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Neighborhood Council Mayoral Debate - Blogged Live****
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UPDATES, REAX BELOW
One more time, I'm blogging a mayoral debate live - this time the KCAL-9 broadcast from CBS Television City. The audience is made up of representatives of the city's 80 Neighborhood Councils, some of whom asked some pretty pointed questions.
Response time limits of 45 and sometimes 30 seconds squeezed the candidates into a battle of sound bites, boilerplate and barbs.
The five men strove to show off intimacy with and knowledge of the neighborhoods whose representatives were grilling them. We got to hear about Antonio Villaraigosa's broken promise to serve four years as City Councilman before running for another office, about Jim Hahn's record on crime, traffic and the Fleishman-Hillard scandal, about Richard Alarcon's distaste for "big money," about Bernard Parks' thoughts on Bill Bratton, and about Bob Hertzberg's desire to break up LAUSD ...
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(If you'd rather sit through it, the KCAL video works now, but not for Mac browsers - for which it keeps playing the end of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." I'm guessing it will be corrected shortly)
I'll leave the armchair analysis to others - my goal was to generate a record of the debate to help voters form their decisions about whom they should elect as the next mayor of Los Angeles.
(earlier)
This post is not a verbatim transcript of tonight's debate. As fast as I can type, politicians can always talk faster, and these five candidates are verbal machine gunners. This transcript (cleaned up early Tuesday morning) contains some paraphrasing, and ellipses where I missed a comment because I had to scratch my nose or go back to fill in some particularly illegible bit of typing.
But it's a pretty fair representation of the points the candidates made, and the assertions used to back them up ...
Here goes:
KCAL-9 plays a little bumper report, with 10-second profiles of each of the candidates. Then they switch live to the debate hall:
KCAL-9's Pat Harvey and David Jackson welcome the candidates. They explain the five will speak in an order decided by drawing straws, then invites the first Neighborhood Council representative to ask a question.
A Neighborhood Council rep from Pico-Union district tells them that LAPD response times are now averaging half an hour in her neighborhood. Without the half-cent sales tax for more cops, she asks, what can each candidate do to improve police services in the city?
State Sen. Richard Alarcon: We have to provide police services to all neighborhoods. There are many areas throughout Los Angeles that are disenfranchised. We have to provide police services to all communities. Sadly, this administration has failed to grow our police department and has failed to make our city safe. Five-hundred-eleven homicides in our communities last year is not acceptable. We have to make the people of Los Angeles have the power to control the numbers of police officers in their neighborhoods, that's the only way to make them safe.
Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg: What a horrible state of affairs, a half-hour response time. If you go to my web site (he holds up pie graph) you'll find Jim Hahn has chosen to spend 97% of the new money he's had since becoming mayor, on priorities other than police. The city budget grows by $l00 million a year; I'm going to take a good portion of that and spend it on police. I'm gonna make sure we have the police officers we need by putting the necessary priorities in place, by funding police first so that we don't have this horrible problem.
Mayor James K. HahnBob, you keep bringing up that chart, but it's simply not true. The police force has expanded under my direction ... We've seen the Rampart division actually have a drop in crime. Homicides are down in Pico Union by 40%. In Macarthur Park, crimes are down. At 7th and Union, we had a building that burned in the riots, it's now apartments. A Food 4 Less store opened upon the corner there, it's now one of the best stores in their chain. I became mayor at a time when the Sacramento budget mess that was created by several of the people up here was taking money away from Los Angeles, each and every year .
Councilman Bernard Parks: It's important to realize that you as a community member know why the police response time is what it is. The primary reason why in the 8th District we had over 200 homicides last year is that so many of our officers were home off duty on the 3-day work week. You can get so many more officers into patrol cars immediately by putting them onto a 5-day work shift. This (3-day work week) was done not based on the needs of the city, not based on how many people are dying, but it was given as a campaign promise. As long as you have the 3-day work week, you're going to have homicides. You know the real story, the officers need to go back to work.
Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa: I realize it's not comforting to hear that crime is down in Pico-Union, because anyone who lives there knows the level of crime is unacceptable. Just 2 weeks ago, with Greg Smith, I offered to put more officers on the street in the next 2 years. We want to make sure those police officers are working to expand neighborhood policing.
KCAL-9's Pat Harvey: Mayor Hahn, in terms of that half-cent sales taxes, you've not really nailed down any other way to expand the number of police officers. [How do you plan to expand the department?)
