The Law According to Aaron : Recycling, Safer Tankers Are at Top of Agenda for Councilman’s Son, 4 1/2

Aaron Feuer is 14 years shy of voting age, but he is already beginning to flex his political muscle.

The 4 1/2-year-old Beverlywood resident drew up a list of his top 15 legislative priorities this week and delivered them to the newest member of the Los Angeles City Council--who just happens to be his dad. Like the Harvard-educated, mustachioed representative of the 5th Council District, the Westside preschooler has a pro-environment, anti-violence agenda.

No. 1 on Aaron’s list of the laws he wants passed is “Pick up litter,” followed closely by “Recycle” and “No more diesel.” No. 11 is “No killing people.” Last on the list is “Use more cloth diapers.”

“They’re good ones, aren’t they?” the boy said Friday as he tooled about his father’s City Hall office, making a paper-clip chain and playing card games on the computer.

“Every night when I come home, he suggests rules that I ought to enact,” explained Feuer, a lawyer who took office in July and now has “Aaron’s rules” hanging across his desk above a piece of paper with the boy’s bright green handprints. “He was having breakfast the other day and decided to make a list. I brought them to work to remind me what the most important rules are.”

Aaron came up with law No. 3--”only double- or triple-hull oil tankers”--in part from the oil spill in the movie “Free Willy 2,” and in part because of his mom, Gail Ruderman Feuer, an environmental attorney.

“If it hits a rock at the bottom of the ocean, it won’t make a crack and get oil in the water,” Aaron said to explain the advantage of the double-hull tanker.

Regarding laws No. 14 (Stop making Styrofoam) and No. 15 (cloth diapers), Aaron offers this rationale: “It doesn’t disappear into the landfill. It stays there forever.”

Besides lobbying his City Hall representative, Aaron has also tried a little community activism: He convinced the director of his school at the Westside Jewish Community Center to buy paper cups instead of Styrofoam for snack. “It gives him a sense that he can really have an impact,” Feuer said of the success of Aaron’s direct-action campaign.

When Aaron heard the news this week that a 3-year-old girl was shot dead in Cypress Park, he told his dad to do something about it Downtown. Feuer promptly called for an anti-gang action plan.

Aaron’s approach is a little more direct: Law No. 12 on his list is “Don’t make any more guns.” No. 13 is “Take guns from bad people.”

Having campaigned door-to- door with Feuer this spring, and now having some experience at drafting legislation, Aaron said he is not sure whether he will pursue a career in politics. “I’m going to try every job,” he said, “and see which one I like the most.”