These Ideas for L.A. Are Keepers

As one who listened and learned while sitting side-by-side with Antonio Villaraigosa and James K. Hahn during more than 50 candidate forums, I encourage the two runoff candidates for mayor of Los Angeles to adopt the following Eight Great Ideas proposed during the past 18 months.

These are from other mayoral candidates:

* Xavier Becerra would give library cards to every student in the L.A. Unified School District.

* Joel Wachs would appoint a deputy mayor for the environment.

* Kathleen Connell promised citywide cultural fairs every weekend in different neighborhoods.

* I offered a 23-point plan for making traffic work, including exploring reversible traffic lanes and stopping construction during rush hour.

These are from other Angelenos:

* “Sweet” Alice Harris of Watts recommended an “L.A.’s Housing Team” to focus on creating affordable housing, similar to Mayor Richard Riordan’s successful “L.A.’s Business Team.”

* Shirley--I didn’t catch her last name--in North Hills suggested that, to help with the energy crisis, California should not go off daylight savings time this fall.

* Jose Roy Garcia of Van Nuys recommended that programs like his United Nations Soccer League (which, out of one park, serves 6,000 children from economically disadvantaged areas) be emulated all over Los Angeles.

* Gertrude Schwab of Wilmington recommended more community involvement in determining how to mitigate the impacts of the harbor and the airport on the neighborhoods around them.

All are ideas worth saving.