Fiedler Resigns Redevelopment Agency Post

Former San Fernando Valley congresswoman Bobbi Fiedler, the only Valley representative on the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, resigned Friday from the powerful panel for personal reasons.

Although Fiedler has declined to comment on the resignation, City Hall sources said Fiedler is suffering health problems. Her resignation is effective immediately.

Fiedler’s resignation comes as the CRA begins an unprecedented expansion, increasing from 17 to 33 the number of redevelopment projects throughout the city.

Since she was appointed to the seven-member panel in 1993, Feidler has been one of its toughest critics and has often been the lone “no” vote on plans to add or expand CRA projects.

“I thought she was a major contribution to the board,” CRA board President Christine Essel said. “She brought a perspective that was unique.”

Mayor Richard Riordan, who appointed Fiedler to the panel soon after he was elected, will appoint a replacement “as soon as possible,” said Steve Sugerman, Riordan’s communications director.

Riordan and the City Council have recently been at odds over complaints by some council members that the mayor has not nominated enough commissioners from low-income communities, where many of the redevelopment projects have been launched.

Riordan had nominated Fiedler for a second term on the CRA board, but the appointment had been held up by the council due to the dispute. City officials close to Fiedler said her resignation was not connected to the dispute.

Because Fiedler, a Northridge resident, was the only Valley representative on the board, Sugerman said “the Valley will be a very strong consideration” when Riordan appoints a replacement.

John Molloy, director of the CRA, said although Fiedler voted against several CRA expansion projects, she supported the agency’s goal to rejuvenate economically depressed neighborhoods.

“I hate to see her go,” he said. “You couldn’t ask for a better person.”

CRA critics also lamented Fiedler’s resignation, saying she was the only member of the board who understood the agency’s limits.

“We consider this an enormous loss,” said Mildred Weller, a longtime detractor of the agency’s efforts in North Hollywood. “She was the only person associated with the CRA who knew what it can do and what it can’t do.”

In November, Fiedler was the only vote against a plan to dramatically extend the life of the North Hollywood redevelopment project and increase the amount of money spent on it.

She argued the project would divert too much money that would otherwise go to city and county coffers, forcing residents in other parts of the city to pay extra taxes and fees to make up for the loss.

Fiedler gained prominence in the Valley in the mid-1970s with her fiery opposition to mandatory school busing, winning a Valley seat on the Los Angeles Board of Education in 1977.

In 1980, she was elected to Congress, defeating 20-year incumbent James Corman, a liberal Democrat. Fiedler left her House seat in 1986 after three terms to run for the GOP Senate nomination. But her candidacy was severely hurt after her opponent, then-state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Chatsworth), claimed that her campaign offered him $100,000 to drop out of the race.

Fiedler was indicted on a felony violation of the state election code, but a judge threw out the charge. Fiedler lost the nomination and returned to the Valley, where she became involved in various business and political activities.

In 1990, Fiedler was diagnosed with lymphoma, a systemic cancer, which she said she overcame after undergoing weeks of chemotherapy and a bone-marrow harvest.