L.A. ‘93: The Race For Mayor. : Create New Revenue With a City Income Tax : Mayor’s race: Los Angeles must solve internal and external challenges to accommodate profound demographic changes.

I have a global view of where we find ourselves in Los Angeles and where our city fits into the world picture. As we look ahead, we must be mindful that other great cities have limped on as a pale reminder of their prime after having failed to meet challenges in a timely manner.

The external challenges we face stem from new patterns in global economics and transnational investment. Reductions in our military expenditures for a post-Cold War era combine to account for the economic downturn, which may not be over.

The demography of Los Angeles has changed profoundly, amid unchecked growth that has overwhelmed the ability of taxpayers to provide services and infrastructure for diverse newcomers. The immediate danger we face, of course, is a repetition of riots like those of last year that erased the positive global image of Los Angeles conveyed by the 1984 Olympics. Shrinking revenues and the legacy of a failed 20-year regime in City Hall round out the challenges. Our responses to these challenges will decide whether we stay and fight for Los Angeles or leave it behind us.

What sort of a mayor does Los Angeles need today? We need a public servant with proven experience in bringing people together, as I did for 12 years of service on the city’s Board of Education. Also, our mayor must have experience that will help place Los Angeles in its true global setting, within which our economy will recover or shrink further. In this regard, within the last two years alone, I have taken fact-finding trips to Eastern Europe, Latin America and China, with regular trips to Mexico for discussions with Cabinet-level officials, governors and business leaders. All of this, combined with 35 years of university teaching, gives me a clear picture of what Los Angeles has been and a vision of what it could be.

I see twin objectives that will go far to rescue our city from further decline and point us in the right direction: first, the restoration and maintenance of public safety; second, the creation of a new revenue base sufficient to our needs.

*I propose an urban civil patrol corps. It would be comprised of about 8,000 city residents reassigned voluntarily from regular military service to patrol-corps duty in Los Angeles, supplementing the LAPD in appropriate, non-threatening uniforms. Working in pairs, with side-arms and radios, 4,000 patrol teams could walk our streets in needed areas at all hours to deter crime and give residents the feeling of security that alone makes life pleasant and job-creation possible. Virtually all costs are already provided for by existing federal outlays, as well as legal authority to act in the name of the law. Such a program is in keeping with our immediate needs and long-range image-restoration.

Assuming that the most objectionable forms of crime can be reduced and law and order be maintained, the city still faces certain bankruptcy as our revenue sources now stand.

* I propose a tax on income earned in Los Angeles. This would be a simple, graduated percentage tax on gross salaries or wages earned in Los Angeles alone. Hundreds of thousands of people work in Los Angeles but live in outlying municipalities, imposing on city residents a growing tax burden for the vast infrastructure of roads, sanitation, police, fire and other services that make the commuters’ jobs possible. This would be a much fairer way of urban funding, and would make possible many improvements in the quality of urban life, helping Los Angeles be everything it can be for everyone.