THE TIMES POLL : After 1 Year, Mayor Gets Good Marks : Riordan enjoys a broad 59% approval rating. But most residents still worry about the future of the city and its economy.

Most Los Angeles residents approve of the way Mayor Richard Riordan is handling his job after one year in office, although a majority still feel that things are going badly in the city, the Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

Riordan enjoys the support of a broad spectrum of Angelenos--regardless of where they live, how much money they make or their political party affiliation. His standing among blacks, however, is weaker than among other groups.

As Riordan marks his first anniversary in office today, he has a 59% approval rating and a 24% disapproval mark. That is up from the 45% approval rating in October and makes him more popular than the Los Angeles City Council (40%), but less popular than Police Chief Willie L. Williams (73%). Former Mayor Tom Bradley, shortly after the 1984 Olympics, hit his all-time high approval rating of 75%, as measured by The Times Poll.

The poll also found that much of Riordan’s positive rating is based less on specific achievement and policy initiatives than on a sense of goodwill.

“It’s a healthy, but not stellar, rating,” Times Poll Director John Brennan said. “A lot of it is based on a general good feeling. But if people simply like you, that’s not a bad thing for a politician. That gets a lot of votes.”

The Times Poll interviewed 1,023 residents of the city of Los Angeles last weekend. The margin of sampling error for the entire survey is plus or minus four percentage points and somewhat higher for some subgroups.

The survey showed that Angelenos’ bleak image of their city is continuing to improve, although most people still do not have a positive outlook. While 59% said things are going badly in Los Angeles, 38% said the city is doing well.

Opinions about the city bottomed out shortly after riots swept Los Angeles in 1992, with 85% of residents taking a negative view.

The public’s view of the local economy is also on the mend, though it is still not good. The number of those who describe the economy as “shaky” has dropped from 92% after the riots to 79% this week. And nearly one-third of those surveyed expected the economy to be improved three months from now, nearly four times the number who say it will be worse.

Riordan came to City Hall as a neophyte to elected office, but had years of experience as a behind-the-scenes power player in the city’s top political, philanthropic and social circles.

Since taking office, his awkward public speaking style and affable demeanor have apparently won over much of a populace that is weary of slick politicians. The 64-year-old multimillionaire has warmed to public appearances that he once predicted he would shun.

Although he had been painted as a right-wing ideologue during the mayoral race, Riordan has been widely credited with sidestepping philosophical struggles during his first year.

Riordan’s insistence on fast action by city officials after the January earthquake and subsequent collegial relationship with top Clinton Administration officials have been seen as aiding the city’s recovery from that disaster.

Riordan also won praise, and passage, of most of his first budget, which set aside $83 million for a plan to expand the police force and made modest additions to other programs. The planned additions came despite a lackluster local economy and stagnant city tax receipts.

Some of the police expansion has been thrown into limbo because funds that Riordan built into the budget have not materialized and other money must be set aside to pay police officers more money.

Riordan’s Administration has stumbled in other areas--including the loss of two deputy mayors early in his term. One of them, Al Villalobos, quit after The Times reported about his checkered career as a financial consultant, his gambling debts and his ties to a man who was convicted on federal bribery charges. Villalobos was not charged with a crime in that case. He said he left his post as the mayor’s chief for economic development to return to the private sector and spend more time with his family.

The mayor also admitted that he had made a mistake in approving a 9% pay raise for Department of Water and Power workers, an increase that became a rallying point for police officers in their long and nasty contract dispute with City Hall. That contest was settled this week with a raise, amounting to as much as 12% over 18 months, which was backed by Riordan but criticized by others as too costly.

Most of the major landmarks of Riordan’s first year have made little impression on the public, the poll found.

When those who approve of Riordan were asked why, more than one-fourth said they “just liked him” for no particular reason. Smaller numbers of respondents back him because they consider him a good leader, or believe that he gets things done and that he has not made a mistake.

Just 2% cited Riordan’s plan to hire more police, the central theme of his first year, as the reason for their support.

“So far he hasn’t done anything wrong. I think he is on the right track,” said Chad Sripanich, 45, a supermarket manager who lives in the San Fernando Valley. Sripanich said he also approves of the Republican mayor’s extensive use of Democrats in his Administration. “I think he is bringing diversity into his government; more of them should do that,” he said.

Harold Lobos, 24, who works in aerospace sales, credited Riordan with responding well after the earthquake. In general, Lobos said he gives the mayor the benefit of the doubt but believes “he hasn’t improved the city or made it any worse. I don’t really think you can fix L.A.”

