6 Seek to Represent Needs of Very Diverse Electorate

Several of Los Angeles’ most recognized symbols of wealth, culture and power share the same City Council district with some of the city’s most overcrowded, neglected and crime-plagued neighborhoods.

The pear-shaped 9th District includes the sparkling new Staples Center, the Library Tower skyscraper and the historic Central Library. But it is also home to the lean-tos and despair of skid row and it reaches south into the graffiti-marred, working-class neighborhoods of South-Central Los Angeles.

With geographic diversity comes political challenge: The next council member elected to represent the district faces the daunting task of balancing the needs of corporate executives in luxury suites and minimum-wage earners living in cramped apartments.

Six candidates--including a retired police officer, a state assemblyman and a well-known homeless activist--are vying to replace 10-year incumbent Rita Walters, who is forced to vacate the post because of term limits.

The best-known candidates lined up so far are Assemblyman Carl Washington (D-Paramount) and two of Walters’ former aides: Woody Fleming, her former district director, and Jan Perry, the councilwoman’s ex-chief of staff.

Adding excitement to the campaign--which is leading to an April 10 election, with a possible June 5 runoff--is challenger Ted Hayes Jr., a homeless activist who recently appeared at a candidates forum waving a cricket bat and promising to run a “guerrilla campaign.”

Also on the ballot are Alexander Gomez, a retired Los Angeles Police Department sergeant, and Pauline Clay, a public relations specialist.

They are competing to represent a trying area. The district has historically had the city’s lowest median household income, the highest poverty rate, the lowest percentage of high school graduates and the second-highest percentage of overcrowded households.

Activists and residents complain that their streets, schools and playgrounds are deteriorating from neglect. Jobs and after-school programs are in short supply, making it hard to keep youngsters from joining gangs.

“We are not looking for a candidate who will do business as usual,” said one district resident, Shug Allakim.

In the fund-raising race, Perry is the leader with $158,000, according to campaign statements for the period ending Feb. 24. She is followed by Washington, who raised $155,000, and Fleming, who collected $71,000, according to campaign statements.

Perry, 45, is a longtime City Hall veteran who worked as an aide for three council members. Most recently, she was hired by Mayor Richard Riordan to head the city’s census outreach program. She has been endorsed by Councilman Nate Holden and Los Angeles School board President Genethia Hayes.

Washington is a Baptist minister who was an aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke before he was elected in 1996 to represent the communities of Compton, Lynwood, Gardena, Paramount and Watts in the state Assembly.

His term ends next year and he is ineligible to seek reelection because of term limits. Washington has been endorsed by Burke and Rep. Maxine Waters.

Fleming, 54, was born and raised in South-Central Los Angeles. After working for Walters for eight years, Fleming served on the elected charter reform commission and was appointed by Riordan in 1999 to be one of five full-time members of the city’s Public Works Commission. He has been endorsed by Riordan and Walters.

Hayes, 50, is a well-known homeless activist who lives in the Dome Village encampment near Staples Center. He ran for mayor in 1993, receiving 2,800 votes. If elected, he promises to continue living in the Dome Village.

Gomez, 55, the son of Mexican immigrants, is a Vietnam veteran who recently retired after 31 years with the Police Department. His last assignment was in the Newton Division, which includes parts of the 9th District.

Clay, 55, has a master’s degree in finance from UCLA and has worked for 25 years as a public affairs consultant for several corporate and nonprofit organizations.

The district’s 250,000 residents had long been predominantly African American, dating to early in the last century when blacks moved to the area from the South.

The late Councilman Gilbert Lindsay represented the district for 27 years before he died in 1990. Walters won the special election to fill his post.

Today, however, the district is an entry point for immigrants from Mexico and Central America who, along with their children, represent more than 60% of the population. Blacks constitute about a third of the residents.

But because of low voter registration rates among recent immigrants, political consultants predict that Latinos will make up only 15% of the voters, with most of the remaining ballots coming from African Americans.

Gomez, the only Latino running among five African American candidates, hopes his ethnicity will help him beat his better-funded opponents.

“I think it’s time for a Hispanic to represent the district,” he said.

But the problems of the district are not exclusive to either ethnic group. They are about crime and schools, neighborhood conditions and jobs.

