There's a palace of sorts right in the heart of the rough-and-tumble 2nd District that would make perfect living quarters for County Supervisor Yvonne Burke. It's set back from the road. King palms grace a formal, circular drive. A spacious lawn, stretching nearly a quarter-mile, creates an air of royalty. It's even got a marquee with her name already on it in big letters.

From our vantage point, if the Queen of Brentwood had moved into one of the vacant wings in the downsized King-Harbor Hospital, she could have avoided the nasty and demeaning inquiry into whether she's been missing-in-action from her troubled district for the past year or so. And, more importantly, she may have had a fair shot of turning things around at the hospital known for its reckless disregard of human life. Her diligence certainly would have won her the respect of her constituents and peers on the board.

Burke, in a wide-ranging interview with L.A. Sniper this week, insisted she is "more than a full-time supervisor" and that she had done all she could to save the hospital, whose fate is now in the hands of the federal inspection team. But heck, the building's got her name on it. Her reputation rises or falls with its future. What if she had shifted into overdrive and moved into King-Harbor to provide a steadying influence on the staff during these tumultuous times? If nurses and doctors on duty May 9 had thought the Queen of Brentwood was toiling upstairs in the maternity ward, would they have allowed Edith Isabel Rodriguez to writhe in pain before dying 45 minutes later of a perforated bowel on the floor of the emergency room lobby?

"I'm not a doctor. I'm not an administrator. I wouldn't know if they were doing something right or wrong. I cannot micromanage," said the 74-year-old Burke in a calm, matter-of-fact tone. "If there are things we see, like a staff person of mine, we point it out."

We had hoped to shoot a photo spread of the vacant rooms to make the move to 12021 Wilmington Ave. as appealing as possible to Burke, but the hospital quickly amassed two security guards, two county police officers, and a nursing supervisor to foil our plans Sunday afternoon. A sign at the hospital entrance warns: "No cameras or radios."

As for the death of 43-year-old Rodriguez, Burke remembers watching one of the early training sessions ordered by the new management of the hospital. "I felt everyone was trying very, very hard. I can't explain how that incident happened with Mrs. Rodriguez. I don't know how those lapses could occur."

Burke said she last visited King-Harbor three weeks ago and that her staff members remain involved in monitoring the hospital's progress. Even if she doesn't want to sleep there, the Queen of Brentwood should station herself at the hospital during every available waking hour. Few things that go on in local government are as important to the community as the existence of a vibrant hospital.

You might think that an aging solon like Burke, who is about to enter the final year of her fourth, four-year term on the county Board of Supervisors, deserves some slack before vanishing into her retirement, which she announced last year. But an investigative story last week by the L.A. Times' Jack Leonard and Matt Lait ensures that Burke will leave, at the very least, under a cloud when her term is up. She could even face charges by the District Attorney's Office.

Community activist Najee Ali is one of those who want to see her in court. "It's been well known in South Central Los Angeles that Burke has never lived in the district she was elected to represent," says Ali, whose brand of rhetoric often borders on hyperbole. "It's important that the black community hold officials more accountable."

Ali says, "She is so far removed that it affects her work performance. She is out of touch, which is why we have a crisis at King-Harbor hospital and it is facing closure."

Who knows what will become of the hospital, and if it closes, how hundreds of thousands of residents will receive medical care. What is clear is that the reform efforts, ordered into place by the five county supervisors last October, never truly caught on. Control of the hospital was handed off to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, but change has often come too slowly. One sign of the troubled transition is, well, the signs themselves. It's been nearly 10 months since the takeover orders went down, but the old signs - reading "King-Drew" - remain in place. The Queen of Brentwood dismisses this as a small matter. Ali thinks otherwise.

"Obviously the community was quite, and still is, resistant to any change, whether that be longtime medical administrators or simple things like changing the signs," says Ali. "That's part of the problem. You have an elderly group of leaders that have resisted change for the betterment of the hospital."

You can't help but wonder what would have come of King-Harbor had all five supervisors been fighting to save it. Earl Ofari Hutchinson, who hosts the Los Angeles Urban Roundtable in Leimert Park on most Saturdays, said that Burke has had "absolutely no support" from her board colleagues for keeping the hospital open. "It had a demoralizing effect on her. She has been a lone voice."

Burke is getting a raw deal from the press and her critics, Hutchinson insists. She should not be penalized for her less than fiery style. "Supervisor Burke has been much more quiet, behind the scenes, what I consider the professional bureaucrat."

It likely will fall to the Queen of Brentwood's replacement to rebuild a quality health care system in the 2nd District. Let's hope the new supervisor denounces the past practices of individual supervisors protecting their fiefdoms to the detriment of a vital dialogue on the most pressing issues of life and death.

 

There outta be a law

You can't blame Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for wanting to keep out the prying eyes of the press from the state's jammed and failing prison system. For the fifth time, the governor vetoed legislation that would have made it easier for news reporters to interview prison inmates and bring along their cameras.

In what sounded like a steroids-impaired speech, Schwarzenegger gave some sorry explanation about how the new access rules would "glamorize murderers" and "traumatize crime victims and their families." Of course, what the governor is really worried about is an avalanche of news reports that would show firsthand and up close all of the problems associated with overcrowding. Such reports could end up as Exhibit A of a takeover plan for the state's prison system now under consideration by federal judges in California.

State Sen. Gloria Romero, a Los Angeles Democrat who's become a thorn in the side of police and government officials seeking to bar public scrutiny, said "unfettered media access" is needed in the prison system. "The media have been the eyes and ears in how the system is run and the mismanagement of the system."

 

Roads to racism

Why are we still having conversations in Los Angeles in the 21st Century about making sure that huge public contracts give a fair shot to people who have been discriminated against in this country?

But there it was again, at the meeting of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, as the agency prepared its final approval of a $22.7 million contract for environmental and engineering reports on the 1-710 corridor project, a massive expansion of the freeway from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to State Route 60.

The company is question - URS Corp. - was proposing that a measly 9 percent of the jobs be given to women, minorities, and disadvantaged people. That sounded way too low to MTA board member Richard Katz.

He had this exchange with a couple MTA staff members, who couldn't come up with an explanation.

Katz: "They [URS Corp.] seem to be doing about a third of what Caltrans is doing when this board has said on numerous occasions that we want to use these dollars to increase opportunities for women, minorities, and disadvantaged businesses in Los Angeles."

MTA staffer: "At the time of the proposal, the contractor indicated that based on the complexity of the project itself ..."

Katz: "You're not telling me that it was too difficult or there was no one qualified, are you?"

MTA staffer: "No, I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is ..."

Katz: "You said 'complexity,' and that sounded like it was too hard for folks."

Finally, MTA's honcho for diversity, Linda Wright, came to the podium and tried, without success, rationalize the low number. She said Caltrans has a "mentor protégé program" that helps to boost its numbers. "Of course, the fact that we are race neutral right now does have an impact on participating levels."

Katz: "Yeah, that's thin."

After a bit more discussion, the company agreed to shoot for 21 percent.

 

 

Don't answer your phone

We're big fans of civil disobedience here at L.A. Sniper, and couldn't help but imagine our response if we'd taken the call at LAPD headquarters from the DEA tipping us off to last week's raids at medical marijuana clinics. We might have told them to shove it and headed out for doughnuts.

Councilman Dennis Zine, a former cop, explained why that wouldn't have been the best idea: "They call on the LAPD to cover their backs. Law enforcement has to help law enforcement. It's better when we are there to protect the DEA rather than them getting into a confrontation with our residents."

OK, OK, OK, though one badly executed search warrant might teach the arrogant DEA a good lesson.