Hahn: Here's what I I have done since I've been mayor. We'd lost over 800 officers when I became mayor. We've gained 350 officers since then, by eliminating positions from other departments. We went to Washington DC, we got (the money) to fund 250 additional police officers, but the City Council has failed to fund the matching grant to do that. Unfortunately, again, Sacramento took our money ...
Villaraigosa; If the mayor understood the action of the council about 2 weeks ago .. In point of fact, when we appropriated the resources for the police officers, we pulled down the millions of dollars in federal cops funding that Mr. Hahn had failed to take advantage of. What Mr Hahn has done in the past year is he has made a number of proposals to make up for what he hasn't done in the previous 3 1/2 years.
KCAL-9's David Jackson: Councilman Villaraigosa, when you ran for City Council initially, you did make a promise that you'd serve a 4-year term and not seek another term. We're halfway through this term, and here you are running for another office. Is there any reason for us to think that if you were elected mayor you wouldn't move on to another political interest?
Villaraigosa: When I made that promise - and I did make that promise - I truly believed I would serve for 4 years. But it's become apparent this was a city adrift, we're mired in scandal, and many people asked me to run. I consulted with my family members, and with my closest friends. I made a decision, and I feel good about that decision. I believe that right now in this city, we need better leadership.
(From the Harbor Gateway North Neighborhood Council): Rosalie Preston: Regarding our traffic congestion. With the dramatic increases in congestion we've seen in recent years, and with many of our city streets in poor condition and with traffic signals not synchronized, what as mayor can you do to improve traffic conditions in Los Angeles?
Hertzberg: If you look on my web site, you'll see my Commuters Bill of Rights. You'll see a proposal to stop major construction during daylight hours ... you'll see a proposal to synchronize the lights - literally getting up every single day, there's nothing that's just more maddening than dealing with this traffic situation. The mayor's answer to the question is upgrading 25 intersections a year. That just doesn't cut it for me. There's new technology for light synchronization that we're not engaged in, there's things that we're not doing ... Whether it's running those trucks at night off the 710 ...
(Harvey interrupts him for time, turns to Hahn for his turn to answer).
Hahn: You know, of the 4,600 traffic signals in this city, 2900 are synchronized. In fact, our traffic synchronization program is looked at by every other major city in the country as a model. Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago was out here last month to look at our system ... The problem is that no one seems to live where they work in Los Angeles. We're fixing the 25 worst intersections in the city, that affects a million drivers year- round. We're gonna have streets made more efficient by towing vehicles in no-parking areas ... We can do all those little things and that'll make a big difference.
Parks. As mayor of Los Angeles, you have to attend MTA meetings, you can't miss them, you can't be recused from over 100 of them. The only way we're gonna get large amounts of money for a regional system is in both Sacramento and Washington. We have to look at bigger issues on freeways, at double-decking freeways, at finishing freeways. We have to stop looking at the LAX plan - to bring millions of people to a transportation center without a viable public transportation system. ... The public knows that transportation is not working in this city, no matter how many intersections we highlight.
Villaraigosa: Traffic is one of the big challenges facing Los Angeles. I too have put forth a proposal that addresses the small things we can do to get traffic moving again. I want to talk about the big things we can do. We have the most congested highways and streets in America, the most polluted air. I want to connect that Red LIne that stops at Western Avenue and take it all the way to the ocean. I want to connect the Green Line to LAX and connect it to the Exposition line. I want to take a line all the way from downtown to LAX. ... We need to think big. We need a mayor that's gonna roll up his sleeves and build a consensus in this area.
Alarcon: Nobody said what really needs to be said: If you want to improve the flow of traffic, you have to stop the flow of money into City Hall . Developers are ruining this city and they are influencing each and every decision [on development and land use], and taking the decisions away from the Neighborhood Councils ... You were appointed by the charter reform process to make real decisions ... If you really want to fix the transportation problems in Los Angeles, we have to get control of those powerful moneyed interests. It's the airlines that don't want traffic moving ... it's the rail lines that don't want the trucks moving along the freeways ...
Harvey: (A question recalling Parks' frequent criticism of Hahn's record of missing MTA meetings).
Hahn: It feels some kind of a four-against one thing here, doesn't it.
Harvey: Let's start with the first charge, as far as missing so many MTA meetings ...
