Commission questions.

It is good that Mayor James Hahn has directed that city commissioners no longer participate in staff discussions of contracts ("Chick Making Most of Power Granted to Controller's Position," Jan. 19), and better yet that the City Council is considering a motion to ban this practice and ban commissioners from fund raising for public officials. But the most important parts of Chick's audits are her findings of extremely poor management practices at the airport, harbor and water and power departments.

The audit of the Port of Los Angeles reveals a lack of documentation, accountability and transparency in negotiating multi-million dollar leases for public property that would never be tolerated in a properly managed public corporation. Chick has referred to the port's "culture of secrecy." Based upon our years of trying to deal with the port, we absolutely agree. As for the airport, Chick is quoted as saying "It would be my suggestion that airport management rethink their attempt at spinning the story and concentrate on actually addressing the many problems in their agency." Amen.

We suggest that Hahn take these audits seriously and clean up the management of these mammoth city agencies. One suggestion might be to convene a working group of management experts from USC, UCLA and other graduate business schools in the area to try to explain the basics of professional management to these city agencies.

Noel Park

President

San Pedro and Peninsula Homeowners'

Coalition