What’s Missing From Mayoral Forum? Issues

I’ve been trying to take the mayoral race seriously.

My fellow columnist, Al Martinez, has made fun of the huge field of 50 or 60 or whatever number of candidates. But Al writes a satirical column. I’m supposed to deal with more weighty matters.

I was willing to do this until Wednesday when I attended a candidates’ forum sponsored by New Vision, an organization promoting the idea that the economic future of this region is with medium and small businesses.

The economy was the subject of the forum and I thought that it would produce some substantial thoughts on the only issue that counts in this campaign--jobs, jobs, jobs.

But as the debate unfolded, I realized I would be disappointed.

While the entire L.A. 50+ weren’t there, most of the best known mayoral candidates were seated at a long table facing the audience in the Department of Water and Power Building auditorium.

Conditions were against a good exchange. Councilman Michael Woo, who has zoomed to an unexpectedly big lead in fund-raising and public opinion polls, took the safe course and played defense, not throwing out new ideas, not taking any chances.

The others, being behind, should have played offense, challenging Woo with tough questions, demanding that he make hard choices. But not being very skillful at the game, they also played defense. So there weren’t the sharp exchanges that reveal the candidates’ ideas.

Things took a turn for the worse when one of the panelists who should have been grilling the candidates gave a little speech denouncing negative talk about our town. Think positive, advised Bernard Kinsey, co-chair of Rebuild L.A. Then he asked, “How can we make Los Angeles stand tall like it did at the Super Bowl?”

The Super Bowl. The phoniest, hyped-up event of the year. I waited for one of the candidates to let Kinsey have it between the eyes, to say: “Wait a minute, Mr. Kinsey. We’ve had the worst race riot in modern American history. Fifty dead. A billion dollars in damage. We have people begging for jobs. Our city and county governments and the school district are broke. And you’re talking about the Super Bowl. It wasn’t even a good game. And it was in Pasadena.”

Nobody said that. Transit board member Nick Patsaouras talked about our “beautiful city. Have you heard about Wilmington? Have you heard about San Pedro, about the museums there?”

I enjoy the San Pedro-Wilmington harbor area, but it has its share of problems. The last time I was in Wilmington I visited a public school located among polluting plants and a dump. The teachers had to close the windows to keep the stink out of the classrooms.

The session deteriorated. Assemblyman Richard Katz said we should be inspired by the World Cup soccer championships, which will be played here in 1994. “Los Angeles has a chance to remarket itself, as it did in the Olympics.”

Soccer? What about the riots at soccer matches? Anyway, why did these people think they could find civic redemption at sports events? I’ve wasted thousands of hours in ballparks and stadiums, enjoying almost every minute, but not once did I imagine was I serving any higher purpose than having fun.

If you had the patience to dig deep enough into what was said that morning, you might have found some practical suggestions on how to deal with L.A.’s unemployment.

Attorney Richard Riordan said “if you want to get jobs, make our city safe . . . people are afraid of L.A. with good reason.” Councilman Nate Holden agreed. Councilman Joel Wachs promised an immediate freeze on business taxes.

Katz and Patsaouras, for example, had good ideas about creating industries providing trains, tracks and other equipment for the Southland’s developing transit system. Both have made major contributions to L.A. transit. Patsaouras helped win federal funds for the Red Line subway and Katz pushed through the legislation that created the new Metropolitan Transit Authority, which will run the area’s transit lines.

Woo said he’d use the power of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency to create more businesses and jobs.

This promise provided an opening to his opponents, but they didn’t take advantage of it. Woo backs the CRA’s controversial Hollywood redevelopment project, which has been attacked as a giveaway to developers who have contributed to his political campaigns. Woo is sensitive to such criticism. In fact, he eliminated an official Hollywood citizens redevelopment watchdog committee because it opposed him.

But nobody pursued Woo.

While there were a few good ideas, the candidates skimmed the surface. Discovering substantive ideas was as difficult as finding loose change on Venice beach.

And about as productive.