Hahn: I pushed forward the idea of having to rapid bus lines. Ridership is dramatically up. I pushed the MTA to begin the Exposition Line. I supported the idea - before Mr. Villaraigosa did - of putting the Red Line through to the ocean. Mr. Villaraigosa, one of your supporters, (U.S. Rep. Henry) Waxman, was against, putting the subway line through, I suggest you talk to him. In the meantime, let's put the buses on the street, let's add light rail, let's extend the subway to the ocean. I'm proud of what I've done. If we build a network that includes rail, that meets up with clean decent buses, we'll have the transportation we need in this city ... These things do take time, but the key thing is to stay with it. We're moving forward on the Exposition Line.
Hertzberg: Did he tell you the money came from the state - that was the pocket he wasn't looking in.
Hann: (Here he mentions a $1.3-billion appropriation - a remark that doesn't make it into the transcription)
Hertzberg: This is like the kid who has $100 in one pocket and $10 in the other pocket, and he says, "Where's my $100?" He needs to find the money. Ask the people in the audience how many times you're running up against construction (during their commute) they'll tell you ... (He rattles on here for a few seconds before KCAL-9's Pat Harvey interrupts):
Harvey Okay Mr. Hertzberg, that's enough, this is the Pat and David show (general laughter from the audience) ...
(Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council representative) Ken Silk: [Do you favor giving voting rights to Neighborhood Councils regarding development rights in their areas?
Hahn: I supported that idea when the Charter Commission was looking at Neighborhood Councils back in 1999. I thought that was a proper thing that Neighborhood Councils should get first-cut approval on. One of the problems is if we go that way, a lot of you in the Neighborhood Councils said you didn't like to fill out all those Statement of Interest forms, which all of us elected officials have to do. Neighborhood Councils have been a success because we've had so many people who wanted to vote in the process. I think the Neighborhood Council voice is ignored in so many agencies.
Parks: No, I don't support having planning decisions made at the local Neighborhood Council. I do believe the level of Planning Commission is where you get the local input, not the Neighborhood Councils ... I think also we need to think about planning on a regional basis, but I think we also have to make sure the commitment is that local people are on these commissions to carry the word and voice of the Neighborhood Councils so they get their input.
Villaraigosa: I don't believe the Neighborhood Councils should have development input, but I also think we should engage the developers early and often. I say to any developer, if you want to come into this district, you're going to have to go into the neighborhood and gain their support ... (cites here a Sears development)
Alarcon: I absolutely believe Neighborhood Councils should have development authority and planning authority. The only reason they don't want you to have that authority is they won't be able to get contributions from those developers. When I testified before the charter reform movement, I testified that we should give them a budget. When I came into office, I told Mayor Hahn to quadruple the budget for the Neighborhood Councils. We need to empower the Neighborhood Councils, but more importantly we need to empower the democracy. Why is it that America is providing Baghdad with planning authority, but in the city of Los Angeles we're not providing neighborhood councils with planning authority over their own neighborhoods. You should have a say in whether a liquor store is approved in your neighborhood. ... You can do it too if you get control of your neighborhoods, but you won't have control of your neighborhoods until you get control of the contributions and you have the right to take a part in planning.
Hertzberg: I fundamentally believe that the future of this city ... I did it by proposing a borough system that was rejected by the mayor. ... You cannot give governing authority to Neighborhood Councils. But what do you do - you make Neighborhood Councils have a real voice in the delivery of services. Not just a menu, but deciding, are those really pay raises the money should go to, or is it new services? ...
Jackson: So you have precisely the opposite view of Mr. Alarcon.
Hertz: Precisely.
Alarcon. The thing I find most disturbing about these comments, you're looking at five elected officials, all of whom have worked on changing the law. Maybe the law is now (the councils) have to be advisory, but maybe we can change the law.
Jackson : But that advisory power becomes ignored, and that's why Neighborhood Councils become upset in the first place.
Alarocn: The problem is that big developers, they could care less about congestion if they could get their high-rise apartments built on a high-traffic corridor ... Who's gonna shut down the landfill, well I shut down a landfill ...
Hahn: I can imagine it, I supported that idea. Bob pointed out, and rightly so, that we need to change the way Neighborhood Councils operate so they can have that land use authority. The West Hills Neighborhood Council and others said that "We don't want this Ahmanson Ranch (built)" even though the financial interests who wanted that development built had all their forces engaged. When they get organized, they are a very loud voice, and we can give them the authority we can under the law. I think right now, people are listening to Neighborhood Councils.
Alarcon: If they had real power it wouldn' t have taken five years to shut down Ahmanson, it would have been dead on arrival. (Applause from the audience.)
Harvey: Now a question for Chief Parks: Now remember, you have 60 seconds to answer this question. If you're elected mayor, would you retain Chief Bratton?
