Seymour Calls for Law and Order--and Jobs : Politics: The senator tours the Hollywood riot area and talks with redevelopment officials.

Standing in front of a boarded-up Frederick’s of Hollywood, Sen. John Seymour on Monday called for a blend of law, order and jobs to rescue Los Angeles from the devastation of the recent civil unrest.

The Republican senator, fighting to retain his seat in upcoming elections, took a two-block walking tour of the heart of Hollywood to survey the damage and paused to meet with redevelopment officials and entrepreneurs.

“We must have law and order,” Seymour said after observing the T-shirt shops and hot dog stands. “Having said that . . . we must (also) build job opportunities so that the people at the bottom rung of the ladder have a piece of the action.”

Hollywood sustained minimal damage--a few charred and broken storefronts--compared to other parts of Los Angeles. But Seymour said the blow to tourism in Hollywood has been costly and overlooked.

As Seymour walked over the inlaid sidewalk stars of Jack Palance and other actors, two television crews in tow, a young motorist in a red sports car passed slowly, shouting: “We’re gonna blow it up one more time! How about that? We’re gonna blow it up one more time!”

Seymour did not seem to notice, or chose to ignore him.

Later, meeting with a handful of business and property owners, Seymour said he will take President Bush up on an offer to have the federal government produce television ads for foreign markets that promote tourism to California.

He pledged to help his audience cut through red tape for federal assistance but conceded that the city government will have to serve as the conduit for aid to Hollywood businesses.

The silver lining in the riots, he said, is a new bipartisan eagerness among government officials to put aside differences and relax regulations to see that reconstruction projects get completed.

“The first time the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) sticks up its head on a project out here, I’ll hit it right between the eyes with a two-by-four,” Seymour said.

The business folks were receptive to that message. One complained that it can take years to build a high-rise in Hollywood. A banker complained that drug dealers are Hollywood’s most severe problem, and asked that the U.S. military be deployed to wipe out the drug trade--here and in Colombia.

Seymour last week toured some of the harder hit areas of Los Angeles in the company of Bush. He stuck so close to the President during that tour that White House aides began jokingly referring to Seymour as the “Velcro senator.”