Frying pan to fire: Bud Ovrom starts the next act in his long career as a civil servant, running L.A.'s redevelopment agency. (People).

ROBERT "Bud" Ovrom was living and working in Guatemala in the 1960s, preparing for what he thought was going to be a career in the Foreign Service. But Ovrom got sidetracked in 1970 by a job offer as an administrative assistant to the city manager of Simi Valley, and over the next four years he got hooked on city government.

Now, a career that spanned more than 30 years and included stints as city manager of Burbank, Monrovia and Downey is about to change. The L.A. City Council last week confirmed Ovrom as new administrator of the Community Redevelopment Agency.

It's a risky move, many city hall insiders say, because of the agency's long history of internal wrangling and bureaucratic policymaking. Worse yet, the agency is threatened with a 20 percent cut in its $340 million budget.

Ovrom has confronted tough challenges before. He steered Burbank through the turbulent 1990s, when the departure of Lockheed Martin Corp. cost the city 20,000 jobs and emptied S million square feet of buildings within four years' time.

Today, Burbank boasts commercial, housing and retail developments that have been the envy of communities across Southern California. San Fernando Valley secession leaders held up Burbank as a poster child for their cause to break away from Los Angeles.

Question: You had a solid position in Burbank. Why leave?

Answer: I'm at a great point in my life right now. I can do whatever I want. My children are grown, I'm healthy, I'm financially secure. I've been here in Burbank for 17 years and that's a long time for a city manager. It would be very easy for me to go on into my retirement on cruise control, resting on my accomplishments. But I think my leaving now will be rejuvenating for (the city) and for me. I've been saying I'd retire from city management between the ages of 56 and 58. Well, I turn 58 in June.

Q: As you know, the CRA has taken years to move ahead with many of its projects, sometimes with questionable results. Why would you want to get involved with this?

A: I see this as an opportunity, a real challenge. That's what has always driven me. I don't know what I will be able to do to immediately turn things around, but I really do believe this is a new CRA. Mayor Hahn has appointed six new commissioners over the last six months, and I believe it is an agency that will be moving in a very different direction.

Q: What have been the primary problems and how can it be changed?

A: One of the things that's different with the city of Los Angeles and Burbank is that you have many different agencies that all sort of overlap in some way but with weak systems of communication between one another. One of the first things I'd want to do is to establish a better system for communicating with the different city agencies and departments and finding out how we can better target our goals by working more closely together.

Q: How did you get interested in the job?

A: I heard that a recruitment agency was looking for someone to fill the position, but I didn't really pay any attention. Then, a couple of friends here at the city told me I ought to pitch for it. So I went onto the Internet on a Friday afternoon one day not long before Christmas, and I learned that the deadline for filing my application was that following Monday. I hadn't applied for a job in 20 years, so I spent the weekend scrambling to put a resume together and rushed it out.

Q: Were you surprised to hear you were among the top three candidates for the job?

A: I knew I would be competitive. I know there were some very qualified candidates from out of state and within the state that were among the top of the list and some of them have been asked to discuss other positions with the city.

Q: Why this job and not something else? Do you have aspirations of becoming the city's next mayor?

A: No way. I could never run for a public office. I don't like the idea of asking people for money. I did think of teaching for a while, but then this position came along.

Q: What do you think needs to be done to reverse the CRA's image and ability to effect real change?

A: My focus has and always will be about jobs, housing, after-school programs... things that make the community a better place. That's what my plan will center on. We also have a mayor who is in a position of historical importance. I never supported the secession movement, but I understand the need by communities to be represented fairly. And I really think Hahn is looking for a way to make sure that every section of the city is represented.

Q: The county has filed two lawsuits against the CRA over its downtown redevelopment plans. The suits allege the CRA and the city are trying to grab tax dollars by designating as redevelopment zones areas that are not truly blighted. What's your view?

A: I have not gotten into the details of the county lawsuits yet. But it is very common for counties and redevelopment agencies to have disagreements at the beginning of the process. We are all public servants with our own constituencies. But I have found that typically, counties and redevelopment agencies can find compromise in this area. If you just sit down with each other, you can usually work this out.

Q: Should there be a football stadium downtown and should CRA funds be used to build it?

A: I don't expect the CRA to be a decision-maker in that process. The mayor and the City Council will make the policy decisions with regard to a football stadium. The redevelopment agency might be a tool, but the CRA wouldn't be making the decisions. As for any substantial CRA financial contribution, I must say that most redevelopment agencies are strapped for money. Their highest priority must go to jobs and housing. But as for a football stadium downtown, that depends on policy decisions by the Mayor and the City Council.

Q: Regarding being strapped for money, Gov. Gray Davis has proposed taking hundreds of millions of dollars away from redevelopment agencies, including $70 million from the CRA to balance the state budget.

A: Redevelopment agencies have to expect to get hit. How much, that's to be debated. I think we have a strong case to make to policymakers in Sacramento that redevelopment agencies are a tool to stimulate economic development, create jobs and promote housing. Cutting redevelopment agencies' funds is cutting off our nose to spite our face. If the budget cuts do come, though, we're going to have to be a lot more creative. The days that a redevelopment agency relies solely on tax increment financing (revenues generated by CRA projects) are gone. It will take a lot of collaboration in working with other agencies and other sources of revenue. The city has set up a housing trust fund; that's one source of revenues that can be part of redevelopment efforts. There are also federal Community Development Block Grant funds and other sources of funds. What I'm saying here is that redevelopment agencies can no longer be autonomous. We have to work in close cooperation with other city, state and federal agencies to fulfill our mission of creating jobs and housing for this city.

Q: As you leave Burbank, is there a plan or project that you wish you could have seen completed?

A: Yes. I've been working long and hard to get more parks in the city, particularly a large park project in the southeast quadrant. That plan has been slow going, but even though it may not be implemented by the time I leave, it is in progress and it will get done.

Q: What about the long-running battle with the Burbank Airport Authority? Wouldn't you like to have seen some resolution?

A: Absolutely. That's a disappointment because I not only have spent 17 years working on that issue, I got personally involved in it. I appointed myself as the city's front man, and I didn't have to do that. I could have sent someone else to do it. And, remember, we spent a fortune fighting that baffle, I think somewhere around $1.5 million in just the last six years.

Q: Do you think it will ever he resolved?

A: We never wanted a terminal at the airport, so in a sense there is some resolution. We said we'd agree to one only as a way to get curfews and caps on flights. But from the city's perspective, I don't think we are going to see a terminal built there for a long time. The FAA has said that one isn't necessary. Now, with budget cuts in the mix and post-9/l1 security requirements, I don't think it's going to happen.

Q: What do you think your successor's top priorities ought to be?

A: A year ago, when the city was holding on to a healthy surplus and the economic picture was brighter, I would have said use the riches we've got for you wisely. Put them into after-school programs, housing, community enrichment programs. Spend it on reinvestments for the community. Now, considering what's happening with state and federal budget cuts, they are coming at you and you'll have to do whatever you can to hold onto (those riches).

RELATED ARTICLE: INTERVIEW

Robert "Bud" Ovrom

Title: Administrator, Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles

Born: 1945, Annapolis, Md.

Education: Bachelor's degree, political science, UC Santa Barbara; master's in public administration, USC 

Career Turning Point: After concluding service in the Peace Corps and onsidering a career in the Foreign Service, receiving and accepting a ob offer in 1970 as administrative assistant to the city manager of Simi Valley.

Most Admired Person: John F. Kennedy 

Personal: Married, two adult daughters

Hobbies: "Very avid, but very poor, tennis player." Also, travel with wife.