Parks: I'm not gonna politicize the chief of police as has been done, I'm gonna talk to Chief Bratton as I'd talk to every one of the 40 general managers in city departments about what's expected of them, also the clear path this city's gonna move in, and it's up to them. ... I don't think any general manager would deserve being given a task or job without that first official meting and then monitoring their progress in their time.
(Granada Hills North Neighborhood Council) Joe Vitti: On the subject of election reform : Do you support full public financing for city elections, similar to the Clean Money program that has worked so successfully in the state of Arizona?
Parks: I have not come to grips with that yet, I have not talked to the communities to see whether they are willing to support the full burden of financial campaigns. We can pick and choose certain money and say that development money is dirty, but we hear nothing about union money, we hear nothing about other special interest money. It's not about where the money comes from, it's about honesty, integrity, your own personal beliefs, and picking people that you know are honest.
Villaraigosa: I'm not familiar enough with the Arizona initiative to be able to answer that. Mr. Parks is right - historically, public entities and voters have been very reticent to pay the full freight for elections. I like the general idea. I think what we have here in this city is a step in the right direction, but we have a long way to go. I'm proposing that when people get money they can't get a no-bid contract. when they give money, we should know they have contracts. That the commissions - I want to make sure we televise those meetings. We also have to address the issues of big money ...
Alarcon: I absolutely believe that we need to move more towards public financing. The no-bid contract prohibition is a good idea. ... That is the problem with City Hall today, it is being sold for special interests, it is not being sold for the interest of the people of Los Angeles. Public financing would give us the power to take the money away. Do you believe these (donors) would give to a public campaign? Absolutely not. They wouldn't be able to connect the dot between the contribution and the contract they want. We need to stand up to special interests.
Hertzberg: Joe, I love it, I would adopt it tomorrow if I could. I spent more than 20 years involved with Common Cause and other groups trying to refine the system. ... I'm the only one sitting up here as a private citizen, these other guys are the chair of the (City Council) labor committee, a sitting mayor, the chair of the transportation committee ... I would love to support such an initiative.
Hahn: I would support that initiative as well. But last February, almost a year ago, I proposed to the City Council and the Ethics Commission, eliminating contributions from people who have contracts or people who are seeking discretionary land use approval. There are two City Council members to my left who could have introduced and voted on that measure last year. I'm. Still. Waiting. The least favorite part of running for office is asking people for money.
Jackson: Mr. Parks, how do you separate yourself from the money that's given, with that conundrum of the integrity that's given. Do you have to have a law?
Parks; I don't think you can legislate honesty. You're either honest or you're not. Mr. Hahn had introduced this ordinance only after year of receiving contributions. That's ridiculous. When we asked the mayor, would you give back the money, he laughed. He only wanted to clean up the system after he had polluted the system.
Hahn: You know, the system that we've got, I'm following the law and other candidates are following the law. But if there's a perception that contracts are being gotten or land use approvals are approved because of campaign contributions, there's an answer to it. We ought to enact the reforms. I would have been happy to give back the money if the City Council had enacted this reform, but instead what I got was delay, delay, delay. I think a better way would have been to say, let's end it.
Hertzberg: I think Arizona has the best plan, and I'd like to see him give back the money. If that' s what you believe, if you have integrity and you believe this, then act accordingly.
Hahn If they'd passed the law, I would have done it.
Hertzberg; What does it matter what the law is? Do the right thing and give it back! This is an issue where the money was given, give it back. You can raise it again, it's not a big deal, it's not a lot of money.
Villaraigosa: I'm still waiting for him to take responsibility for the corruption in this administration. I'm still waiting for him to answer the FBI, the District Attorney and the U.S. Attorney. We don't want half measures, we want results. That's why I'm running for mayor.
Alarcon: this investigation is not about Mayor Hahn, this investigation is about how City Hall operates. That's the problem. It only takes one to ruin the bunch. What's more important than the integrity of a politician and whether or not a crime was committed, it's the trust of the public. The people of Los Angeles do not trust City Hall. The solution is to eliminate (contributions) ...
Hahn: It's prohibiting contributions.
Alarcon: You've got to eliminate it, that's all there is to it.
(Watts Neighborhood Council) Rudy Barbee: Each of you are cognizant of the business development efforts in Watts since the l965 civil unrest. The question that's coming up constantly is ... What are you going to do to bring more jobs to my neighborhood?
