City’s Talk of Change Greeted by Skepticism

Reform is in the air at City Hall, generated by a nascent secession movement in the San Fernando Valley and a citizenry that feels increasingly out of touch with its elected officials.

In the past month, City Council members have initiated proposals to rewrite the city’s charter, create more than 100 neighborhood advisory councils and consider redesigning the city’s basic government structure.

“There are moments in time when opportunities come up and you have to seize them,” said Councilman Mike Feuer, who proposed a 21-member citizens panel to rewrite the city charter, a 694-page blueprint for city government.

“I think the momentum that has been generated will only increase.”

But political scientists and community activists say true reform won’t be easy or quick and some are skeptical that the city’s leaders and citizens have the will and commitment to turn reform talk into real action.

They point to the arduous pace of enacting reforms in the Los Angeles Police Department following the beating of motorist Rodney G. King. Five years after the beating, many of the reforms are still not in place.

And unlike the movement that resulted in Proposition 13 in 1978, political observers say that a government reform movement does not have the pocketbook impact of a tax revolt.

“It’s very difficult to do,” said Jane Pisano, dean of USC’s School of Public Administration and a member of a panel that was formed to revise the state’s constitution. “There has to be an enormous amount of will for reform to happen.”

Residents should not expect the reform proposals to result in real changes any time in the near future, said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a senior associate at the Center for Politics and Economic Studies at the Claremont Graduate School.

“No one has addressed the reality that true reform cannot and should not be done instantly,” she said. “You cannot sell it as a silver bullet that will solve all our problems.”

Getting the community involved in the reform movements may be difficult, said Jeffe and others, because people, for the most part, will not be inclined to change the status quo so long as government takes care of its essential duties, such as fixing potholes, hauling away trash and keeping taxes low.

Furthermore, many residents already distrust their elected officials to listen to their needs.

“If they want it to be a grass-roots movement they have to guarantee that something gets done,” said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. and a key secession proponent. “If the ideas are just to divert attention from the secession, they won’t get any participation.”

But proponents of the reform proposals shrug off such skepticism, saying city leaders are committed to true reform and believe that the public is ready to make it happen regardless of how long it takes.

In fact, Feuer has proposed that the charter reform committee hold hearings throughout the city over a three-year period before offering any changes.

Last week, Councilman Joel Wachs proposed the creation of 103 advisory citizens councils that would make recommendations on local issues such as planning permits, zoning decisions, parking zones and park construction.

“I wouldn’t have proposed it if I didn’t feel people wanted a voice,” he said.

Under his proposal, each community will be responsible for defining their own boundaries, adopting their own bylaws and selecting their own leaders. Each panel would have priority access to city records and reports to make recommendations prior to a City Council decision.

Wachs said he is confident that residents are willing to put in the work needed to enact the idea.

“Of course, nothing comes easy,” he said.

In fact, the experience of the city of Oxnard with neighborhood councils shows that the idea did not take off immediately.

In 1973, the Oxnard City Council established the neighborhood boundaries and adopted a set of bylaws for each neighborhood council. But initially, only about one-third of the 42 neighborhoods organized the advisory panels.

Eventually, 39 neighborhood councils were established.

“I think they are very successful,” said Jim Faulconer, Oxnard’s community affairs manager.

Wachs, who first proposed the neighborhood council idea during his unsuccessful run for mayor in 1993, said he revived the idea because he believes the secession talk has made it more likely to succeed.

“Everything has it’s time and place,” he said. “I believe a majority of the council members will vote for it now.”

Charter reform faces some hurdles as well.

Under Feuer’s proposal, any charter reform idea suggested by the 21-member committee must be placed on the ballot by the City Council and then approved by voters before the reforms can take effect.

Unlike the neighborhood councils, proponents say charter reform can give communities the power to actually make final decisions on local zoning issues, liquor permits and parks and school construction.

Attorney David Fleming, a city fire commissioner who teamed up with Feuer on the charter reform proposal, concedes that true reform will be a tough sell, particularly to elected officials who may see it as a threat to their power base.

“It’s human nature to try to keep your power,” he said.

But Fleming believes that the discontentment many residents have about City Hall can be the engine that drives the reform effort.

“This is a real defining moment in the history of Los Angeles,” he said.

It’s unclear how many residents are frustrated with City Hall, but a Times poll found that 46% of the Valley’s registered voters would cast ballots to secede if an election were held today. Of those, only about half said they would be willing to raise their taxes to support secession.

In addition to Wachs’ neighborhood councils and Feuer’s charter reform, Councilman Richard Alarcon has instructed city analysts to study possible changes to the city’s governance structure to give residents more decision-making authority.

Among other ideas, Alarcon suggested analysts consider a governing plan based on the “charter school” system which gives schools greater independence from the state on spending and teaching decisions.

Alarcon’s proposal would break up the city into dozens of communities, each of which would have the power to tax themselves to make local improvements, he said.

Raphael Sonenshein, a Cal State Fullerton political science professor, said he also wonders whether the city’s leaders and residents have the determination to see such reforms through.

But he sees a glimmer of hope. Sonenshein said that elected officials may be more willing to support reform because term limits will end their hold of power in a few years.

“Chances may be better now because of term limits,” he said. “In the past people intended to be in office for 30 years. They are now thinking what their next office will be.”

But he agrees with other political scientists that people will lose interest in the reform movement if it does not call for real dramatic changes.

“It can’t just be tree trimming,” Sonenshein said.