Riordan Pushes Plan to Boost Police Force

A breakfast meeting called by Mayor Richard Riordan to garner support for his plan to beef up the city’s police force resembled a town hall meeting Friday, as San Fernando Valley residents asked the mayor about many of the issues that propelled him to City Hall.

Speaking to about 50 people packed into a corner of Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City, Riordan reiterated promises to add nearly 800 officers by June 30 and to make it easier for people to do business in Los Angeles.

The mayor asked those in attendance to write or call their City Council representatives and express their support for the plan, scheduled to go before the council next week.

“They’re politicians,” he said. “They have to be comfortable voting for this.”

Asked what he was doing to improve the business climate in the Valley, Riordan said the plan for more police officers will make the city a safer and therefore more desirable place to do business.

“The basic theme is safety and friendliness,” he said.

But Flip Smith, whose Sepulveda Boulevard tire center has been in business for nearly 22 years but was recently cited by the city for conditions that have existed since the center opened, said the business climate is anything but friendly.

“The entire industry is just being beat up by (the department of) building and safety,” Wilson told the mayor, who nodded in acknowledgment.

Calling the complicated permit process “a disgrace,” Riordan said he expected to unveil next week the findings of a special task force aimed in part at reducing red tape.

“Getting the permitting will drive people nuts on the simplest thing,” he said in response to an earlier question.

Leroy Adams, president of the Pacoima Chamber of Commerce, complained that state enterprise zones set up to entice business to locate in the East Valley are not working and asked Riordan whether he would pursue similar federal programs.

Riordan said he did not think such programs would provide “big solutions,” but instead called on banks to make loans to small and medium-size businesses.

“The ultimate goal is jobs,” Riordan said. “You have to keep your eye on the ball and the ball is not where you build the plant. It’s creating jobs.”