Key Issue in Harbor Area Is Secession From City

Of all the issues confronting Los Angeles’ harbor area, one is paramount: the animosity toward City Hall that has triggered a secession movement in San Pedro and Wilmington that could fracture the 15th Council District in the years ahead.

As the April 10 city elections approach, that theme overrides all others. The candidates talk about a lack of city services, a City Hall unresponsive to district needs, and how to end decades of tension between the fast-growing port and the neighboring residential areas of San Pedro and Wilmington.

Facing the prospect of political downsizing are five candidates--the daughter of a legendary county leader, a San Pedro attorney backed by Mayor Richard Riordan, a Los Angeles police lieutenant, a political and community activist and a young Latino who has cast himself as the district’s “home-grown” candidate.

Even if it costs them the job they are now seeking, most of the contenders say they would support secession as long as the voters want it and if ongoing studies show that it is feasible.

In any case, many community leaders say the incoming council member will have to solve the problems that led to the secession movement--and swiftly change City Hall’s treatment of the district if the district is to remain whole.

“A lot is riding on this election,” said Janet Schaaf-Gunter, a San Pedro businesswoman and longtime community activist. “If there isn’t a hint of change, many people will be for secession. Something has got to be done to kick-start the economy here and improve our quality of life.”

The 15th District seat is being vacated by termed-out City Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr. Svorinich, who leaves office July 1, was handily defeated by incumbent Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) in last year’s Assembly race.

Among the contenders is Hector Cepeda, 33, of San Pedro. He is a former aide to Svorinich, Lowenthal and former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa. Cepeda, a part-time dockworker whose father was active in longshore union politics, enjoys support from labor organizations and Latino groups.

He is up against Janice K. Hahn, 49, of San Pedro, the sister of Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn, who is running for mayor. Her father was Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, whose career in municipal and county government spanned 45 years before his death in 1997.

Hahn has been a teacher, business executive, the harbor area’s representative on the city charter commission and a participant in an array of community and youth programs.

She ran for the 15th District seat in 1993 and for Congress in 1998, but was defeated both times. In this campaign, Hahn has substantial financial support and the highest name recognition.

Ken Hillman, 47, of San Pedro is a Los Angeles police lieutenant and director-secretary of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the officers union. He has been active in harbor area community groups, and argues that reducing crime will lead to an economic resurgence for the district.

Candidate Robert W. Nizich, 45, a San Pedro maritime attorney and restaurant owner, won the endorsement of outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan. He has worked to expand youth programs in the harbor area over the past decade, and was appointed by the mayor to the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission last July.

The last candidate is Frank O’Brien, 43, a San Pedro businessman who has led community organizations, local conservation groups and neighborhood associations. He has worked to preserve parks and open space in the harbor area.

Observers Expect Low Voter Turnout

The group faces a primary election on April 10. If no one receives a majority, a runoff for the two top vote-getters will be held June 5. Political consultants expect voter turnout to be low.

The victor will preside over a district of more than 240,000 people that extends from scenic Pt. Fermin in San Pedro to the historic Watts Towers in one of the more impoverished communities in Los Angeles.

The district boundaries form an odd configuration, with a narrow corridor of municipal turf that connects Watts in the north to Harbor City, Wilmington and San Pedro in the south. Now known as Harbor Gateway, the strip was created in the early 1900s when Los Angeles annexed territory to establish the port on San Pedro Bay.

The ethnically diverse 15th District is home to petrochemical facilities, the local seafood industry and the fast-growing Port of Los Angeles--part of the third-largest harbor complex in the world.

The district, however, is also known for its political isolation from the rest of Los Angeles and its continued affliction with some of the city’s most intractable problems.

Watts, in particular, has suffered for years from chronic poverty, high crime rates and a lack of city services. San Pedro has a resurgent crime problem and a stumbling redevelopment program that has not produced the economic renaissance repeatedly forecast by local business and political leaders.

Wilmington--once a thriving blue-collar borough--has been in economic free fall for decades.

While the communities enjoy some benefits from the port, they also endure its worst side effects, such as air pollution, industrial eyesores, heavy truck traffic and terminal projects that consume neighborhoods and business districts.

The persistent problems have fueled the efforts by residents in San Pedro and Wilmington to secede. More than 23,000 people in the harbor area signed a petition requesting an analysis to determine whether breaking away is financially possible.

