Divisiveness Dissolves as Council Bids Adieu to Alarcon

The Los Angeles City Council gave what some long-timers said was one of the longest fetes in recent memory for outgoing City Councilman Richard Alarcon on Wednesday.

Alarcon was elected to the state Senate. His farewell ceremony, complete with a mariachi band, packed the council chambers. State Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles), whom Alarcon is replacing, was also honored.

Council members put past conflicts aside and praised Alarcon for his tenacity and determination.

“You have been a truly great leader for your district and for all of Los Angeles,” said Mayor Richard Riordan.

“He may have been the first Latino representative, but he is not a Latino representative. He is the councilman for all of the city,” said Councilman Joel Wachs.

But perhaps the most frank appraisal came from Councilman Nate Holden.

“When you first said you were running, it was Richard who? No way!” said Holden, referring to Alarcon’s reputation as an underdog in his election bids. “You’re a tough guy and you showed you can make it.”

Alarcon presented all his colleagues with flowers, though he couldn’t resist a dig at those present who didn’t support him for the Senate. “Those comments were incredible,” he said, “the kind of comments I wish had been made 12 months ago.”

Alarcon finished with praise for the council for being true to constituents, and thanks for his staff and supporters.

Finally, he made a special point of congratulating Councilman Mike Hernandez, who has been in a recovery program for drug abuse for more than a year. “I am so proud of you,” Alarcon told Hernandez from the podium.

Riordan presented Alarcon with a gift to ensure he doesn’t forget his roots--a road sign with an arrow that reads, “Los Angeles, 401 miles.”

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FREE SPEECH: After watching his first draft die in a Senate committee last year, Assemblyman Tony Cardenas is rushing to the aid of home-based writers across the state by resubmitting a bill that would exempt them from having to obtain city business permits.

But Cardenas (D-Sylmar) does not oppose the so-called home business tax for the same reason as its most vocal opponent, the Writers Guild of America.

Maybe its members have read too much Kafka, but the Writers Guild opposes the tax on grounds that it could have a chilling effect on 1st Amendment rights to free expression. It filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles, which later rescinded its home-based business regulations, and recently challenged a similar ordinance in that other company town, Burbank.

Jose Cornejo, Cardenas’ chief of staff, said the legislator’s objections to the permits are somewhat different: Cardenas thinks the permits, which ran $25 in Los Angeles, could prevent creative people from starting to write, shrinking the entertainment biz’s talent pool.

“If you encourage people to work as writers in California, the industry will continue to remain in California,” Cornejo said.

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ON THE OTHER HAND: The veneer of decorum at meetings of the Los Angeles City Council can wear pretty thin.

Then there are times, such as last Friday, when it disappears altogether.

The occasion being celebrated was the passage of the zoo bond measure on the November ballot.

Zoo officials and Riordan were invited to toast the passage of a bond issue for zoo improvements with the council. This was all well and good.

But to lend the event a festival spirit, zoo officials brought a mascot--a worker in a chimpanzee suit.

The spectacle of a chimp in the chambers was simply too much for the council. Restraint dissolved. Jokes flew thick and fast.

Ruth Galanter, who was presiding that day, took the first shot: Scanning the crowd at the podium, which included Riordan, Council President John Ferraro and the chimpanzee, Galanter deadpanned: “I want to know which one’s the chimp?”

Casting a side-long glance at the chimp, Ron Deaton, the city’s chief legislative analyst, said, “I didn’t know I was going to be in a look-alike contest.”

Then, as Riordan stepped to the podium, Ferraro could be heard muttering, “The mayor thought that was one of the council members.”

And before Riordan could get in a word edgewise, Galanter was at it again. Sizing him up, she exclaimed with mock surprise, “Oh! That’s not the chimp! That’s the 400-pound gorilla.”

Times correspondent Sue Fox contributed to this story.