Historic Council Majority Promises Unity

When the newly formed Los Angeles City Council takes office today, more than half of the 15 members will be African American or Latino for the first time in the city’s modern history.

After years of wrestling with each other for city resources, members of this new council majority now are pledging to collaborate, bound by a shared ideology and political pragmatism.

Together, they said, they will tackle issues such as housing shortages, unemployment and gang violence that plague their communities, and will examine the allocation of city services. A group of prominent community leaders has promised to buttress their efforts, heralding the partnership as a step forward in black-Latino relationships.

“For years, people have given lip service to having a coalition of blacks and Hispanics,” Councilman Bernard C. Parks said. “Now you have at least eight people who are struggling to solve the same problems in their communities.”

It remains to be seen whether this loosely affiliated group will evolve into a full-throated coalition. Personal rivalries divide many of the council members, and they have yet to mobilize around any specific program.

Still, the pledge of cooperation between African American and Latino council members has sparked some apprehension among members who have not been part of the discussion.

“I think we should all work together,” Councilman Dennis Zine said. “I don’t identify my colleagues by their ethnicity. We’re all fighting for the same cause.

“I’m Middle Eastern,” Zine said. “We don’t want to forget the Middle Easterners.”

Councilman Eric Garcetti and other backers of the new coalition said they welcome collaboration with every council member.

“This is not about two communities excluding the rest of the city,” said Garcetti, who is of Mexican ancestry. “This is about two communities forming a partnership that strengthens the rest of the city.”

In recent years, those two communities have often been defined by rivalry. The number of Latinos in Los Angeles has grown even as the city’s share of African American residents has dwindled, creating tension as Latinos moved into historically black neighborhoods. The demographic shift has been accompanied by fights on school campuses, community friction and political competition.

Urban League President John Mack, who worked to broker a series of meetings between Latino and black leaders, said the collaboration between the two groups “symbolizes a new day.”

“We’re going to rise above narrow pettiness, we’re going to seek to attempt to get past selfish power grabs, to overcome a potential collision course,” Mack said. “We have an emerging new group of elected officials who get this and who possess a vision of a Los Angeles in which people have common ground.”

A recent confluence of political events and the election of new council members has helped create new alliances.

Two years ago, City Council President Alex Padilla was criticized harshly by the three black council members for excluding them from influential committees. This year, he secured the backing of two African American council members in his bid to hold onto his presidency. And at the suggestion of council members Parks and Martin Ludlow, Padilla met with black clergy and civil rights leaders in South Los Angeles and got their endorsements too.

Last week, the council members stood with African American and Latino leaders at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Crenshaw and announced what they said would be a new era of cooperation between the two groups.

“What brings us together is not just a civic responsibility, but a moral obligation to care first and foremost for the most needy in the city of Los Angeles,” Padilla said.

“It does take a critical core of the Los Angeles City Council -- and I believe we have achieved that critical mass -- to stand up and say this will be our priority,” he added.

The elections of council members Ludlow and Antonio Villaraigosa, who share a liberal social agenda and emphasize the importance of inter-ethnic coalitions, also have changed the dynamic on the council, Mack and other community leaders said.

Villaraigosa, who said he wants to work with every council member, has developed a strong relationship with Parks. Last month, they visited Crenshaw High School, where they led a discussion about race relations with black and Latino students.

“Parks and I believe that we have a responsibility as leaders from these two communities to work together, to create dialogue and harmony,” Villaraigosa said.

Other council members welcomed that thrust.

“It sends a better message to our young people when they’re seeing role models on the City Council who are working together to solve problems,” Councilwoman Janice Hahn said.

Mayor James K. Hahn said the new council shares his philosophy about improving the quality of life citywide.

“I think it’s great that the new council members are going to be working together and recognize that even though they’re going to be fighting for their districts, they’ve also got issues in common,” he said.

It remains unclear how cohesive the new majority will be. Councilwoman Jan Perry, who backed Councilwoman Wendy Greuel in her bid to unseat Padilla as president, was not invited to last week’s news conference. She also campaigned against Ludlow in his recent election. Meanwhile, Padilla’s support for Hahn over Villaraigosa in the 2001 mayor’s race created tension between the Latino leaders.

Cal State Fullerton professor Raphael Sonenshein, who studied ethnic politics in Los Angeles, said that lasting political coalitions are forged over a significant amount of time and tested by many issues. He said that it took the late Mayor Tom Bradley nearly 15 years to put together a coalition of African American and Jewish voters who helped propel him into office.

“If history is a guide, a coalition doesn’t go from zero to total dominance,” he said.