City Charters

The Pasadena City Council has created a 21-member panel to review the nearly century-old City Charter after calls for a directly elected mayor, a more powerful council and districts for school board members. A divided council this week approved the panel proposed by Mayor Chris Holden. He said the charter needs to be changed to give more power to council members while reducing the role of the city manager.

What if Los Angeles put something in the City Charter and then discovered that it was unconstitutional? It would probably remove it from the charter. That's what the city is asking voters to do in approving Measure N on the March 8 ballot. You might ask why the city government can't just do this itself and save you the effort of parsing yet another ballot measure. But it's the law: Any change in the charter must be approved by the voters. At issue are three provisions in the charter governing campaign contributions and candidates' spending.

Responding to citizen discontent that is fueling talk of secession, a group of influential San Fernando Valley business and political leaders Thursday proposed reinventing the city of Los Angeles from scratch by replacing its 70-year-old charter. City Councilman Mike Feuer promised to initiate charter reform almost immediately by bringing a proposal to the City Council, probably on Tuesday. "There are ideas whose time comes . . .

The city's financial troubles are daunting enough, but they could get worse. Imagine how much deeper the budget hole would be if the city suffered a major earthquake, a terrorist strike on the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks or an epidemic. That's why the City Council should set aside a portion of the taxes it collects for needs that cannot be anticipated, above and beyond the demands of the inevitable economic downturns. The experience of the current fiscal crisis demonstrates that the council's existing emergency fund, which can be tapped by a simple majority vote, may not be secure enough to prevent city leaders from acting imprudently.

No matter how many people want him out, all Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates has to worry about is Page 295 of the City Charter. That, combined with his determination not to be chased from his job, is what stands between Gates and the end to his controversial 13 years as chief after the televised police beating of Rodney G. King. Not to underestimate the chief's determination, Page 295 is really all he needs.

The Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley today will unveil its proposal to establish a commission to draw up a new city charter. It will outline the plan at a 10:45 a.m. news conference at the Sheraton Universal Hotel, 333 Universal Terrace Parkway in Universal City. On June 19, the Local Government Committee of the state Senate is set to consider the bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Paula L.

Saying the idea of establishing a city charter is worth investigating, the City Council this week voted to spend $40,000 in consultant fees to pursue the plan. City officials said that switching from a general law to a charter status, which requires voter approval, would give Westminster more independence from the state. General law cities are governed by state law while charter cities are governed by locally created laws. On Tuesday, the City Council voted to hire Douglas W.

Voters will determine today whether the city converts from a general-law government to charter status. General law cities are ruled by state codes, while charter cities derive laws from a locally written document, often called the "constitution" of a city. Most city officials and elected leaders in Westminster support the change, saying a charter would provide more local control and save money.

The Elected Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission will meet Tuesday to discuss a variety of topics.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley this week announced the formation of a group to study ways to reform the city Charter, including possible term limits for elected officials and enlargement of the City Council. The current Charter was adopted in 1925 and has been amended more than 400 times, but has never been thoroughly overhauled, Bradley said. Like the Constitution on the federal level, the Charter spells out the fundamentals of city government.

Unlike the Democrat in the Oval Office, the Democrat in Los Angeles' City Hall seems to understand that -- the markets' resurgence notwithstanding -- nobody is going to believe the economic crisis is over so long as more than one out of every 10 American workers remains unemployed. Whether by reason of perspective or background, Antonio Villaraigosa, the onetime labor organizer, grasps what Barack Obama, the former professor of constitutional law, doesn't: Out here in the country, it's the jobs, stupid.

Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz has asked his colleagues to end the dispute between the former city attorney and the former city controller over whether the controller can audit programs in the offices of elected officials. Koretz wants the council to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo to prevent his office from being audited. But a sticking point remains: Who should pay the more than $100,000 in legal fees incurred by former City Controller Laura Chick over the course of her legal fight with Delgadillo, who was forced from office this spring by city term limits.

City Hall often seems to be haunted by some ghostly hand reaching from a dusty and long-dead charter provision to grab city government, shake out all voter-imposed reforms and yank it back into the outmoded ways of the past. This week's outrageous payout of $95,000 to fired Los Angeles Transportation General Manager Gloria Jeff is the latest such horror. Jeff's virtual extortion, ratified by City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo and Councilman Bernard C.

Nothing better illustrates the politics, power structure and civic maturity of a city than charter reform. A charter is a city's constitution. It allocates authority at city hall and sets out rules by which interest groups gain access and influence city government. San Diego is considering rewriting its charter to make permanent a "strong mayor" system that only last year began its five-year trial run. You might ask, why so fast?

WITH FOUR OF the Los Angeles school board's seven seats up for grabs, next week's election could have been a moment of transformation for the plodding district and its many underperforming schools. Instead, it's another dispiriting reminder of how the system resists fundamental change.

IF YOU'RE BORED BY the (admittedly boring) subject of public pensions, get over it, because you'll be hearing a lot more about the topic in coming months. And with good reason. There's a looming financial crisis as retired school, city, county and state employees claim larger chunks of public funds each year for their pensions, in part because people are living longer, in part because elected officials have been catering to the demands of employee unions.

The prospect of having more independence from the state didn't impress Westminster voters last week. Residents there rejected by 2-to-1 a proposal to convert from a general law government to charter status. Because officials had spent $45,000 and "countless hours" over the past year promoting the advantages of a charter, the election turnout--fewer than 4,300 in a city of 83,287--was depressing, City Manager Bill Smith said.

Public meetings on the Los Angeles City Charter reform will be held today and next week. Today, a committee of the Los Angeles Elected Charter Reform Commission will hold a discussion with public comment on neighborhood councils at 9 a.m. in the office of Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, 3525 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles.

AN OPEN, accountable and trustworthy Los Angeles Police Department seems perpetually just around the corner. Reforms are instituted, promises and progress made, but with every positive step forward, the pull of secrecy keeps yanking the LAPD ceaselessly backward. And so, after Rodney King, Rampart and now Devin Brown, we are here: Hearings on officer-involved shootings that once were open are now conducted in secret. Reports that used to name the cop who pulled the trigger now do not.

The drive to merge Los Angeles International Airport police with the LAPD moved ahead Monday when a City Council committee unanimously supported a ballot measure to ask voters to remove a City Charter provision requiring an independent airport police force. After hearing from law enforcement representatives and city officials in favor of a charter amendment, the Public Safety Committee voted 4 to 0 to place such a measure on the May ballot. The full council must vote on the issue by Jan. 26.