Bid to Form Citizens Panel on Charter Reform Garners Support

A plan to form a citizens commission that would recommend ways to reform the city’s 71-year-old charter took a key step forward Tuesday when it received initial support from seven Los Angeles City Council members.

The citizens commission was suggested last week by San Fernando Valley business and political leaders in response to talk of secession in the Valley. As envisioned, a new charter would make the city more responsive to disaffected citizens.

As proposed Tuesday by Councilman Mike Feuer, the commission would be composed of 21 members, one appointed by each of the city’s 15 council members and six appointed by the mayor. It would be given three years to hold hearings throughout the city before recommending revisions to the council.

“If this is going to be done in a thoughtful way, it can’t be done in a couple of days,” Feuer said.

The proposal is expected to go before Feuer’s Rule and Elections Committee in three weeks. Mayor Richard Riordan has already voiced support for the effort.

The motion to establish the commission was introduced by Feuer and seconded by council members Marvin Braude, Laura Chick, Richard Alatorre, Joel Wachs, Richard Alarcon and John Ferraro.

Feuer said that the plan would have received the support of more than seven of the 15 council members but that open-meeting laws bar a majority of the council from taking action on any measure before a public hearing is held.

The current city charter, which acts as a blueprint for Los Angeles’ system of government, was adopted in 1925 and was originally designed to diffuse power among the mayor, the council and 40 or so city commissions.

Since then, it has been amended 400 times, most recently to include changes that imposed term limits for all elected officials, created an ethics commission and gave the mayor more authority to fire heads of departments.

Feuer said the call for charter reform is different from past efforts. He said the 694-page charter needs to be updated, streamlined and made simpler and more flexible so it can be changed to reflect a changing city.

“There is no question that we are finding citizens throughout the city requesting a more responsible government that is more responsive,” he said.

Although Feuer talked about charter reform several months ago, he acknowledged that the plan to form a citizens commission was prompted by a bill by Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills) that would make secession easier in Los Angeles.

Feuer was among the council majority who opposed the bill, saying it was unfair because it would not allow residents throughout the city to vote on secession by a portion of the city. But even supporters of the bill, such as Braude, endorsed the charter reform movement. So far it is unclear, however, in what way the new charter might give residents more power. Any changes to the city charter would require the approval of the city’s voters.

Braude said he backs both charter reform and the Boland bill because they would empower citizens to make changes in the way they are governed.

“It’s all part of the same thing,” he said. “The essential element is to give people participatory government.”