Government Reform

Leonel Fernandez became the Dominican Republic's youngest president Friday, ending a long history of strongman dictators and promising political and economic reform for this troubled Caribbean nation.

Following angry testimony from about a dozen residents, the Los Angeles City Council balked Wednesday at a plan that would limit the council's authority to hear public appeals of planning decisions but sent it to a committee for further study. The proposal--one of 65 ideas proposed last year by a development reform panel created by Mayor Richard Riordan--would eliminate the council's power to overturn decisions by the Board of Zoning Appeals, a mayoral-appointed committee.

Taking a key step toward reforming local government, a Los Angeles City Council panel Wednesday recommended creating a 15-member appointed commission with a $300,000 start-up budget to rewrite the city's 71-year-old charter. If approved by the entire council next week, the citizen panel could draft a new charter for the April 1999 ballot that backers say would streamline government and give voters more power to help decide local issues.

Taking a key step toward reforming local government, a Los Angeles City Council panel recommended Wednesday creating a 15-member appointed commission with a $300,000 start-up budget to rewrite the city's 71-year-old charter. If approved by the entire council next week, the citizens panel could draft a new charter for the April 1999 ballot that backers say would streamline government and give citizens more power to decide local issues.

One week after the state Senate killed a bill to ease San Fernando Valley secession, Los Angeles city leaders said Tuesday they are close to agreeing on a plan to draft a new city charter that would empower citizens and streamline government. A Los Angeles City Council panel will meet today to discuss formation of a citizens commission with the authority to rewrite the city's 71-year-old charter.

Concerned that a proposal backed by Mayor Richard Riordan for reforming Los Angeles' 71-year-old governing document would trigger chaos and undermine the City Council's authority, Council President John Ferraro is working on an alternative approach to give elected lawmakers more control over the reform process. Ferraro spoke Monday with Riordan to try to reach a compromise that could garner broad support at City Hall.

Breaking ranks with Los Angeles city officials, a San Fernando Valley leader in the movement to reform the city charter announced plans Wednesday for a petition drive to authorize a proposed citizens panel to submit reform measures directly to the voters. David Fleming, an influential Studio City business leader who teamed with city officials to lead a charter reform effort, said he fears the City Council would otherwise quash reform measures eroding the council's power.

Breaking ranks with Los Angeles city officials, a San Fernando Valley leader in the movement to reform the City Charter announced plans Wednesday for a petition drive to authorize a proposed citizens panel that would submit reform measures directly to the voters. David Fleming, an influential Studio City business leader who teamed up with city officials to lead a charter reform effort, said he fears that the City Council will otherwise quash reform measures that would erode the council's power.

Led by Queen Elizabeth II, the royal family is weighing reforms that would revolutionize and modernize the British monarchy, Buckingham Palace acknowledged Monday. The proposals would abolish state subsidies to the royal family and offer equal rights for women to succeed to the throne. They would allow an heir to the throne to marry a Roman Catholic and end the sovereign's current role as head of the official Church of England.

Calling the city he heads inaccessible and dysfunctional, Mayor Richard Riordan on Thursday announced his support for the creation of a citizens panel that would draft government reform measures independently of the City Council. Riordan, a multimillionaire businessman turned politician, also vowed to help bankroll a signature-gathering drive asking voters to approve the formation of a citizens panel with the power to place reform measures directly on the ballot.