Setting the Wrong Example

When President George Bush visited Los Angeles earlier this month after the devastating riots, he struck a compassionate tone.

“To truly help, we must understand the agony of the depressed. You can’t solve the problem if you don’t feel its heartbeat. You’ve got to understand the hopelessness of those who literally have no opportunity . . . . L.A. is going to recover. It’s a great city.”

It is a great city and people are working to help it recover. Now, if only the left hand of the Administration knew what the right hand was doing so that both hands could help the city and the nation recover.

Last week, the federal government informed Los Angeles it plans to relocate an important military enlistment center that’s in an area damaged by the riots. The relocation of the Military Entrance Processing Station and an adjacent recruiting center eventually could mean the loss of about 500 jobs. The enlistment station, a Department of Defense agency, is the headquarters for screening and induction of all military recruits in nine California counties. The 30,000-square-foot station burned and the General Services Administration, which handles real-estate transactions for the federal government, rejected the private owners’ offer to rebuild. Instead, the military wants to abandon even the undamaged adjacent recruiting headquarters when the lease expires in three years.

Is this supposed to encourage business to locate in areas hard-hit by the riots? Do the people in the Administration even know the neighborhood they seek to flee? The center is adjacent to Baldwin Hills, a stable, middle-class area. If the federal government cannot commit to staying there, what hope can exist for areas far poorer and far harder hit by the riots? The action by the GSA is unsupportable. If the President hopes to have his words spoken to Angelenos have any meaning, he should insist that federal authorities reconsider an outrageous decision that would so hurt areas trying to start anew.