Villaraigosa: What I'm gonna do is say not just to your neighborhood but to the whole city is, a great city is one where we're growing and prospering together. I support an economic development bank. We need to give more access to capital to small businesses. We need to ensure the city of Los Angeles is contracting with local businesses in neighborhoods like Watts. We need to ensure we're drawing down money from pension funds to reinvest in the city. We need to understand that when Watts does well, so do other parts of the city, and as mayor of this city, I'm committed to seeing that Watts does well.
Alarcon: When we created the Community Development Bank, it was corrupted by campaign contributions that empowered them to have loans be given, and the bank went bankrupt. The first thing we have to do is empower the Neighborhood Councils to make sure they know what's going on in Watts. We can create true corridors of empowerment. I created a micro-enterprise program - we need to invest in small businesses, because that's where the economic growth is. ...
Hertzberg: Rudy, let me tell you - I served in Sacramento, I was sent there by the people of the San Fernando Valley, and when I came home, I went to South Los Angeles and built a factory, and brought jobs to South Los Angeles. I've left the company now, given the fact that I'm running for office but I think it was the right thing to do, to invest in that community. I think what a mayor does is lead by example. I thought it was important to put my money where my mouth was ... When a house in Downey, a two bedroom, one-bathroom house costs almost half a million dollars, we have to do something to (find ways to create jobs that make the housing affordable for people in that community). It's all about bringing capital to a community.
Hahn: Watts is a place that has so much opportunity. You've got the Century Freeway, the Harbor Freeway, the Blue line, the Green line, you're just a few miles form international airport at LAX. We're moving forward with a project on the Lansing site. I believe in small businesses, that's why the Council has acted on my proposal to eliminate taxes for (certain classes of) small businesses. We also have to do all we can to save King/Drew medical center, it's a great economic engine for that neighborhood. Other businesses are going to benefit from that. We ought to have a biotech development center connected to King/Drew Medical Center. We are bringing jobs ini, we need to bring more. The top priority is to bring more jobs in. We've added 40,000 jobs in Los Angeles since I've been mayor.
Parks; For the last 30 years, we've heard the same rhetoric about Watts, and jobs keep disappearing. I'm looking at bringing in football ... at bringing in a 200,000-square-foot office building at 18th and Vermont. All of this rhetoric on Watts is just rhetoric. We have to stop all the things are philosophically (sound but have no benefit for the neighborhood) We have to stop funding outside cities with our money. Most of our employees have moved outside the city, most of our money has moved outside the city. We have to stop funding other cities financially, and start investing in the people who live in the city of Los Angeles, in education, in housing - It's the only thing that will change Watts around.
Harvey: Don't most businesses want to build where there's housing available? What about housing availability?
Parks: The only housing that's been built is affordable and senior. What we've run out of is housing for people who have real jobs, real education, people who can afford to pay for housing. They're not eligible for low-cost housing, yet they cannot afford to buy housing. We have to look for the ability for everyone in this city to live in every part of the city. We can't have market rate in one part of the city and never build in market rate in another part. ... That's the problem, a lack of planning, a Planning Department that's not willing to plan for the city's future.
Harvey: Councilman Villaraigosa said he'd draw down money from the pension fund to invest.
Alarcon: I don't have any problem with using pension funds to invest locally. However, Watts is a perfect example of why we should empower Neighborhood Councils. How much worse could Neighborhood Councils do than some of the blight that's created throughout the city of LA? We have neighborhoods that are striving to succeed but they can't because of gang crime and poverty. Investments ... all of these things will improve the bounty Los Angles has to offer.
Hertzberg: There's this new concept banks have called "location-efficient mortgages." They'll allow you to spend more money on your mortgages so that people can live where they work.
Hahn. The $l00-million Housing Trust Fund has helped us build over 3,000 new units in the city. Cutting red tape will help us get more housing built. Companies want housing for their employees. We can use pension funds, it's a good idea. I'll tell you this. I'd rather have seen a pension fund invest in California real estate the over last few years than in the stock market.
(Mar Vista Community Council) Ken Alpern: I'm located in the traffic-plagued west side, the same traffic that has balkanized regions of our city and pushed some regions to try to secede. How can the city get funding to construct freeway construction and light rail projects, when the state, county and federal governments can't or won't?
Alarcon: Most major infrastructure projects cannot be worked on by the city of Los Angeles alone, they have to be done done with cooperation from the state, county and federal governments. The problem isn't so much where to get the money, the problem is we haven't forged a consensus strategy to do so. When you see a transportation project voted against unanimously by the Board of Supervisors, what kind of message does that send to the federal government? We have to build consensus, and I believe we do that from the ground up in the city, not from the corporations down ...