The study, now being done by the Local Agency Formation Council, is a required step for secession.

“Historically, we have been the odd man out,” said Andrew M. Mardesich, executive director of the Harbor Study Foundation and a leader in the area’s secession drive.

“We need someone who can stand up to pressure from downtown interests and is willing to fight for our community,” he said. “The area has never gotten its fair share of the pie when the City Council votes.”

All the candidates say they will try to solve the problems that have contributed to the secession movement. Three said they would support breaking away from Los Angeles if the voters want it and the LAFCO study shows it’s feasible. Two are more cautious about the issue.

O’Brien, who has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, appears to be the most supportive of the movement. As a council member, he says, he would make “the best case” for secession. He has promised to actively support the effort by seeing to it that the LAFCO study is accurate and complete.

“There’s a colonial structure here with an urban overlay,” O’Brien said. “The city has used up community resources to further port growth.”

Hahn contends that, without the threat of secession in Los Angeles, there would have been no reform of the city charter. “It made us rewrite our laws to make government more accountable,” she said. “If the study shows it is feasible, I will support the will of the people.”

Hillman’s position is similar. “If people want to secede, I will support that,” he said. “But secession is not a cure-all. We need to improve conditions now.”

Nizich, who is backed by Riordan, a staunch opponent of secession, says that he has a “wait and see attitude,” and that the issue should be considered “with the head, not the heart.”

If services are delivered to the district and the problems with the port are solved, he predicts the area will not secede.

Cepeda is equally careful about secession, and wants to see the results of the LAFCO study before making up his mind. He noted that Harbor City, Harbor Gateway and the Watts portion of the district are not part of the movement.

During his last months in office, Riordan has been trying to defuse secession drives around the city, particularly in the harbor area. In December, he visited San Pedro and offered to end the so-called Hundred Years War between the Harbor Department and San Pedro and Wilmington.

Since then, port officials have launched an initiative, including a $1-million public relations campaign, to give citizens in San Pedro and Wilmington more influence over harbor projects.

The candidates say they support the mayor’s peace effort and hope it will continue after he leaves office.

All promise to push for better port planning and to find ways to reduce the harbor’s adverse effects on surrounding neighborhoods. To help accomplish that, several candidates have called for the appointment of more local residents to the five-member Harbor Commission.

Cepeda says he would like a charter amendment to require three local people on the panel. Hahn, who has taken swipes at the port for some of its projects, would like more local commissioners as well, but she says a charter amendment would be difficult to pass.

Agreement on Need for More Port Funds

Both Nizich and Cepeda have called for special port funds to help reduce the problems caused by harbor expansion and to pay for improvement projects around the port, such as parks and tourist attractions.

The candidates also are unified in their calls for more city services in the district, such as police officers, youth programs, tree trimming and street repair. “Watts has been so ignored and neglected,” Hahn said, “that to give the area its fair share would never be enough. The community lacks the most basic services.”

Though Hillman wants to make the port more responsive to citizens’ concerns, his No. 1 issue is the growing crime rate in the harbor area after years of decline. The other candidates want to fight crime too, but Hillman has specifically proposed that the county turn to so-called community courts, now being experimented with in New York City.

These courts combine judges, police, probation officers, educators and social service workers in a collaborative effort to identify potentially chronic offenders and help them turn their lives around.

“If people feel their streets are unsafe, it impedes the economic recovery of an area,” said Hillman, who has been a police officer for 25 years.

Profiles of the City Council districts whose representatives will be determined in elections this year can be found on the Internet at https://la times.com/districts.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

District 15

School breakup, LAPD reform and public safety, public transportation, secession.

*

Key Issues:

Secession, harbor expansion, providing more city services, rekindling waterfront redevelopment effort.

*

Candidates:

* Hector Cepeda, 33, former legislative aide, part-time longshoreman, lives in San Pedro.

* Janice K. Hahn, 49, public affairs manager for Southern California Edison, lives in San Pedro.

* Ken Hillman, 47, Los Angeles police lieutenant, lives in San Pedro.

* Robert W. Nizich, 45, attorney and restaurateur, lives in San Pedro.

* Frank O’Brien, 43, businessman, lives in San Pedro.