Council Size Issue to Be Put to the Voters

Staggered by an outpouring of public comment and deeply divided among themselves, members of Los Angeles’ elected charter reform commission nevertheless approved a plan Monday night that could create a substantially larger City Council.

Under the plan, voters will have the option of approving a charter provision next year that would enlarge the council to 25 members. That provision, however, would not be included in the commission’s main charter proposal, which leaves the council at the current 15 members. Voters would have to approve the expansion separately from the main charter.

Advocates say a larger council would improve representation by shrinking the size of districts and spreading opportunities for minority representation. Critics warn of the possibility of increased government costs and disagree about the potential for better ethnic diversity.

“I wouldn’t have supported the 25 without having the 15 in the charter,” Commissioner Dennis Zine said after the vote. “This way the voters will have the choice.”

The commission’s vote occurred after more than 50 public speakers deluged the group with sharply divided opinions on that proposal and a second one to create a citywide network of neighborhood councils. The debate emphasized the bizarre bedfellows that have gathered on the latest and most hotly contested issues in charter reform.

Conservative homeowner groups were joined in supporting powerful local councils by some city employee unions. Commission Chairman Erwin Chemerinsky, who once represented the NAACP in its quest for improved African American representation on the City Council, was challenged by Commissioner Woody Fleming, who said a plan for expanding the council was potentially so harmful to African Americans that he would “fight it to the death.”

Richard Fajardo, a voting rights lawyer who once represented the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, was opposed by Anthony Chavez, a leader of that organization.

And many of the city’s nonprofit agencies paired with representatives of some of its most profitable corporations in opposing neighborhood councils, which they fear would stymie growth and allow neighborhoods to reject controversial developments such as drug treatment centers, homeless shelters and hospitals.

That proposal was still being debated late Monday night.

The suggestion that residents would be better represented by a larger City Council drew not only strong disagreement from the huge and varied audience--one of the largest turnouts ever mustered for the often dry charter reform debates--but also from within the commission itself.

Fleming, not normally one of the commission’s most voluble members, weighed in forcefully on the question.

“I am totally, totally opposed to anything other than 15,” Fleming said. Referring to maps drawn by several different groups analyzing the ethnic representation ramifications of various council sizes, Fleming warned: “They all cast the shadow of death” on African American representation.

Several demographers and voting rights experts have noted that the growth of the city’s Latino population and its increasing assertiveness at the ballot box poses potential threats to African American representation. Blacks today comprise about 12% of the city population, but three of the council’s 15 members--or 20%--are African American. Many political observers believe that it will be difficult for an African American to win one of those seats, the one currently held by Councilwoman Rita Walters, the next time it comes open.

Fleming is considered a potential candidate for that seat.

He was joined in opposing the separate ballot measure on the 25-seat proposal by Commissioners Gloria Romero and Janice Hahn, both of whom are supported by organized labor, which generally has opposed increasing the size of the council.

“I don’t believe that more is better,” Romero said. If any increase were warranted, she added that she believed 19 members would be better than 25.

Advocates of a larger council persisted, however. Although some initially favored expansion to 35 members--an idea favored by leaders of the business community--no commissioner on Monday proposed more than 25.

One advantage of 25 members, Chemerinsky said, would be that Watts no longer would be lumped with San Pedro and Wilmington in one district. Instead, that largely poor and minority community could be grouped with more similar areas to its north, creating better representation for its residents.

Commissioner Paula Boland, a zealous advocate for San Fernando Valley interests, said the larger council would deliver better services to Valley residents. She opposed splitting the ballot measure into a main charter and a separate provision advocating 25 members, saying the commission was shirking its responsibility to decide the matter.

The commission can place its recommendations on the ballot without City Council approval.

Times staff writer Miles Corwin contributed to this article.