When Spotlight Is Aimed at an Important Issue, the Public Responds

Charter reform may be considered dull by many of us in the media elite. But I wish some of the moguls had been around Monday night to witness a small triumph of public spiritedness: the standing-room-only crowd that braved torrential rain and a meeting site in the heart of 18th Street gang territory to pack a church hall and talk about making Los Angeles better.

I wasn’t expecting much of a turnout when I made plans to attend the Elected Charter Reform Commission meeting at Angelica Lutheran Church in Pico-Union.

True, we’d given it a lot of publicity with front page stories Sunday and Monday dealing with remaking L.A. government, plus a Sunday editorial on charter reform, all accompanied by announcements of the meeting’s site and time.

I joked to my editor that I’d better arrive early to find a parking place. She said I sounded cynical.

But when I arrived at the church, the parking lot was full. I had to park around the corner on the street and walk through the downpour to the church hall.

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I counted almost 100 people there, far more than at other sessions I’d attended of this group or the other charter commission, appointed by the City Council.

Mayor Richard Riordan spearheaded creation of the commission that met Monday night; its members were elected by voters last year. The City Council, not trusting the mayor, appointed its own commission. Both groups aim to put some sort of reform measure on the ballot next year. Most people hope it will be a combination of their work.

The subject before the commission Monday night was a tough one--how best to represent Los Angeles’ neighborhoods and ethnic groups.

As one member of the audience after another rose to speak, it was apparent that this issue will become more heated in the months ahead.

“My concern is the Latino community,” said Marshall Diaz, chairman of the Los Angeles County Latino Reapportionment Coalition, which advocates more representation for Latinos. “I’m always looking out for that. That’s my interest.”

Nobody argued with that. Pico-Union is part of the heavily Latino 1st City Council District, and a substantial number of people in the audience shared his interest.

But a lot of Los Angeles residents don’t agree. They’ll cry “race-based politics.” Listening to Diaz and others, I could see how the charter debate could take on a divisive, ugly racial tone.

Another controversial suggestion was giving noncitizens--a substantial part of Pico-Union’s population--the right to vote on local issues. “These people need the opportunity to participate, to be stakeholders,” said Sister Diane Donoghue of the Esperanza Housing Corp., which builds low-rent housing.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg showed up at the meeting and offered her solution: expand the 15-member council to 19 or 20 people and create neighborhood councils throughout the city, each run by five elected, paid representatives. This would give minorities more offices to run for, and would strengthen the political clout of neighborhoods.

“They would meet in schools and churches just like this one” and would have power over such local issues as granting permits for malls, Goldberg said.

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But the big surprise of this meeting was the turnout, given the weather, the tough reputation of the neighborhood and the media’s general lack of interest in the subject.

Was it the news coverage? I think it helped.

In our sprawling community, where word of mouth is a limited way of communicating, coverage by the news media raises events from obscurity to public notice.

Any press agent will tell you that without coverage, an event might as well have not occurred.

This time, we told the people the event was occurring. Our editorials signaled that it was important.

And the people showed up, interested in the future of their city.

There’s a lesson in that for all us journalists who think we know what the public wants.