Advice on How to Run Los Angeles, From Someone Who Has

We’ve narrowed the field, but the mayoral race is just getting started in L.A. Here’s my advice to the candidates -- and for whoever ends up in City Hall after the May runoff.

Only a strong, energetic mayor can engage Los Angeles. You have to put a face on City Hall. In a town where politics competes with Hollywood, dynamism is a prerequisite -- 24/7, you have to eat, sleep and dream the City of Angels.

You also have to empower as many talented, energetic people as you can, and then get out of their way. The successes I count in my administration came because I was smart enough to do just that.

In my first month in City Hall, I promoted a staff member, Bill Violante, for eliminating the five years it takes to get rid of unnecessary tow-away zones by going out at midnight and taking down the signs. “It is much easier to get forgiveness than it is to get permission” -- that was the theme when I was mayor.

We created the Targeted Neighborhood Initiative, empowering citizens to take responsibility for improving their own streets. Government gave them resources but did not dictate what to do or how to do it. It worked in the poorest and wealthiest neighborhoods, improving quality of life.

Disney Hall, the Staples Center, the Alameda Corridor, the new Venice and many other projects got their start, got boosted or got finished as a result of applying the talents of many civic angels like Eli Broad, Steve Soboroff, Charlie Isgar and others. UCLA professor Bill Ouchi put together Project Safety to expand the police force, and Helen Bernstein, onetime head of the teachers union, helped reform stagnant school district bureaucracy.

You can take a lesson about what L.A. can accomplish, with the right inspiration, from the city’s response to the Northridge earthquake. Within four months, damaged bridges, homes and business were virtually back to normal. Businesses organized immediately to supply shelter, food and water to those left homeless. We bypassed bureaucracies; city employees competed effectively with the private sector, to my pleasant surprise.

Of course, it would help if the media did their job too. The mayor of Los Angeles is not an instant celebrity like mayors in New York and Chicago. Rudy Giuliani’s private life was played out blow by blow in the press daily. The most consistent media coverage I got was when I mispronounced someone’s name.

L.A. needs a political gossip column. The media need to humanize our elected officials and connect people to them as husbands, wives, mothers and fathers. If the mayor does wrong, the media should say so, but if he does right, they should say that too. Political stories should be written with pens, not pistols.

So my prescription for the next mayor and every mayor is simple: Involve the best and brightest and give them the support to make L.A. great. Let them think on their own. Don’t let anything or anyone bore or frustrate you. Be accessible to your staff members and treat them -- treat everyone -- with dignity.

Finally, reach out. L.A.’s diverse communities yearn for recognition -- Angelenos only need to be asked to help.