Commission Reveals Little to Riots’ Victims : Reaction: While they applaud the call for better planning, most feel the recommendations don’t address the true causes of the city’s problems.

For some of the thousands of Los Angeles residents who suffered during the riots, the release of the Webster Commission report was like so much else that has come since the end of the upheaval--lots of talk, lots of blame, but little relevance to their daily lives.

The report seemed to be a statement of what most victims have known at least since the first night of the riots--that the city has become a dysfunctional place where the chasm has grown wide between leaders and the community, protectors and the populace.

Some victims of the riots applauded the report’s proposals for better emergency planning and more officers patrolling the streets. But they warned that the recommendations will do little to prevent another riot or bridge the gap between the community and the police and City Hall.

“You can bring in the military and that’s not going to get at the heart of the problem,” said Alfred Ligon, owner of the Aquarian Bookshop, the nation’s oldest continuously operated black-owned bookstore, which burned to the ground during the riots. “None of this means anything unless you get to the roots.”

Michael Park, a Korean-American whose family’s liquor store was looted during the riots, said the report’s call for better emergency planning and riot deployment will not restore the confidence of shop owners who deal with crime and a souring economy each day.

“You look at the economy, the police, the city,” Park said. “The whole situation is just getting worse and worse. I really don’t feel like paying taxes anymore.”

The commission held a series of public hearings over the summer to hear community concerns about the department’s actions during the riots. But the discussion often veered away from the LAPD’s response and moved to deeper issues concerning the culture of the department, which some residents described as callous, arrogant, racist and brutal.

Though many riot victims may be unfamiliar with the commission, its findings did not surprise them.

“It’s not really news to us,” said Ryan Song, executive director of the Korean-American Grocers Assn. of Southern California. “All of this is pretty obvious.”

The report’s findings encouraged one group of victims--those who have been considering a lawsuit against the city and the Police Department for failing to protect them during the unrest.

Young Han, a Korean-American who with others in Koreatown has contemplated suing the city, said the Webster report affirmed many of their perceptions. “It said what we all feel,” she said.

Even with the report’s acknowledgment of the city’s failures, a lawsuit’s chances of success are slim, said Thomas Hokinson, a senior assistant city attorney. A ruling from a suit filed after the 1965 Watts riot held that the city was not liable for failing to provide police protection, he noted.

There were 25 lawsuits filed against the city after Watts. No suit has been filed this time, Hokinson said, although several claims against the city have been submitted this month by a group of Korean-Americans. Submitting a claim is the first step in initiating a civil lawsuit against the city.

Park said the report’s greatest significance could be its official acknowledgment of the failure of the city’s most powerful institutions. But the problems, he said, run much deeper than the Police Department or City Hall.

He said that when he works in his parents’ store he sees the suspicion between shop owners and customers, which has only grown since the riots.

He constantly hears customers and shop owners talk about hard economic times, of a recession that has pressed everyone to the walls.

More than anything, Park senses a resignation now that chaos, violence and distrust have become the norm in Los Angeles.

Just two weeks ago, a crowd of looters replayed the riots, storming into the family’s store and again emptying the shelves.

An officer showed up after the looters fled and took a report. Park said his parents felt the officer was just going through the motions, recording another crime in Los Angeles.

“It was like no big deal,” Park said.