Tor is a second-year political science student.
By Chey Tor
As the City of Angels enters next week’s primary election,
many of the top leadership posts are up for grabs. But there is
only one race that stands out, and that is the battle to be the
next mayor of Los Angeles. With more than a dozen candidates
appearing on the ballot, only six have any real chance of making
the runoff election later in the year. And of the narrowed list,
only one man stands out.
Steve Soboroff is his name, and problem-solving is his job.
He’s a businessman who is very active in the community, and
as a troubleshooter for Mayor Richard Riordan, Soboroff has
volunteered his unique experience to help improve the quality of
life in Los Angeles. In his effort to help the city, the man has
built a solid track record that has come to demonstrate his
abilities and potentials to be an effective leader for
America’s second-largest metropolis.
Soboroff’s extensive involvement in the city’s
affairs make him the ideal candidate for mayor. From his continuing
relationship with the Big Brothers organization to playing a vital
role in building Staples Center, Soboroff is genuine in his desire
to see Los Angeles grow and prosper in the new century. Among his
goals, Soboroff would like to create neighborhood school districts,
make our city safer, improve our daily traffic problems, empower
local neighborhoods, keep the region’s economy moving forward
and demand efficiency.
If elected, he’ll do that and probably more. His ultimate
desire is to build a better Los Angeles, one that is better than
the day before. This process has been ongoing since the 1992
riot.
When looking at his goals, it is clearly understood that the
issues raised need to be tackled now. Public education is one of
them. The Los Angeles Unified School District has been unresponsive
to the needs of its students, parents and teachers. The mess at its
bureaucratic headquarters downtown is so great that the spillover
effect is taking its toll on the students’ education.
Soboroff plans to resolve this problem by breaking up the
monstrous LAUSD into 20-40 neighborhood school districts.
The benefits of such a bold move would be:
“¢bull; Faster response time to community concerns so that
parents, teachers and administrators can react to community matters
without having to go downtown for approval.
“¢bull; Improved oversight so that parents, teachers and
community leaders have easy access to local oversight functions of
neighborhood school districts.
“¢bull; More efficient implementation of new initiatives so that
neighborhood school districts allow for rapid deployment of new
plans because of their smaller scale.
“¢bull; Greater accountability so that parents, teachers and
administrators know each other more intimately in neighborhood
schools and are thus more accountable to one another for
performance.
“¢bull; Reduced travel time so that students who are bused from
one part of the city to another can spend more time learning rather
than sitting in a bus.
Safety continues to be an issue of great concern in Los Angeles
Soboroff believes that we must continue our relentless pursuit to
become the safest big city in America. Over the past six years, the
LAPD has grown and the city’s crime rate has dropped. He
believes that improved technology is imperative in order to provide
all of us with an even higher level of police, fire and life safety
services.
The city must recognize and nurture proactive programs that
prevent crime and ultimately taxpayer dollars.
One issue that some of us have been complaining about is the
problem of traffic congestion during rush hour. It’s about
time that someone is willing to address this matter. And not
surprisingly, problem-solving Soboroff is taking on this issue. He
believes, and rightly so, that Angelenos are spending too much time
in traffic.
In addition to the MTA bus and rail issues that have come to
light, the automobile congestion crisis in our streets must be
tackled with aggressive and innovative programs. For starters, he
suggests that the city bans construction crews on major arteries
during rush hour and get the same work completed during off-peak
hours.
To me, that’s just plain common sense. Empowering local
neighborhoods is a matter that has been brought up by Soboroff. One
of his top priorities has been the citywide implementation of the
Community Advisory Boards created for 145 of the city’s
parks. He strongly supports the “neighborhood
councils,” as mandated by the new City Charter, because he
believes that the setup has the potential to give each citizen a
greater voice in the local decision-making process.
At a time when the national economy is grinding to a halt,
Soboroff believes that the economic flow of Los Angeles must
continue to move forward. He believes that the city must continue
to eliminate bureaucratic burdens and market L.A.’s benefits
so that large and small businesses prosper in every corner of the
city. He is proud to have played a significant role in L.A.’s
economic renewal under Mayor Riordan.
He also led the effort to create the Alameda Corridor, a trade
and transportation rail line from the L.A. Harbor to downtown,
which not only will add tens of thousands of good paying jobs to
the area’s work force, but also, will eliminate substantial
truck traffic from local freeways. Cargo will move more quickly,
cheaply and cleanly on the train.
As the idea man behind Staples Center, he worked diligently to
complete this major sports and entertainment arena near the Los
Angeles Convention Center. Staples played home to this year’s
Grammy Awards, and was the site of the 2000 Democratic National
Convention. This single project has the potential to help turn
around a Convention Center that, in 1998 alone, lost over $40
million of our tax dollars.
The business side of Soboroff will provide L.A. with an attitude
that no other candidate has offered or will bring: demand of
efficiency. L.A.’s success in restoring hundreds of parks and
schools must be duplicated in every area of city government.
Soboroff believes that it is time to stop the years of studies
and press conferences by politicians and start demanding results.
Improving efficiency means more roads paved, trees trimmed, parks
and libraries upgraded, sidewalks repaired, along with healthier
air, a cleaner ocean and more police and firefighters on our
streets. What more can you ask for in a candidate for mayor of
L.A.? On all these issues, Soboroff is right.
We need to streamline our public education system by ridding
LAUSD of its bureaucratic mess. We need to support our men and
women in blue, not turn our backs on them when they need us. We
need to solve the persistent traffic congestion that is turning the
405 and our other major freeways into parking lots. We need to give
more power to local citizens, not politicians.
We need to keep our economy moving forward, even in the growing
face of adversity. We need to start getting results. Most important
of all, we need Steve Soboroff to become mayor of L.A. He has my
vote! Does he have yours? Still unconvinced? Call (818) 981-9317 or
visit www.soboroffformayor.com.
Vote Soboroff! Vote L.A.!