Hertzberg: Thank you for the question, 'cause it really is critical. There has been some good news. We the citizens of Los Angeles passed Measure O, it deals with storm water runoff. I voted for $2 billion of new school construction when I was assembly speaker. When Mr. Villaraigosa was speaker, you saw $2.1 billion invested in new parks. The genius of using that money for infrastructure - it's about planning and coordinating it in an intelligent way. I want to make schools the center of neighborhoods. The school becomes part of the community that everybody uses, and not a message that at the end of the day you chain it up and nobody can use it.
Hahn. The airport line will connect the Green Line to the airport. which should have been done a long time ago. Those projects will take time. We do have the ability - our local voters have voted for measure A and Measure C ... but we do need that money from the federal and state governments - there were $l.3 billion in federal transportation funds that should have come to this county that won't come because there's been such a budget mess in Sacramento over the years. We can't do these projects that need to be done. We do have a consensus on the Expo line, and the Green Line to the airport and I think the Red Line to the sea (but such projects need more interagency coordination and better management locally of money that's available).
Parks: You have to ensure that the MTA is in the lease on that, we have to make sure SCAG is in the lead. Without those two organizations, you're not gonna get the funding. Without that, you're not gonna build these major plans. You say realize the impact (of extending MTA lines) on Sepulveda and the 405 - but how do you expect when two congressmen and one supervisor for that disagree and are suing each other? You have to find consensus so we can move forward, because the federal government is more willing to spend money when they know a city has its act together.
Villaraigosa: We need a new mayor because we need someone to work with Sacramento and Washington to get our resources. We're not getting our fair share, because we're not aggressive and active. We need to make transportation decisions with housing decisions, with economic development decisions. I'm the only one to have voted against Playa Vista, and it was because I knew we had not fully discovered what the transportation impacts were of that development. Thats why I'm proposing a Green Line extension along the north coast, to serve that development.
Harvey: It sounds like Councilman Villaraigosa's saying Mayor Hahn, that you can't work with the people in Sacramento.
Hahn: I'm proud to say that we've got $l80 million in homeland security funding for Los Angeles. I've been proud to work with Gov. Schwarzenegger to stop state government reaching into local government's pockets. I've been the first mayor to say we need to step up our lobbying efforts in Washington, we've hired a lobbying firm to help us. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chairs of my campaign worked with her office closely to get funding for a light rail extension.
Villaraigosa: On average, Los Angeles gets about $8 per capita for homeland security. The City of San Francisco gets $45. Alpine County gets $218. The proof is in the pudding.
Question (speaker unknown): Regarding the spending to revamp LAX - with it being difficult to get there already, ti's not the most acceptable of airport locations, why spend $11 billion only on improving that location?
Hahn: We have a great airport at Ontario. You have to understand if we do nothing about LAX, we will still grow to 78 million annual passengers. It'll be miserable at the airport, it'll be miserable for the people living by airport ... That's why we want to have different entry points into the airport, to disperse the traffic effectively ...
(Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council) Sonia Sanchez: What will you do to draw legitimate, reputable businesses to low-income communities like mine? Not liquor stores, but (reputable businesses such as) CPA firms and investment firms?
Hertzberg: Let me tell you Sonia, that really is the essence of so much economic development. I start with schools (with a proposal) which helps make them the center of the community. I think as mayor you take a personal interest you engage in long-term planning, you don't accept that liquor stores or whatever else are the status quo. Third, you deal with housing, and lastly it really is about neighborhood empowerment, about giving them control, taking what's downtown and moving it into their neighborhood. I think then, together with a mayor who's fighting for you, a mayor who's meeting with CEOs of these companies to bring them in, that's what you do.
Hahn: I think what you do is make neighborhoods as safe as possible. giving the neighborhood the amenities they need, I think that' s what every neighborhood wants. But they're not gonna come to a neighborhood unless they feel welcome. They have to feel that it's safe, that the transportation infrastructure is there. These decisions are made much closer to home. You need to make sure we notify the neighbors, we need to have that input, to have that early warning system, so you have the opportunity to say this is a development you want or don't want in your neighborhood.
Parks: I think basically we've run the middle class out of our city. The middle class makes a decision on where to live based on four issues: education, transportation, housing and environment. If we don't have an educational system to create a work force for those businesses, they're not going to come in. If they don't have a housing base for those people, they're not going to come in. ... If they have to raise and also educate a workforce to do their jobs, they may bring their business to Los angeles, but they'll bring employees from outside the city, and then we work to develop their economy. ... If we keep ignoring and avoiding their issues. we're going to keep running them out of the city of Los Angeles.
