Council Likely to OK Citizen-Led Charter Reform

The Los Angeles City Council is expected today to approve the creation of a citizens panel to rewrite the city’s charter, a move that could pressure Mayor Richard Riordan to either endorse the plan or continue to support a competing effort.

According to city officials, a majority of the council is likely to support a plan to appoint a 15-member citizens panel with the power to put charter reform measures directly on the ballot.

“I think they will support it,” said Councilman Mike Feuer, who teamed with Council President John Ferraro to propose the appointed commission.

The 71-year-old charter acts as the city’s constitution, outlining the balance of power in City Hall. This latest attempt to rewrite the 680-page document was sparked by secession threats in the San Fernando Valley.

Reform supporters say the charter was crafted during a bygone era to dilute power and prevent corruption in City Hall. They say the charter now prevents city leaders from being accountable and effective.

Last month, Riordan announced plans to finance a signature-gathering drive to elect a citizens charter reform panel, independent of the council’s influence. He said true reform must come from citizens, working independently of the council.

However, City Hall sources say that Riordan may abandon the initiative drive if he and the council can agree on the candidates for the appointed panel.

Riordan and Ferraro have already begun discussing potential candidates.

In a recent statement, Riordan spoke favorably about the Feuer-Ferraro plan but said he will not give up on the initiative drive.

“The proposed ordinance is a good midpoint in the charter reform discussions between Mayor Riordan and the City Council,” the statement said. “Agreement on the Angelenos who would be appointed to the citizen commission is equally important to the mayor.

“In the meantime, the mayor continues to move ahead with the citizen-led charter reform petition drive, which is designed to give voters the right to elect a charter reform commission.”

Riordan was en route from Israel on Monday and could not be reached for comment, but his staff said the mayor will consider his position on the council’s proposal Tuesday.

Riordan’s relationship with the council has often been contentious, and an agreement on an appointed panel would eliminate a sore point, city officials say.

Under the Feuer-Ferraro plan, the mayor and Ferraro will submit to the entire council the names of 15 candidates for the commission. The council can endorse one or all of the candidates. Ultimately, however, the council must agree on all 15 members.

The council will allocate an initial $300,000 budget for the panel, which will have until June 1, 1998, to submit its charter reform ideas to the council for a place on the April 1999 ballot.

If the council disagrees with any of the reform ideas, it can submit competing measures on the ballot but cannot amend or revise the measures proposed by the citizens panel, according to the proposal.

Still, not everyone in City Hall is sold on the idea of charter reform.

Council members Nate Holden and Jackie Goldberg have questioned the need for an independent citizens commission to propose charter reform.

Holden has said that any government reform should come from the council, which he said was elected to represent the people.

As an alternative, Holden has proposed a measure to create an appointed panel with only advisory power. Under his proposal, the council would have final say in putting reform measures on the ballot.

Meanwhile, Goldberg has said she has not been convinced that the charter is at the root of the city’s problems. She said she suspects many of the concerns raised by reform backers can be addressed without rewriting the charter.

“We are always boasting about how our constitution is over 200 years old,” she said, “but we want to rewrite the charter because we say it is too old.”

Council member Ruth Galanter echoed Goldberg’s concerns but said she will still support the Feuer-Ferraro plan.

“Nobody knows that the charter doesn’t work,” she said.

If there are problems with the government structure that need to be adjusted, she said it will probably not require a complete overhaul of the charter.

“It doesn’t have to be rewritten from the ground up,” Galanter said.

Council member Laura Chick said she supports the Feuer-Ferraro plan but agrees with Galanter that the government system as outlined in the charter is not inherently flawed.

“I don’t believe that the charter is the root of all of our evils,” she said.

“But I have never seen charter reform as the solution to all of our ills, either.”