Mayor Prepares to Round Out a Diverse Cabinet : City Hall: He is expected to name a black and a Latino to housing and economic development posts.

Mayor Richard Riordan is expected to round out his Cabinet today with the appointments of a Latino to oversee revitalization of the city’s ailing economy and an African-American to map out a strategy for increasing affordable housing and easing traffic gridlock, sources said.

Al Villalobos, 49, a Tarzana investment banker and prominent Republican fund-raiser, is said to be in line for the job as deputy mayor for economic development. A sixth-generation Angeleno who traces his roots to Mexico, Villalobos was sergeant-at-arms for the California delegation to the GOP convention in Houston last summer and helped rally Latino support for Riordan during the mayoral campaign.

Rae James, a city legislative analyst who advises the City Council on redevelopment and transportation, is expected to be named deputy mayor for housing and transportation. The 43-year-old James, who could not be reached for comment, has worked for the past five years with former Chief Legislative Analyst William McCarley, who has since become Riordan’s chief of staff.

Their appointments would give Riordan’s staff of five deputy mayors a diverse look: a Latino, an African-American, an Asian-American, an Anglo and a homosexual. With James’ expected appointment, two of the deputy mayors will be women.

Riordan, nonetheless, came under more criticism Monday.

Several leaders of the Asian-American community, which makes up about 11% of the city’s population, expressed “dismay and anger” at the omission of an Asian-American from Riordan’s five appointees to the civilian Police Commission.

Angela Oh, co-chair of Asian Pacific Americans for a New Los Angeles, called the absence a “remarkable display of insensitivity” toward Asian-Americans affected by last year’s riots, emphasizing that the community’s trust in the police has been replaced by a sense of abandonment.

Oh and others expressed concern at a news conference outside Parker Center police headquarters about whether the appointees would have cultural knowledge, interest or sensitivity toward community issues, such as the plight of Korean-born shopkeepers who experienced violence during and after the riots.

Riordan will announce the two deputy mayor appointments at a morning news conference. He said Monday that he will make his appointments to the city’s Airport and Harbor commissions by the end of the week and complete his selections of about 200 other citizen commissioners by late next week.

In other developments Monday, Riordan backed away from his statements that he would forsake Getty House, the mayor’s official residence in Hancock Park, for his Brentwood mansion.

Appearing on a cable TV interview show, Riordan said that he might stay in Getty House overnight “now and then.” The rest of the time, he said, he hopes that he and the City Council can use Getty House for receptions, and “important leaders can stay there when they’re visiting Los Angeles.”

(Riordan staff members said they expect one such visitor soon--First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is coming to town July 19. But they did not say where she would stay.)

In an interview on Century Cable Television, Riordan was asked how, 12 days into the job, he enjoys being mayor.

“It’s somewhat surreal.” he said. “Being a celebrity, I step outside myself and look in and say, ‘Is this really me?’ But then, I really enjoy the hard work, getting your teeth into problems. I’ve got incredible people on my team. And that’s fun.”

Riordan, reflecting on the campaign, also revealed that his slogan, “Tough Enough to Turn L.A. Around,” was the result of a contest in his law office that drew about 100 entries.

Riordan, meanwhile, received an out-of-town visitor in City Hall: San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan, whose first 16 months in office have been full of controversy. His press secretary quit early on and Jordan fired his first police chief. That chief’s replacement has been accused of sexual harassment.

Jordan, a former police chief who, like Riordan, won in his first attempt at elected office, said he let the new mayor know “some of the things I’ve learned the hard way.” He said he hopes to meet with Riordan again and work with him on police issues.

On one issue the two mayors disagreed. Jordan said he is pushing for tighter gun-control laws in the wake of the high-rise shooting in a San Francisco law firm. Riordan maintained throughout his campaign that gun-control laws are stringent enough but need to be enforced.