Villaraigosa: For most of my life, I lived within a few miles of historic Highland Park. My home is just down the street, and I can tell you that I'm committed to that neighborhood, because in many ways it's an example of the kind of neighborhood that is an opportunity for the city of Los Angeles. That's why I proposed putting a biotech center at County SC Medical Center.
Alarcon: When I was on the City Council, I negotiated the development deal for the General Motors plant, which had been for 5 or 6 years an eyesore in our community at Bly Street, which had become a high-crime area. I also was able to develop 1,200 units of affordable housing We redeveloped the Panorama City Mall, created an anchor tenant that attracted more businesses into that mall . ... (He cites large numbers of street lights, lowered homicide rate, eliminated 100,000 abandoned vehicles that were a haven for drug dealers) But I can tell you this, there's a General Motors redevelopment plan waiting to happen in your neighborhood but the first thing you have to do is have a mayor who's willing to find it and go out and get it.
Jackson: What is the mayor not doing to encourage that kind of investment in the community? (Ed.: Here he makes reference to a Boeing development proposal I'm not familiar with - anyone who can fill me in, please email me, and I'd be most grateful.)
Hertzberg; The Boeing Corp (deal): Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago got on the phone fighting like crazy, he told everybody in his community to fight for those jobs. We were silent. Virgin Atlantic (wanted top settle in Los Angeles) but the same thing happened - radio silence. We did nothing. Robinsons-May, 400 jobs in North Hollywood left town. Where was the mayor? There's so many instances where he was asleep at the switch on this.
Hahn: I'm proud that latest statistics from the California Labor Development office (show that) 40,000 more jobs have occurred in Los Angeles since I've been mayor, It's bringing in firms like NetZero, it's things like the City National Bank deciding to move downtown from the city of Beverly Hills.
Jackson: Do you wish you'd done more, that you'd fought for Boeing?
Hahn: We fought for Virgin Atlantic, I spoke to Mr. Branson but somebody else offered him free land, which we weren't able to compete with. The proof is 40,000 more jobs in this city.
Herzberg: I was chair of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. Every month, my stomach would sink when we saw jobs leaving for places like Culver City ...
Harvey: Sen. Alarcon, during the Valley secession movement, you considered running for mayor of the proposed new city in the Valley. If a new secession movement came up, how would you respond?
Alarcon: I would be opposed. I've lived in the Valley for 5l years, and my father lived here since the 1920s. There's far too many movements trying to break communities apart. I want to bring it together. The Neighborhood Council system can bring it together. The Neighborhood Council system was developed to respond to this, but we didn't give it the chance. I want to give them a budget, but I don't want to break the city up. People in this city have more in common with their next-door neighbor, even if they come from a different country, or speak a different language, than they do with someone from another part of town --
Harvey: (Interrupting) You've gone over your 30-second response time.
(Mid City West Community Council) Jeff Jacobberger: ... the Department of Water and Power continues to raise rates. Many Angelenos see this process, which amounts to $250 million this year, as a hidden tax. What would you do about eliminating it, or admitting it is a tax?
Hahn: It is a tax ... You're the owners of DWP, you have a right to a return on your investment. Those surplus revenues allow us to put more police officers on streets, to put more firefighters in the neighborhoods, and you still pay lower rates than surrounding neighborhoods do. The DWP has got the highest financial ratings you can have, by all the investment rating agencies out of Wall Street.
Parks: First of all, we should not be raising your water rates at same time we're transferring money. What I know now about the DWP, when you se what appears to be significant waste of money - $3 million spent on a PR firm that is working for a monopoly, when you spend $5 million for a water lab and then spend $l0 million to retrofit it, when you see them walk away from a $l6-million water treatment project ... These are things that are absolutely appalling in how we transfer money. What I know now, I would not have voted for the $11-million transfer. We wasted that money.
Villaraigosa: If you recall originally, there was a proposal for an l8% increase, it was then reduced to 11%. But when I realized through revelations in the newspaper that Jim Hahn's administration had incurred contract costs with Fleishman-Hillard to the tune of $50 million, I said no to the increase. ... Maybe we need to revisit this idea.
Alarcon: The three previous speakers voted to raise the water rates, pure and simple, 11%. I think it's illegal, I sued the city of Los Angeles, putting together a group of senior citizens to fight it, to protect us from this gouging. ... We're boiling water in West LA like we're some third-world country, but it's okay because we're paying a PR firm to tell us it's okay. We have to roll back the water rates, the 11%, and do the investment so people don't have to boil the water because they're afraid their kid is gonna die.
