Infighting Trips Up City Council’s Efforts to Streamline Session

In a feisty end-of-the-year session, Los Angeles City Council members bickered Friday over a range of issues centered on the same touchy question: Is one council district being shortchanged over another?

The refrain is not unusual in City Hall, but on Friday it seemed to color almost everything with a certain pettiness.

The morning’s quarrelsome session, which stretched into the afternoon, began with Councilman Mike Hernandez blasting Mayor Richard Riordan’s appointments to a city commission, charging that downtown districts like his own accounted for far fewer appointments. Hernandez charged that the San Fernando Valley and Westside districts were benefiting excessively.

The sniping escalated when the council grappled with a neighborhood code enforcement program. Attempting to determine whether the program was being unfairly implemented at the expense of some districts, lawmakers lashed out at one another and even city staff.

Soon, to show their unhappiness with the tone of the debate, several council members began playing a numbers game, referring to the program by council districts. “This was a pilot program in [council districts] 8, 9 and 10,” said Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, who was attempting to make sense of the convoluted debate. “If this [proposal] passes, it will be in 6, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14.

“No,” answered a building and safety official. “If this passes, it will be in 6, 10, 13 and 14.”

And so it went--even when the council debated a relatively simple request to transfer funds to pay for a parking structure in Councilman Mike Feuer’s district.

Councilman Nate Holden asked a city official to list the projects--and council districts--from which the money would be taken. The staff member began reading the lengthy list until an impatient council President John Ferraro asked her to stop.

The friction continued as the council plodded through its agenda, item by item. Ironically, this was supposed to be a streamlined agenda, the latest in the council’s efforts to be more efficient.

It was anything but. Council members complained that they didn’t have background reports. Then they discussed those items individually, rather than voting on them collectively.

At one point, Ferraro agreed to take an item out of order.

Frustrated, Councilwoman Ruth Galanter packed up her notes and books and appeared to be leaving in a huff, but stayed in the chambers.

Finally, Ferraro appeared to have had enough.

“We have something that I think is far more important to discuss in executive session,” he said, referring to the buyout and severance packages for the Department of Water and Power. “Let’s get on with it.”

With that, the council recessed into a closed-door meeting, only to return to more quarreling when it reconvened in public.

This time, the issue was neighbors’ complaints about parking near the new Getty Center.

Feuer asked his colleagues for a 30-day preferential parking program in the area until transportation officials could determine the extent of the problem.

He didn’t get it. The issue was held over until next week.

“I’m not willing to give you one day,” said Councilwoman Rita Walters. “When people buy a home in the neighborhood, they do not buy the whole neighborhood lock, stock and barrel.”

Hernandez added: “Just remember the same things happen in the inner city. . . . I expect your support.”

In the end, council observers could only walk away shaking their heads. Or as one City Hall insider said: “This behavior is very typical of this council. We just happened to see an awful lot of it in one day.”