Good Numbers Aren’t Enough

As the first term of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan draws to a close, a Times poll shows that he remains curiously undefined, even to his many supporters. The reverse is true for his mayoral opponent, Tom Hayden, whose detractors seem to know exactly why they don’t like him.

“After nearly four years in office, people still do not have a strong impression of Riordan,” said Times Poll director Susan Pinkus. “They like him, but they have to rack their brains to say why.”

Those polled tend to feel better off financially, but there is no strong sense of the mayor as the engine behind it all. Even with a larger police force and a lower crime rate, crime is still the subject that concerns voters most. The poll showed that residents want reform of the antiquated city charter but don’t feel that Riordan needs the additional power he seeks through such a revision.

Riordan maintains strong support among whites and Republicans, but he is far less popular among Latinos, blacks and women.

Despite the overall vagueness of his image, Riordan enjoys the kind of robust approval ratings that would bring a smile to any candidate. He could even, perhaps, gain a second term without establishing a clearer sense of what defines his stewardship or addressing concerns that he is not a “mayor for all Angelenos.” But Riordan would enhance his legacy if instead he risked his popularity by offering a much sharper vision for the city and directly confronting issues that matter to him and his constituents.

For example, though he has done far better than his predecessor in pushing for a substantially larger LAPD, more needs to be done, such as helping to give the department the resources it requires to solve a higher proportion of homicides. Riordan has been credited for helping bring significant housing recovery aid here after the Northridge earthquake, but pressing concerns remain over the “almost homeless”--those living in garages and brutally overcrowded residences across the city.

The future demands a new coalition of Los Angeles’ diverse components, and far less racial and political polarity. On this, the mayor can expand on what he has already begun, such as interceding to keep a major department store at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. No official is more important than the mayor in stitching the parts of the city together. It’s a role he must fully embrace.