Helen Johnson--an activist in the Vermont Square Park neighborhood who recently rose to citywide attention with her successful appeal to Riordan to fix up that park--said her grandchildren recently uncovered used hypodermic needles and condoms while playing in a playground sandbox.

“The sand that the kids play in hadn’t been changed in 35 years,” she said. “This is how neglected we have been.”

New Jobs Stressed

Johnson and other residents said they watched city leaders support the construction of the $360-million Staples Center and wondered why so little has been spent to improve conditions in the district south of the Santa Monica Freeway.

“Downtown has been built up while this community has suffered,” said Juanita Tate, executive director of Concerned Citizens of South Central.

Most of the candidates agree that the problems of high crime, poverty and unemployment can be eased with an infusion of jobs and commercial development.

But residents complain that several post-riot efforts to create such an infusion--such as Rebuild L.A. and the federal empowerment zones--created only minimum-wage positions in retail stores and fast-food restaurants.

If elected, Fleming promises, he would convene a meeting of experts from USC, UCLA and other institutions to tackle the problem. He also said he would increase funding for job training and after-school programs for youngsters.

Washington vows to use his experience as a consensus builder in the Assembly to tackle the district’s woes.

“You have to build coalitions to do anything in this city,” he said. “I have a record of building coalitions.”

Perry said she plans to use her expertise as a former city planning director to redevelop abandoned or underused industrial sites, where new businesses or schools can be built.

“For me, urban planning is a tool for economic development,” she said.

Seizing on the symbolic significance of the district divide created by the Santa Monica Freeway, Hayes has suggested creating a “South of the 10 Freeway” account that would be funded by large corporations and used to pay for job training programs and community cleanup efforts.

Given his background, Hayes’ entry into the race has highlighted the stubborn problem of the homeless in the district, particularly in the skid row area near downtown Los Angeles.

Hayes has promoted a national plan for the homeless, which calls for the appointment of a Cabinet-level commissioner of the homeless in the White House. Under the plan, abandoned military bases would be used as “residential enterprise centers” where the homeless could live and operate businesses.

Not to be outdone, Gomez suggested at a recent candidates forum that the city house the homeless in the abandoned Belmont Learning Complex.

But Washington, Fleming and Perry have promoted more conservative approaches, such as increasing funding for mental health and substance abuse programs.

“I’m not talking about creating another agency to fix the homeless problem,” Perry said.

With a big and competitive field, the campaign already has turned personal on occasion, generating some bitter feelings.

During a candidates forum attended by mostly black residents last month, Fleming urged voters not to support Perry because she is married to a white man and lives on the Westside.

In an interview, Fleming conceded that he had made the statement but said he had misspoken. “I apologize for the way it came out,” he said. “I meant to say that she was married to a wealthy lawyer.”

Perry, who said she lives near downtown, says Fleming also told the audience that her husband is Jewish and that he wants to buy up black neighborhoods in the 9th District.

Fleming accused Perry of exaggerating the incident. He denies mentioning that Perry’s husband is Jewish or suggesting that he wants to buy property in the 9th District.

Hayes, who attended that forum, said he was so upset by the comment that he complained to Riordan.

“It is a straight-out blatant, racist statement,” Hayes said.

A Riordan spokesman said he was not aware of Hayes’ complaint.

Perry and Fleming have a history of bad blood. Perry sued Fleming in 1999, claiming she had been fired as Walters’ chief of staff because Fleming spread lies about Perry.

A judge dismissed the suit, saying Perry had not exhausted all of her administrative remedies. Notwithstanding their recent spat, both candidates say they have put the dispute behind them.

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District 9

Key Issues:

crime, deteriorating streets, parks and schools and a lack of high-paying jobs and after-school programs for youngsters.

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Candidates:

* Pauline Clay, 55, public relations specialist, lives downtown.

* Woody Fleming, 54, Los Angeles public works commissioner, lives in South-Central.

* Alexander Gomez, 55, retired police sergeant, lives downtown.

* Ted Hayes Jr., 50, homeless activist, lives in Dome Village homeless encampment.

* Jan Perry, 45, former census outreach director, lives downtown.

* Carl Washington, 36, state assemblyman, lives downtown.