COUNCILMAN TRIES TO RETAIN OUTSIDER'S VIEW\Feuer surprised by scant interaction with colleagues, bureaucracy's\hidden power.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles City Hall is not such a collegial place - it's easy to be seduced by the way things have always worked, and the huge bureaucracy holds more influence than most people realize.

Those are some of the lessons the council's newest member, Michael Feuer, said he has learned during his first six months in office.

Feuer, who represents portions of the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles, said he was surprised by the lack of interaction among council members outside of committee sessions and their three council meetings a week.

"I had this vision of the legislative process that if something was important to you, you would be talking to your colleagues," Feuer said.

"The only real interaction comes on the council floor, which makes each meeting intense. You don't see the colleague-to-colleague efforts to persuade each other on issues."

Feuer also said he finds himself fighting to maintain an outsider's independence against the seduction of becoming an insider.

"It is all too easy to get an insider's perspective very quickly as an elected official," he said. "There are all kinds of pressures to become a part of it. There's no Beltway in Los Angeles like in Washington, but there's the same phenomenon."

Feuer won the 5th District seat - formerly held by Zev Yaroslavsky - on a promise not to become part of politics as usual at City Hall, and he said he's fought against spending most of his time there.

"I've made an effort to be out meeting with constituents," Feuer said. "Otherwise, it's easy to lose touch."

At the same time, Feuer has managed to become a major player on the council, by serving on three key committees, including Budget and Finance, Rules and Elections, and Public Safety.

"He's very bright and works hard, and I wanted to take advantage of that," said City Council President John Ferraro, who made the appointments.

Within his district, Feuer has followed through on some of his campaign promises.

One of his first acts as a council member was to seek the disbanding of the Community Redevelopment Agency project area in Sherman Oaks.

The project area had been established to help rebuild the region following the Northridge Earthquake. But residents had opposed redevelopment, saying they feared the CRA's power of eminent domain and influence in the area.

Feuer has also shown a streak of independence.

Angered by the sudden dismissal of Ethics Commission Executive Director Ben Bycel in October, Feuer used his chairmanship of the Rules and Elections Committee to push through a ballot proposal to reduce from two to one the number of appointees made by the mayor to the commission.

It was one of the few times that Feuer, a lawyer, stepped to the forefront on an issue; he says he is more comfortable working behind the scenes.

The closure of the Lopez Canyon Landfill shows how Feuer has learned to work on the City Council.

The council was deadlocked over whether to close the landfill in February or keep it open another full year with the possibility of operating it for five additional years.

Feuer, working with Councilman Nate Holden, developed a compromise to close the landfill June 30, giving the Bureau of Sanitation time to come up with a full closure plan.

"When I came on, I wanted to explore new ways of tackling our problems," Feuer said. "I wanted to see less acrimony and try to get people to listen carefully to each other and achieve some consensus."

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Photo Michael Feuer Keeps some election vows