Selling the Charter

By JIM NEWTON

Aug. 28, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

For more than a year, two groups of commissioners have pored over the City Charter, relentlessly trimmed its flabbier sections, fine-tuned its meatier ones and redrafted it into what proponents say is a substantially improved though still incomplete set of ideas for running the nation’s second-largest city.

For their efforts, those commissioners have been praised and criticized, appreciated and lambasted and, by the public at large, generally ignored.

Now, even as the drafting work enters its final stages, both commissions are looking ahead to what may be their most challenging task of all: convincing people that charter reform matters.

Both commissions are committed to a campaign of public outreach, but the panel mostly appointed by the City Council is moving first and faster. Its plan, cleared by the city attorney’s office and estimated to cost up to $350,000, walks the fine line between advocating a new charter and informing the public about it. The elected panel, limited by a tighter budget, is approaching the issue more modestly, but hopes to cap its public outreach effort with a special Los Angeles Constitutional Convention in the fall.

The campaign headed by the appointed commission is built around broadcast advertisements, as well as billboards with snappy slogans: “City Happens” will draw some chuckles, but Sony Records, in a fit of protectiveness for the Beatles, nixed “Come Together, Right Now, Over This.”

But the backbone of the appointed group’s effort will be its public information packet.

That document, complete with a fill-in response card, will soon start cropping up in every corner of the city, from its 67 branch libraries to slide show presentations hosted by commissioners to a set of open houses where commissioners and staff hope to explain their work and urge residents to weigh in.

There’s a Web site, an informational 10-minute video and a plan for a meetings blitz that will include the commission’s regular weekly meetings as well as special sessions across Los Angeles.

“We really want to get a lot of bang in a short time,” said Rafael Sonenshein, executive director of the appointed commission. “By the time this is over, we’re going to be very tired.”

The commission’s job is a big one.

Sometime next year, Los Angeles voters will probably have the opportunity to consider a massive overhaul of the way their city government works--or, all too often, doesn’t work. Exactly what will be on the ballot remains the subject of intense insider speculation at City Hall, but the proposed charter--or even two charters, depending on how the next few months go--seems likely to turn on a few points:

* The two charter commissions generally agree that the city’s mayor should have more power to run the bureaucracy, including firing general managers who, in the mayor’s judgment, do not perform.

* There is likely to be a proposal to expand the City Council from its 15 seats, either by a modest four members or so or, possibly, by a much more dramatic 25 or even 35 seats.

* Both commissions believe some changes are needed to improve the sense of community input and representation. Whether that takes the form of elected or appointed neighborhood councils remains to be seen, and that could turn out to be the single most controversial question of the entire effort.

Those are big questions with potentially profound implications for the future of Los Angeles. On the issue of neighborhood councils, the possible ramifications range from creating a vibrant new mechanism for local control to creating an impenetrable bureaucratic web that discourages growth and jobs and punishes poor neighborhoods at the expense of rich ones.

The trouble with all that is that, despite the stakes, the public has delivered little more than a collective yawn.

Take a recent poll conducted by Arnold Steinberg, a respected San Fernando Valley pollster and political consultant. On the hot-button issues of enlarging the City Council and creating neighborhood councils of one kind or another, fewer than a third of those questioned had ever heard or read about the ideas.

In part, that is because the issues of charter reform often are dense and bureaucratic. Public apathy no doubt has been encouraged by the complicated political environment surrounding the reform efforts.

Another factor possibly contributing to this attitude is the existence of two commissions. One was appointed largely by the City Council after Mayor Richard Riordan began arguing for charter reform. The mayor declined to nominate commissioners to that panel and instead put his support and money behind an elected commission.

When voters approved that idea, it meant that two commissions would simultaneously tackle the job. Complicating the issue further is that the appointed commission is limited to making recommendations to the City Council, which can accept the recommendations, amend them or reject the package altogether. The elected commission can put its work directly on the ballot, which it hopes to do in April or June of next year.

Julie Benson, a staff member with the appointed commission responsible for its public outreach, acknowledged that it will take a concerted effort to engage the public in the sometimes dry topics that come together in the city’s governing document.