The mayor fares favorably when compared to city government in general. Only 40% approve of the Los Angeles City Council, with 35% disapproving. And nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said they only occasionally or hardly ever trust city government to do what is right.

Riordan’s support is highest among the groups that helped propel him to victory over City Councilman Michael Woo--Republicans (76% approval rating), whites (69%), San Fernando Valley residents (73%) and those who make more than $60,000 a year (65%). But the poll showed that he now also has majority support from Democrats (54%), those with incomes of less than $20,000 a year (56%) and from two other broad geographic regions--the Westside (63%) and central Los Angeles (51%). Even in the southern section, more approve of Riordan (50%) than disapprove (33%).

Riordan’s standing also has improved markedly since October among Latinos. At that time, his approval rating was 34%, but jumped to 58% this week.

His poorest standing is in the black community, not a surprise considering that he earned only 14% of the black vote in his contest with Woo, according to a Times exit poll. Although his approval rating among blacks stood at 40% last fall and remains about that level, the number of blacks who disapprove of his performance has jumped from 19% to 36%.

“Basically, to me, we don’t have any jobs and the situation hasn’t changed, not even a little,” said Lynnett Craig, 29, a South-Central Los Angeles student. “I was hoping that him being a successful businessman, that he would work around the regulations and bring business in, but he hasn’t.”

Gene Hawkins, 38, said he also remains skeptical of the city government’s ability to beef up the police force--a situation that he blamed on both Riordan and the City Council. “They should be replaced too,” Hawkins said of the council.

Of the 24% of Angelenos citywide who gave Riordan a negative rating, many also did not cite specific reasons. The most common explanations by detractors were that they just do not like the mayor, that he treated the police union unfairly or believe that he cannot get things done.

Riordan touted his experience as a businessman and lawyer during his campaign, but feelings are mixed about how much good that has done him in public office. More than one-third said the business savvy has helped his work as mayor, 11% said it has hurt and more than half said it had little effect or they did not have an opinion.

The mayor has not yet succeeded in selling his concept of having private firms compete to provide some city services, the poll found. Forty-five percent of those surveyed oppose the idea of privatizing city services, while 40% approve of the idea.

Riordan’s rating puts him in roughly the same political territory as his fellow Republican mayor, Rudolph Giuliani of New York. A New York Newsday-WABC-TV poll last month found Giuliani with a slightly higher positive rating (63%) than Riordan, but with a higher negative rating (31%) too.

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll interviewed 1,023 adult residents of the city of Los Angeles by telephone Saturday and Sunday. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the city. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and non-listed numbers could be contacted. Interviewing was conducted in English and Spanish. The sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age and education. The margin of sampling error for the total sample is plus or minus 4 percentage points. For certain other subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by other factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.

Riordan’s Approval Rating

One year into his term, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan gets a healthy 59% job approval score, up from 45% last October. Most people still call the city’s economy shaky, but feelings are better than they were a year ago.

“Do you approve or disapprove of the way Richard Riordan is handling his job as mayor of Los Angeles?”

SF Central Southern All Westside Valley L.A. L.A. Whites Blacks Approve 59% 63% 73% 51% 50% 69% 41% Disapprove 24% 19% 14% 28% 33% 16% 36% Don’t know 17% 18% 13% 21% 17% 15% 23%

Latinos Approve 58% Disapprove 31% Don’t know 11%

“Why do you approve of the way Riordan is handling his job?”

I just like him: 27% He can get things done: 19% He is a strong leader: 11% Has made no major mistakes: 11% Treats the city as a business: 9% Note: Top five volunteered answers listed; two replies accepted

“Why do you disapprove of the way Riordan is handling his job?” Can’t get things done: 16% Didn’t negotiate fairly with LAPD: 15% I just dislike him: 13% Favors certain type of people: 7% He’s too wishy-washy: 7% Note: Top five volunteered answers listed; two replies accepted

“Do you think Riordan is trying to reach out and serve all kinds of city residents or is he interested in serving only certain types of people?”

ALL WHITES BLACKS LATINOS Reaches out to all 48% 55% 34% 51% Certain people 34% 29% 41% 38% Don’t know 18% 16% 25% 11%

“How would you describe the state of the Los Angeles city economy?”

6/94 5/93 5/92 Very robust 2% 1% 1% Fairly robust 16% 6% 10% Fairly shaky 49% 42% 45% Very shaky 30% 49% 42% Don’t know 3% 2% 2%

Source: Times poll of Los Angeles

Note: Unless otherwise shown, answers are from all adults surveyed.