By David Drucker
Daily Bruin Reporter
The Los Angeles mayor’s race kicks into high gear this
Wednesday as the six leading candidates debate each other at UCLA
with only a month to go before the election.
The invite-only event, where VIPs are expected to outnumber
students, will commence in Royce Hall at 7:30 p.m. It will be
moderated by League of Women Voters President and former School of
Public Policy and Social Research Professor Xandra Kayden.
Three Bruin alumni are among those who hope to succeed current
second-term mayor, Richard Riordan. Eight years ago, he entered
City Hall on the heels of the Rodney King riots and a sagging
economy.
Public officials working with the L.A. City Council and Riordan
agree that the issues confronting the city’s next chief
executive will be no less daunting.
Riordan spokesman Peter Hidalgo concurs with 1991 UCLA graduate
David Gershwin, a spokesman for seventh district Councilman Alex
Padilla.
In addition to everything else that is bound to cross his or her
desk, they said, L.A.’s next mayor will have to deal with
improving public education, reforming the L.A. Police Department
and the various secession movements afoot.
Policy studies Professor Eric H. Monkkonen, who spent his career
charting the historical development of urban centers and analyzing
their evolving needs, said that adjustments in transportation
infrastructure and policy will also be essential.
If the election were to be held today, Los Angeles City Attorney
James K. Hahn, who also leads in fund-raising with approximately
$2.7 million, would come in first. According to a recent Los
Angeles Times poll, Hahn leads all candidates with 24 percent
support of likely voters.
But the contest for second place is wide open. The poll, with an
error margin of 4 percent, indicated a virtual tie among the other
five hopefuls, including former Riordan aide and shopping mall
developer Steve Soboroff and former California State Assembly
speaker and UCLA alumnus Antonio Villaraigosa, each of whom
register 12 percent support.
A second-place showing on April 10 is significant because that
election is likely to lead to a June runoff between the two
candidates who get the most votes.
That’s why veteran seoncd district city councilman Joel
Wachs, also a UCLA alumnus, is very much in the race with 11
percent support, according to the Times’ poll, as is Rep.
Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, with 10 percent.
State Controller Kathleen Connell, who received her doctorate
from UCLA, is the field’s only woman and registers 8 percent.
Close to 25 percent of those polled, though, said they are
undecided and almost 50 percent of those who are decided said they
might change their mind.
If current campaign ads on television are any indication, the
next mayor to serve the almost 320-year-old city will be expected
to deliver on promises to reform the LAPD and the L.A. Unified
School District .
Interestingly, Hidalgo said, the LAUSD is out of the
mayor’s control. Like Riordan, he added, all the next mayor
will be able to do regarding education is to try to use their bully
pulpit to affect district policy.
Monkkonen agreed with that assessment and added that the
critical issue facing L.A. in the immediate future is
transportation. He said beyond issues of continual freeway crowding
and the need for new buses, is the contentious issue of airport
expansion.
“L.A. is going to get much more crowded, and its going to
cause more than simply a housing crisis,” Monkkonen said.
“The freedom to travel easily between different parts of the
city will become a huge infrastructure problem.”
But an issue that has been getting a lot of press is
secession.
The San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and the L.A. Harbor region
have all requisitioned secession studies. But most candidates have
come out on the record against the idea.
Gershwin said the new city charter, which calls for local
neighborhood councils to form in each district of the city, should
be given a chance to address local concerns, as an alternative to
breaking up L.A. into separate cities since the areas, as separate
cities, would end up competing for the same limited amount of
infrastructure and financial resources.
But Monkkonen said that he doesn’t think the neighborhood
councils will make much of a difference.
“The power will still reside downtown, and city hall
won’t want to give it up,” he said. ” The real
problem is that L.A.’s different regions see the city’s
bureaucracy as non-responsive. Change that and the problem is
solved.”