“For us, this is the time to making a connection with the public,” Benson said. “We’ll be trying to do that between now and the end of October.”

In recent weeks, both commissions have seen an uptick in public interest surrounding their efforts, partly because groups concerned about the direction of the charter commissions have begun to voice their unhappiness. The experience has been unsettling for some commissioners, who labored in relative obscurity for months.

But George Kieffer, chairman of the appointed panel, said he welcomed the rising level of public debate. Better that, he and other commissioners said, than to be surprised at the last minute by an issue that had not been thoroughly aired.

It’s in that spirit that the appointed commission hopes to flesh out public input over the next two months. “Invariably, there are things that people haven’t thought of,” said Sonenshein. “This should be something that people can be enthusiastic about.”

But Sonenshein, Benson and other charter reform advocates also note that they have to perform a delicate balancing act with their informational effort. The charter commissioners, as individuals, are allowed to campaign on behalf of anything they like. They can urge voters to support one charter proposal or another, or to oppose anything that passes over their objection.

The formal informational campaign, however, cannot use taxpayer money to try to advance any particular proposal. Rather, it is limited to drumming up interest in the topic generally.

“It’s a very close balancing act,” said Matt Klink of Cerrell Associates, a political consulting firm based in Los Angeles. “You’re always walking a very fine line.”

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., said he already is convinced that the appointed commission’s efforts are inappropriate.

“They should not be using taxpayer money,” said Close, who also is one of the leaders of the group gathering signatures in support of a study of San Fernando Valley secession. “That money should be used for more police officers or other city services. . . . If they’re going to have a campaign, they should raise private money.”

But Erwin Chemerinsky, chairman of the elected commission, said it was proper for both groups to try to solicit public comment on the proposed charters. Any campaign in support of either charter proposal would be handled by private groups, he said. Similarly, some groups have threatened to fight against a proposed charter, and any such effort would have to be privately financed as well.

“The line between education and advocacy is never clear,” said Chemerinsky, who is a law professor. “At least all our commissioners are unpaid, so no one can say that we’re doing anything at city expense.”

Despite the complexity, Chemerinsky praised the appointed commission for its planned campaign and said he expected elected commissioners to be active in the effort as well.

“We’re going to aggressively go to every corner of this city,” he said. “We will do educational programs, and we’re looking forward to a city convention in early November. This will be a major citywide event to bring people together from all over to discuss our proposed charter.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Taking It to the Streets

As efforts to reform the City Charter enter a new phase, a panel of appointed commissioners is about to launch an aggressive effort to raise public awareness of the issue. Billboards, informational brochure, a Website and a series of public meetings will attempt to elicit publiccomment about proposals to overhaul city government, but officials of the appointed commission will have to walk a fine line between educating the public and lobbying for their work.

Rafael Sonenshein:

“We really want to get a lot of bang in a short time.” said Rafael Sonenshein, director of the appointed commission. “By the time this is over, we’re going to be tired.”

Erwin Chemerinsky:

“We’re going to aggressively go to every corner of this city,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, chairman of the elected commission. “We will do educational programs, and we’re looking forward to a city convention in early November. “This will be a major citywide event to bring people together from all over to discuss our proposed charter.”

Reaching Out to The Community

Information workbook: A pamphlet that explains the commission’s recommendations.

Slide presentation: For commissioners to use at meetings with homeowners, business and civic groups.

Open houses: Each regional open house will feature a slide presentation, interactive displays and a question and answer session.

Library: The Los Angeles Public Library will distribute the commission’s video and workbook at its downtown location and 67 branches.

Media: Public service announcements, postcards, radio spots and billboards.

Video: A 10-minute infomercial on charter reform and its key issues. For use on Channel 35 City View, the LAUSD channel, at commissioner presentations and on the Internet.

Website: www.charterreform.org will include the information workbook, slide presentation and video. Residents can send comments to the site.

Take-home kits: A package that contains the information workbook, video and other materials.

Commission meetings: Open to the public.

Regional Open Houses*

Sept. 16: Northridge Recreation Center

18300 Lemarsh St.

6-9 p.m.

Sept. 26

Christ the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church--Leimert Park

3303 W. Vernon Ave.

9 a.m. to noon

Oct. 1