, a difficult and expensive process.

The Charter does allow, however, the removal of a member who is out of the city without excuse for 60 days. In an effort to remove Lindsay on those grounds, the council stopped excusing his absences last month. Lindsay was in an Inglewood hospital, but he has since been moved to a Los Angeles hospital.

After 27 years of public service, Gilbert Lindsay can no longer perform his duties. The residents of the 9th District deserve better, and that includes a chance to vote on their next council representative as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that can’t happen until voters approve a Charter amendment. That’s the way city government sometimes works. Poorly.