Charter Reform Commission

In her March 30 Opinion article about charter reform, UCLA professor Xandra Kayden criticizes Charter Commission candidates for talking almost exclusively about the distribution of power when there isn’t enough money to run city government.

The reason the city does not have the money is because of excessive overdevelopment over the past 30 years, which has led to such a deterioration of the quality of life in the city that businesses and industries that pay well are leaving and not coming back.

Mayor Richard Riordan claims to have turned it around. If so, then why have the property values continued to decline the last four years? Moreover, Riordan wants to accelerate development, which can only exacerbate the “green flight.”

Charter reform candidates who support decentralization of power from City Hall to local communities do so as a way to stabilize neighborhoods and restore citizen confidence in local government so as to staunch the bleeding of money from the city to the suburbs and other states, thus increasing the city’s tax base.

As to managing city government, why not hire a professional city manager, as do most cities, who knows how to run a city and who can slash L.A.’s budget by more than 25%?

JACK ALLEN

Charter Commission Candidate

11th District, Pacific Palisades

* Re “How Can Everyone Be Powerless?” Commentary, March 27: Isn’t it ironic that the same City Council that accuses Riordan of appointing “puppets” to the Police Commission would like the public to believe that their own council-appointed charter reform commission will represent the best interests of the public?

If Raphael Sonenshein truly wants to replace the cycle of powerlessness in Los Angeles with a cycle of power for everyday citizens, a good first step would be to allow the publicly elected commission to direct charter reform. How can the public endorse a commission that was appointed rather than elected and therefore cannot be held accountable? Give the power back to the people and let us decide who should guide charter reform.

JIMMY BLACKMAN

Los Angeles