Donors Give L.A. Cause to Be Glad --and Wary : Finances: Mayor welcomes an outpouring of gifts from the private sector. But some officials raise the possibility that the city will appear to be endorsing products.

Private companies have barraged City Hall with offers to donate everything from jungle gyms to personal computers since Mayor Richard Riordan came to office, creating an opportunity for the financially strapped city but also raising questions about the potential for conflicts.

Most of the offers are in support of the mayor’s Project Safety L.A. plan to boost the resources of the Los Angeles Police Department--such as bicycles and helmets for the police bike patrols.

Others, such as books for the renovated Central Library and cellular telephones, have nothing to do with making Los Angeles safe. Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. is the latest to step forward, saying it would be happy to serve free ice cream at some city functions.

Gifts to local governments are nothing new, especially to parks, zoos and libraries. But City Hall insiders say that giving has risen to new heights since Riordan came into office calling for increased philanthropy and volunteerism.

Although Riordan has been welcoming the offerings and appearing at news conferences to accept them, some city officials wonder whether the city may appear to be endorsing certain products by accepting them with such hoopla. And they wonder whether the donors will have more access to decision-makers.

“There needs to be a procedure for accepting anything,” Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said. “The question is whether the city ought to be implicitly endorsing certain products. It seems to me the mayor’s office has to take care.”

Ben Bycel, executive director of the city Ethics Commission, added: “Is there a quid pro quo--are companies giving the gifts to get something? That’s the question.”

The Ethics Commission has been grappling with the issue since Riordan’s election. The private funding of Riordan’s July 1 inauguration sent the commission scrambling to establish donation guidelines for the special event.

On Tuesday, the commission’s staff began looking at the issue anew when a company announced with Riordan’s blessing that it would give out 1,000 “personal alarm attack devices” to city employees. Some employees refused to accept the hand-held alarms--which emit a piercing blast when activated to scare off attackers--because of questions over whether it was an acceptable gift.

Riordan, who was a philanthropist before his election, has found that making donations to the city is not easy.

The mayor has called for a drastic increase in the number of volunteers to work in libraries and parks to compensate for staff reductions. But concerns that the city would face legal liability for the volunteers has stalled that plan.

And he has sidestepped some city rules to accept corporate gifts.

Still, Riordan says that the donations are exactly what the city needs to help it cope with painful budget cuts. He dismissed the suggestion that donors will gain political advantage, and he said he doesn’t believe he is improperly promoting the donated goods by appearing with company officials at news conferences.

“We don’t want the mayor to become a pitchman for every product that comes along,” said Geoffrey Garfield, Riordan’s assistant deputy mayor for public safety. “You’re not going to see him accepting toothpaste or deodorant. But businesses should feel good about giving things. The mayor is a pitchman for the city.”

The latest corporate donation came Tuesday when Riordan stood behind a table covered with the logo of Quorum International, the Phoenix-based company that donated the personal alarms.

In front of a bank of television cameras, Quorum received priceless exposure as a gleeful Riordan activated the siren while his chief of staff, William McCarley, crept up behind him in mock attack.

Most of the alarms were to be distributed to city employees, although some will be sent to the LAPD for distribution to the public. Police spokesman Don Cox said the department would probably test the device to assess its usefulness before offering it the public.

No police department has endorsed the devices, although company officials said they have testimonial letters from people who have escaped injury because of the alarms.

The council’s Public Safety Committee refused to accept the alarms Monday because of fears by some council members that the city would be legally liable if it distributed such devices and they failed to ward off an attack. The committee referred the donation to City Atty. James Hahn and City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie for review.

Riordan found a way to accept the gifts without council approval by saying the company would give them directly to city employees and not to the city.

Councilwoman Laura Chick used a different technique last week when three companies gave more than $30,000 in bikes, computers and video equipment to the LAPD’s West Valley station. The gifts, drawn from a wish list provided by the police, went to a nonprofit organization that supports the police and then were loaned to the department indefinitely.

Riordan said he intends to set up a task force to review the offers of donations to the Police Department and decide which items ought to be accepted. It is unfortunate, he said, that receiving a gift is such a chore in a city that needs so much.

‘It’s typical of the bureaucratic system and what lawyers--my fellow lawyers--have done to society,” Riordan said.

Nonetheless, the donations continue to come in and the mayor’s office solicits other items.

“We will have some very significant announcements over the next week or two of very, very large gifts that have been made to the Police Department to help public safety,” Riordan said.

The giving has become so intense that when one company makes a gift, rivals quickly try to match it.

Earlier this month, CMI-MPH Inc., an Owensboro, Ky.-based company, joined with Sony America and DARE America in donating three dozen video systems and 1,000 videotapes for installation in patrol cars. Since then, rival companies have stepped forward with additional equipment.

The company representatives say they get a dual benefit--an opportunity to help an ailing city and low-cost publicity.

Councilman Marvin Braude said all corporate giving should not be discouraged but the city should avoid becoming a public relations vehicle for corporations.

“The city should be very careful about putting its stamp of approval on private products,” Braude said.