L.A. Reform Leader Fears City Reaction

Signaling trouble for a widely hailed movement to overhaul Los Angeles city government, a San Fernando Valley leader of the effort said Thursday he fears the City Council will water down measures called for by a proposed citizens panel if the reforms threaten the council’s power.

To prevent that, David Fleming, president of the city’s Fire Commission, challenged the council to give the citizens panel the power to place reform measures directly on the ballot.

Fleming, a Studio City attorney, made the proposal during the first hearing on a city charter reform plan. He said he doesn’t trust the council to enact reforms that would erode its own power.

“The council loathes to give up power,” he said.

Fleming’s comments were the first hint of friction in a nascent effort to rewrite the city’s 70-year-old charter to give residents more influence with and access to City Hall.

The city administrative officer also estimated Thursday that staffing and equipment for a proposed three-year charter reform study could cost up to $1.4 million, prompting city officials to suggest seeking private donations.

Councilman Mike Feuer, who teamed with Fleming last month to lead the reform effort, declined to take a position on Fleming’s proposal to put suggested changes directly to the voters, bypassing the council. Feuer said he first wants the city attorney to study whether it is legally feasible.

“I have to be careful about making promises I can’t keep,” he said.

But he added: “I understand the concerns he has articulated.”

In response to threats of secession by the Valley, Feuer and Fleming announced plans last month to lead an effort to rewrite the charter, which serves as a blueprint for a complex--and, critics say, unworkable--system of local government.

Proponents say charter reform could, for instance, be used to establish community councils that would have the power to spend city money on local improvements and rule on neighborhood planning issues.

Under Feuer’s proposal, a 24-member citizens commission appointed by the council, mayor and other elected officials would draft the charter reform measures.

But state law gives the council the final say on what measures appear on the ballot.

Fleming, one of the strongest voices for charter reform, suggested that the citizens commission be made an elected body, which would give it the power to place the measures directly on the ballot.

The only other way for a citizens’ group to put reform measures on the ballot is through a referendum petition, which would require collecting about 200,000 signatures, Fleming said.

The last major effort to reform the city charter was launched by Mayor Sam Yorty in 1966 when he appointed a six-member citizens reform panel. Among other ideas, the group proposed an appointed auditor, an ombudsman and increased citizens participation in local government.

But voters rejected the reform measures in 1970 and again in 1971. Fleming argues that voters rejected the measures because they were rewritten by the council before they were put on the ballot.

“This is what has happened before and it can’t happen again,” he said.

Xandra Kayden, a UCLA political scientist, said Fleming isn’t the only one who does not trust the council to adopt true reform measures.

“The great frustration in the Valley and the call for secession is shared throughout the city,” she said.

Feuer scheduled a hearing for Aug. 22 to receive the city attorney’s legal analysis of Fleming’s idea and to consider suggestions on how to select a president for the citizens commission.