Hernandez Aims to Seek Consensus

As a candidate for Los Angeles City Council, Mike Hernandez frequently reminded voters of his close ties to Gloria Molina, the combative and popular 1st District councilwoman who was elected to the county Board of Supervisors in February.

But on his first day as councilman-elect in the district, Hernandez moved quickly Wednesday to dismiss any speculation that he will adopt the Molina style when he begins his new job in two weeks. Indeed, Molina--out of the country on vacation--wasn’t even on hand to congratulate her protege.

“I never claimed to be Gloria; I always claimed to be me,” Hernandez said in an interview Wednesday. “My style is going to be one of asking people how to get things done.”

It is unlikely Hernandez could have won the 1st District seat without the aid of Molina, whose endorsement and fund-raising support helped him finish first in the June primary and defeat Chinatown lawyer Sharon Mee Yung Lowe in Tuesday’s runoff. Hernandez won 64% of the vote, while Lowe received 36%.

But while Molina’s name apparently carries great weight among many voters in the mostly impoverished Latino district, it has considerably less influence among her former council colleagues. Molina was viewed as a maverick on the council--a “bomb-thrower,” as one member described her--whose appetite for confrontation annoyed other members and, some say, made it difficult to get things done.

“My style is to find consensus,” Hernandez said at a press conference at his Highland Park campaign headquarters Wednesday.

To those who have known Hernandez during his many years as a Latino activist in Northeast Los Angeles, the declaration came as no surprise. From his tenure as head of the Highland Park Christmas Parade to his post as treasurer of Molina’s supervisorial campaign, the Cypress Park bond agent has earned a reputation for getting things done.

It is a reputation many at City Hall hope he carries into his new job.

“He is a more collegial, less confrontational type of individual,” said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, one of several council members who endorsed Hernandez. “In that regard, he can get a lot accomplished here, and he can help us get a lot accomplished here.”

Councilman Richard Alatorre, who had been one of Molina’s greatest enemies on the council, said he expects to work well with Hernandez. Alatorre, who also endorsed Hernandez, described the newly elected councilman as independent of Molina.

“She is not the councilman. He is the councilman,” Alatorre said. “I have known Mike since he was in college. I don’t foresee any difficulty in working with Mike.”

Even so, Hernandez is expected to follow Molina’s example on the council in other ways, particularly by concentrating on bread-and-butter issues--from police protection to clean streets--during his first months in office.

Molina frequently complained that her district received less than its fair share of city services and resources. On Wednesday, Hernandez sounded a similar theme--and warned that relations with other council members could sour over the issue.

“When I get my fair share of resources it is going to affect the quality of life in other districts,” he said. “They are not going to be having what they have now. They won’t have as much police protection or the same services they have been getting from the city. They are going to claim they have a power base. I’m going to claim I have a people base.”

The mostly inner-city 1st District is one of the poorest in the city, encompassing portions of Northeast Los Angeles as well as the immigrant Latino neighborhoods of Pico-Union, Westlake and Echo Park. Hernandez, a lifelong resident of the area, pulls no punches about its shortcomings.

Housing is overcrowded, he said, and crime is so bad in some areas that apartment managers wear bulletproof vests. Although thousands of commuters use the four freeway hubs that traverse the district, few stop to shop.

“A lot of the problems we have in this district have to do with having a lot of people on a very small piece of land,” he said. As a solution, he said, he will push for more light manufacturing and low-income housing in the district.

“We have a lot of vacant buildings and a lot of pieces of land that aren’t developed,” Hernandez said. “There is no reason why you have to put up a car dealership or a public storage place when you have opportunities to build a McDonald’s, which will provide 70 or 80 jobs for young people.”

Despite his years as a grass-roots activist in the Northeast area, Hernandez remains a relative unknown at City Hall. The 1st District campaign was largely overshadowed by the controversy following the police beating of Rodney G. King, leaving few at City Hall with a clear picture of how he will fit in.

“We are not going to know who he really is until he has been here for a few weeks or few months,” said Councilman Michael Woo, who endorsed Hernandez’s opponent.

In a practical sense, Hernandez’s election means the City Council will have all 15 members for the first time since last summer, when now-deceased Gilbert Lindsay was hospitalized after suffering a stroke. In terms of pure arithmetic, his arrival will make it easier for council members to form the majorities needed to pass--or derail--legislation.

“His vote will be very crucial,” Yaroslavsky said. “This is a council that has a tradition of breaking down pretty evenly on issues like rent control, development and taxation.”