THE VALLEY BOYS
In the race for mayor of Los Angeles, Democrats Bob Hertzberg and Richard Alarcón are battling Jim H
By Dean Kuipers
Former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg and state Senator Richard Alarcón are the hometown boys in a demographic region that accounts for 42 percent of the city's mayoral votes. They've both been elected to state office in the past by pulling together the Valley's major white, Latino, Jewish, and black voting blocs. And, in terms of remaking city government, they're both swinging for the fence, spewing radical ideas that raise cheers in the Valley but get mixed reviews in other parts of town.
Neither were overtly pro-secession, but they're channeling Valley anger. Hertzberg wants to break up the L.A. Unified School District. Alarcón would kill the plan to rebuild LAX and build out Palmdale instead. Hertzie would create a "Commuters Bill of Rights" to time the lights, move street repairs to nighttime, and keep expanding public transportation, and would hire 3,000 cops without new taxes. Alarcón is collecting signatures to place an initiative on the ballot to clean up City Hall by limiting political contributions by developers to $100; he'd also roll back the 11 percent DWP rate hike and would hire 1,000 new cops by taking the money from DWP and Port of L.A. revenues. Alarcón would give planning authority to neighborhood councils. Hell, Hertzberg has a borough plan that would scrap the whole city council.
They're stepping on a lot of toes, and they don't seem to care. Toes, after all (as in: this campaign contribution gets our foot in the door), may end up getting incumbent mayor Jim Hahn in some trouble. They need to be bold, because they're running from a media void; Hahn and city Councilmembers Antonio Villaraigosa and Bernard Parks all have higher name recognition. In the scadzillion debates thus far, Hertzie and Alarcón have been whipping on the other candidates - especially Hahn - mercilessly, hoping to hammer the message home: city government is still not working for the Valley, and as crap schools and outrageously high-priced real estate and gridlock reshapes the city, maybe it's not working for anyone.Published: 02/17/2005
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