Hertzberg: The issue is this money belongs to the ratepayers. The ratepayers don't wanna subsidize the taxpayers ... You tell people the truth. They can't go to the port because it's against state law, you can't go to the harbor because it's against federal law. I don't support it , I don't like it, and I think it's about telling people the truth.
Harvey: (asks each candidate to make a 45-second closing statement - knocked down from 60 seconds because each candidate ran long on his answers during the debate)
Hahn: I believe that Los Angeles' greatness really depends on the greatness of the city's neighborhoods. That's why I believe what in what we're doing with Neighborhood Councils. I've supported the Neighborhood Councils in the Charter Commission, I've supported giving each one of those Neighborhood Councils $50,000 to spend on their neighborhoods. Crime is down l8%, homicides are down 20% since I've brought Bill Bratton in. (Ed: Did I hear him right? Homicides actually went up 1%) You can see that I'm gonna keep that momentum going.
Parks; I believe this election is about dealing with leadership and integrity. We should not wake up every morning reading about the latest scandals. We should not have a mayor who's policy is defend, deflect and ignore, like he doesn't know what they're doing. You shouldn't have the fear that your kids are gonna go to the park and they're not gonna come back home. We should have leadership based on character, based on conscience, based on the courage to make decisions for the right reasons.
Villaraigosa: The elections are an opportunity for us to have a conversation about what kind of city we want to live in. I remember listening with my mother in l960 when John F. Kennedy made that famous speech that said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." The Neighborhood Councils are an opportunity for people to to transform their neighborhoods, to make their neighborhoods better. As a city councilman, I've worked to make neighborhoods better, I've worked to establish 80 Neighborhood Watches ... As mayor, I want to roll up my sleeves and work with you, because I want to say that a great city is one where we're all involved. I want to be the mayor to help you lead that effort.
Alarcon: Ladies and gentlemen, this election is not just about ideas. We all have them. The truth of this matter is about electing a mayor who'll have the courage to stand up to powerful money interests, the special interest that are destroying our neighborhoods by over-planning in our neighborhoods, the special interests that are pushing the plan to overbuild LAX, are stealing influence right from under our feet. We can turn Los Angeles around in this election, but not if you vote for those powerful moneyed interests, not if you vote for the ones who have given $6 million to the candidates sitting here today.
Hertzberg: Fifty-three percent of 9th graders don't graduate high school. How we supposed to have a world-class city with those circumstances? My opponents say breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School district is not the solution, but I'm telling you that breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District into smaller districts, where the parents, the teachers and the principals are in charge is what we need. I want to roll up my sleeves, I want to give this 24/6, to give it everything I've got. I want to make Los Angeles work again.
UPDATES AND REACTIONS
An incredible 300,000 viewers watched the mayoral debate, if you can believe the claim that BoifromTroy quotes from "sources" at KCAL-9.
Blogs:
Mayor Sam's Sister City: Four on One?
Martini Republic: The Raw Morning State of the Mayoral Debate
Hertz-Blog: Live-Blogging the Debate (Hertzberg staffer Brian Hay)
BoifromTroy: Hahn Clueless about City Hall Corruption
L.A. Mayors Race (by GroupC): Debate Live On Air
Newsmedia
Daily News: Challengers Aim Attacks at Hahn
L.A. Times: Four Who Want His Job Tackle the Mayor
Associated Press: Rivals Team Up Against Mayor Hahn
KCAL-9: Candidates Look for Edge in Televised Debate
Next debate:
Feb. 28th: The Alliance of Neighborhood Councils convenes Neighborhood Council members at CBS Television City in the Fairfax district to question the candidates. Moderators will ask follow-ups.
Broadcast: CBS 2, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Reservations: Neighborhood Council chairs are handling requests by Neighborhood Council members to join the audience.
Other events:
Feb. 10A Town Hall Meeting with Los Angeles Mayoral candidates convenes at 5 p.m. at West Los Angeles College, 9000 Overland Avenue, Culver City, in the Fine Arts Theater, moderated by Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Broadcast: None - LA36 will tape it for later broadcast.
Earlier Los Angeles mayoral debate transcripts:
First Mayoral Debate (Dec. 2, 2004)
Second Mayoral Debate (Dec. 21, 2004)
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| Posted by: mack_reed on Monday, February 07, 2005 - 08:00 PM
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