Richard Welcomes Colleague in No Uncertain Terms : Politics: The councilman, who blasted Bill Crowfoot on election night, reasserts himself but he says he’s willing to work with him.

Moments after retiring City Councilman Jess Hughston pleaded for mutual respect among council members on Monday, Councilman Isaac Richard cuttingly criticized the man who will take Hughston’s place.

“On election night, I had some pretty harsh and vitriolic words for my colleague to the left,” Richard said, nodding toward newly elected Councilman Bill Crowfoot. “I said some vengeful, hateful things, and I meant every one of them.”

Richard, who supported Crowfoot’s opponent, Joe Morales, in the March 9 election, had blasted Crowfoot after the votes were counted, promising that the new councilman was “going to be miserable” on the council.

Crowfoot, a Spanish-speaking Anglo, beat three other candidates in a district that is 58% Latino. Richard had charged on election night that Crowfoot had “no right” to represent the district and threatened to lead a recall drive.

On Monday, Richard said he still found it “difficult to digest” Crowfoot’s presence on the council, but he welcomed the new member, nevertheless. Richard said he and other Morales supporters are “all willing to give you some time.” In the meantime, he added, “I welcome you here and I am looking forward to working with you.”

After he was sworn in by City Clerk Maria Stewart, Crowfoot made his first official remarks, saying the city should make vigorous efforts to portray itself as a community where “people want to live and work.”

As “a cornerstone of my economic approach,” Crowfoot said, he will work to ensure that employers, workers and “bright entrepreneurs” perceive the city as one “not limited in who it attracts.”

Crowfoot did not respond to Richard’s remarks. But he appeared to come down on the side of Richard and other blacks who have criticized the Tournament of Roses, claiming that the 104-year-old service organization is racially exclusionary.

Crowfoot urged the tournament to open its ranks to minorities. Speaking in Spanish, he urged the city’s Latinos to make their concerns known to the council.

“There is one member here who is going to understand what you have to say,” he said in Spanish.

But Richard criticized Crowfoot for not addressing the needs of low-income residents of the new councilman’s district.

“One of the things I missed in your (remarks) was the word ‘empowerment,’ ” Richard said.

The councilman said Crowfoot should be concerned primarily with “people who work without benefits, people who work below the minimum wage, people who run from the police at night and who have been dehumanized.”

After a six-week absence, Richard last week returned to the council from an undisclosed desert facility where he underwent treatment for what he called a “chemical imbalance.” That step was taken in the wake of an unidentified woman’s accusation that he had sexually assaulted her. The woman later declined to press charges.

According to police reports filed on the incident, Richard had admitted having a drug dependency problem. The councilman denies he made such a statement.

Hughston, who served as mayor from 1990 to 1992--a particularly contentious time for Pasadena--stepped down from the council after 12 years.

In departing remarks, Hughston, who had been increasingly critical of public squabbling among council members in recent years, urged his former colleagues to work together for the good of the city.

“As I leave, I ask that you work hard, have a vision of the future and treat each other with respect,” he said. “This wonderful city deserves nothing less.”

Hughston, who was presented with plaques and mementos and regaled with a song by council staff members during Monday’s retirement ceremonies, joked about his own eccentricities and miscues. He recalled a minor accident he had been involved in when, riding on his bicycle in Brookside Park with members of the Russian bicycle team, he ran into a pedestrian.

“My term as mayor was distinguished by three goals,” he said. “I sought to wipe out smoking, drinking and pedestrians.”

Hughston had pressed successfully for a smoking ban in the city’s public buildings, resisted a plan to allow sidewalk diners to drink alcoholic beverages, and lobbied to make the city “bicycle friendly.”

City staff presented Hughston with a metal sign Monday, denoting a section of the city’s bicycle paths as the “Jess Hughston Bike Route.”

Because of a redistricting plan enacted last year, Hughston, who had represented the eastern end of the city, was forced to retire or move to a central-city district. The plan designated Councilman William Paparian as the representative of most of Hughston’s old district.

“The greatest surprise of my term,” Hughston said, “was when I woke up one morning and found that my entire district had packed and moved away. I was suddenly living in Bill Paparian’s district.”

During Hughston’s two-year tenure as mayor, the council wrestled with Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block over remarks made by council members regarding “racist” deputies, got swept up in a debate over the appointment of a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus as the grand marshal of the Rose Parade, fought over the appointment of City Manager Philip Hawkey over two black candidates, and argued over an attempt by council members to raise their own salaries.

Those disputes were signs of a city seeking a measure of social justice, Hughston suggested.

“A city’s worth is determined by how well it treats its old, its young, its handicapped and its minorities,” he said.