Latinos Winning Political Respect in Santa Monica : Minorities: Activists are encouraged by gains on the council and Planning Commission. But a group calls for action in housing, education and other areas.

Three months after Santa Monica voters elected the first Latino to the City Council, it seems to be dawning on city officials that there is a significant longtime Latino population in their midst.

The City Council in September replaced a member of the powerful Planning Commission with a Latina--attorney Rita Morales--and last month agreed to provide Spanish translators upon request at council meetings.

An estimated 15% of the city’s residents are Latino, as are about 28% of the students in the school district.

The big test to determine whether the new-found interest in Latinos is a serious effort to address the needs of an ignored segment of the community may come in the next few weeks when the council addresses a list of demands made by a Latino social service organization.

Last month, the Latino Resource Organization called on city officials to undertake the following actions:

* Order an investigation by the city attorney of discriminatory rental and sales practices in housing, and appoint a Spanish-speaking deputy city attorney to investigate and prosecute housing discrimination.

* Appoint a Spanish-speaking staff member to the Rent Control Board to serve as an ombudsman for Latinos.

* Develop a plan by city departments to increase the availability of affordable housing in the city.

* Create a City Council committee to conduct a management audit of the city’s ability to respond to requests from Spanish-speaking residents.

The Latino organization has made a similar request of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. The group is asking the district to:

* Find ways for district officials to communicate more effectively with Latino parents regarding the scope and objectives of the school curriculum.

* Find ways to improve the participation of Latino parents in school affairs.

* Improve the quality and depth of programs to stimulate awareness and appreciation of Latino cultures among teachers and administrators.

The City Council and the school board are expected to address the demands in early March.

“These recommendations are not outrageous,” said Arturo Olivas, executive director of the Latino Resource Organization. “My approach is to be proactive rather than reactive.”

Some city officials say the new attention being paid to Latino issues is in large part a response to the more aggressive role Olivas’ organization has begun playing in city affairs in recent months.

Olivas took over as executive director last August after more than a year of chaos that included the loss of two executive directors and the threat of losing the group’s city funding. City officials credit him with stabilizing the organization and bringing it new purpose.

But Councilman Tony Vazquez, who was the top vote-getter in the November election, cautioned that the city’s response to the organization’s list of demands should not be seen as the test of its commitment to the Latino community.

“That is not a good measuring stick at this point because LRO is still getting itself in order,” he said. “Thinking that LRO can fill in all the gaps in the Latino community is ludicrous.”

Some community leaders agree with Vazquez and say the current attention to Latino issues is more a culmination of efforts started long ago to bring Latinos into the political process.

“Tony’s election is proof that some of the effort from a decade ago is paying off,” said former Santa Monica Mayor James Conn, who was on the council from 1981 to 1988. “Ever since I was on the council there was concern to make the governmental process more and more accessible to as many people as possible.”

“The city does know that it has a significant Latino population and it has attempted to respond to their needs,” said Vera Martinez, a dean at Santa Monica College. “There are a lot of people who genuinely want to do good for the community but don’t have enough closeness to the community to get it done. Given that we now have an energetic leader at LRO and a Latino on the City Council, the dialogue with the city will be better.”

Attorney Daniel Marquez, past president of the Westside chapter of the Mexican-American Political Assn., said better organization and political sophistication in the Latino community during the past decade has helped bring Latino issues to the forefront.

Morales, the new planning commissioner, said Vazquez’s election showed that the Latino community can be a force in city elections.

“We showed the city that we can certainly register voters and we could get out the vote within the Latino community,” she said.

Olivas, the Latino Resource Organization executive director, says this is just a beginning.

“We need to have access to the decision-making process,” he said. “Other organizations have not seen the need for the Latino community to be empowered. They have not seen LRO be responsive to the needs of the community in the past. Well, we need to re-establish the credibility of LRO.”

Although some Latino community leaders privately question whether the Latino Resource Organization is becoming too demanding, Councilman Dennis Zane said he believes it is an appropriate role for the group.

“LRO was created in order to generate greater access and involvement by the Latino community,” Zane said. “The higher level of aggressiveness is a product of a more aggressive style on the part of the executive director. In my opinion that is good.

“Tony’s election and the appointment of a Latino to the Planning Commission are not directly related to LRO’s requests,” Zane said. “But the mission of LRO and the political developments of the election and the appointments are related to assuring political access.”

But there is still some skepticism in the Latino community over the current attention being given to Latino issues.

“The election of a Latino has been one of my dreams,” said Beulah Juarez, a 55-year resident of the city. “But I’ve been talking about Latino issues for a long time and they didn’t listen to me. There is still a lot to be done.”