Real Threats, Daily Realities

In the jittery aftermath of Sept. 11, city officials ordered streets near Los Angeles City Hall closed to traffic and installed concrete barricades and checkpoint kiosks. Five months later, the nation continues to wage war against shadowy enemies. The FBI warned law enforcement agencies and the public just Tuesday of another possible attack, the fourth such alert in as many months. So is this the time to reopen the streets, as City Controller Laura Chick and some City Council members suggest?

Yes, although not because the threat has gone away. What’s changed is that there’s been time to think rather than just react, to weigh risks and consider where to allocate always-scarce resources.

No one is suggesting a return to “normal,” at least not to the casual sense of invulnerability we once had. Before Sept. 11, Los Angeles City Hall security was decidedly relaxed in comparison with that of New York and many other cities. San Francisco, for example, has high security that dates back at least to 1978, when Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were murdered by a disgruntled former supervisor, a reminder that threats are not limited to foreign terrorists.

Los Angeles has, as it should, joined these and other cities in requiring employees and visitors to pass through metal detectors. City workers have to display ID cards. More security guards patrol the hallways. Sidewalk barricades line the building’s perimeter. (If the sidewalk barricades are going to be permanent, how about something a little more aesthetic, maybe with flowers?)

If City Hall once was a picnic in the park, it is edging toward a fortress. Closing streets around city offices and police headquarters may or may not stop a terrorist but it does discourage all but the most determined citizens by snarling traffic and causing confusion--not good symbolism for city government.

Beyond symbolism, the city needs to ask where resources are needed most. In South Los Angeles, Luis Gamez was killed and his brother, Oscar, was wounded last month when they tried to stop a teenager from spraying graffiti; he sprayed them with bullets instead. Residents of the apartment where the brothers worked as security guards are afraid to let their children play outside. International terrorism is a real threat; local terrorism a daily reality. The city needs to allocate its public safety efforts accordingly.