9th District

It's painful to watch a once-vigorous person become debilitated. Some had that feeling recently while watching the videotaped Iran-Contra trial testimony of former President Ronald Reagan. Anyone who saw that video of Reagan testifying about all he couldn't remember had to be relieved he was no longer the Chief Executive. Many Angelenos have that same uneasy feeling now in watching 89-year-old City Councilman Gilbert Lindsay, increasingly weak and befuddled as the result of a 1988 stroke.

NEW YORK -- Former President Bill Clinton was a consummate team player Monday, crediting President Obama for making the tough calls in a turbulent political climate and calling the prospect of a Mitt Romney presidency "calamitous. " President Obama was equally kind to his predecessor, praising his "inexhaustible energy and knowledge," and his legacy of leading Democrats"out of the wilderness" with a "thoughtful, common-sense, progressive agenda. " But days earlier, just across the Hudson River, was a fresh reminder of the political rivalry that once captivated the party -- with the two men appearing on opposite sides in one of the nation's most contentious congressional primary battles in the newly-redrawn 9th congressional district in New Jersey.

Regarding the recent article (Metro, April 1) concerning the physical condition of Councilman Gilbert Lindsay, followed by your editorial (April 3) urging him to resign: Lindsay, after only a brief convalescence, returned to regular attendance at the City Council, but on a reduced schedule prescribed by his doctor to aid his more rapid recovery. Gil has now completed the first phase of his post-stroke therapy, and is soon to commence a second phase, which it is predicted will restore him to nearly his pre-stroke vigor.

On the Sunday afternoon that I launched my campaign for the Los Angeles City Council, I was given a handwritten note by an area resident. Mr. Marshall didn't come to make a fuss, nor was he particularly interested in the festivities at my campaign headquarters. He was not, after all, a "political" person. Retired after 34 years as a city employee, he has lived in the 9th District for 45 years and was tired and frustrated by what he saw around him. His message was simple: Our streets are dirty, sidewalks broken, curbs unrepaired and alleys so filled with trash that passage is nearly impossible.

Second in a series of articles focusing on key periods in the lives of the mayoral hopefuls. When Jan Perry came to Los Angeles as a college freshman to watch the Ohio State Buckeyes play in the 1974 Rose Bowl, she had no idea that a trip to a football game would change her life. "All I remember is being shocked at how warm it was when I got here and the sky was blue and that people were wearing shorts," Perry said, recalling walking down Hollywood Boulevard, visiting Olvera Street and seeing the Jackson Five in the Rose Parade.

That's about 40 down and about 37 to go. Candidates , that is -- candidates for city, school board and community college offices in the March 3 Los Angeles election. The Los Angeles Times editorial board this week hit about the halfway mark in interviewing candidates who are seeking its endorsement. Time is tight. With the November election right behind us, we began interviewing candidates in December , gave ourselves a three-day break after New Year's Day, and then picked up the pace.

Re your March 12 article on the 9th District City Council race: I was appalled to read about candidate Woody Fleming's racist and inflammatory remarks concerning candidate Jan Perry's husband. Surely it is incumbent on candidates as well as reporters to raise the level of debate. With the overwhelmingly complicated issues facing the 9th District, it is crucial that we move beyond personal attacks and the rehashing of 2-year-old, dismissed lawsuits. Since it's at the core of our city, I'm sure we would all like to know the candidates' visions and solutions for improving the 9th District, which contains the greatest extremes of wealth and poverty in Los Angeles.

Over the past months, a troubling pattern of indifference to the interests of 9th District residents has become evident in the form of (Long Beach) Mayor (Ernie) Kell's commission nominations. Mayor Kell continues to nominate persons residing outside the 9th District to the most important city commissions that affect our community as well as the whole city. When he does make a nomination of a 9th District resident, it is often without the input of either myself or our local neighborhood associations or community leaders.

L.A.'s 9th City Council District is among the poorest in the city, taking in a stretch of South Los Angeles where the median household income is less than $30,000 per year. Yet despite persistent economic woes, the district has become a hot spot for expensive campaign contributions in this year's election, with special interests from across the state spending big in the race to replace termed-out Councilwoman Jan Perry. Labor unions, businesses, billboard companies, healthcare interests and others have spent $900,000 on unlimited "independent expenditures" for state Sen. Curren Price (D-Los Angeles)