HAYDEN TACKLES CITY TOPICS : STATE SENATOR PLANS RUN AT MAYOR'S OFFICE.

Byline: Sara Catania Daily News Staff Writer

Fresh from a barracuda fishing trip on Santa Monica Bay, state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles, met with the Daily News at his Westside office Friday to discuss his plans to run for mayor of Los Angeles in 1997.

Hayden has not formally announced his candidacy, but earlier this week he filed a notice of intent to raise campaign money with the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.

Now a Santa Monica resident, Hayden must move into Los Angeles within 30 days of filing official candidacy papers. His district, which he has represented since 1992, includes Pacific Palisades, Malibu and parts of the San Fernando Valley, Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

Daily News: Let's start with the Police Department. How would you improve the department and address the morale problem?

Hayden: The real issue is efficiently putting police officers on the street and making sure they understand the community. The police, just like everyone else in Los Angeles, are subject to living an enclave lifestyle in a city that has more cultures and languages than anyone can imagine. So training and awareness of other cultures is an absolute priority for police, and for the city as a whole.

I think it's a mistake for (Mayor Richard Riordan) to have gotten into the numbers game. I think you need more uniformed officers on the street. But that can come about as easily from reorganizing the Police Department as from trying to play a numbers game of how many you add. For instance, he's trying to add the MTA police, which is not a real addition, but it helps with his numbers. And now he's worried that the numbers of arrests are down. Well, maybe arrests are down for all kinds of reasons. One could be that police are being more selective. We don't know. But the numbers game is the wrong way to approach this.

DN: By many accounts, Riordan has restored confidence in business in Los Angeles. What would be your strategy to continue that trend?

Hayden: The point of view that Mayor Riordan brings to business is from his background as a member of a law firm that participated in the raids and restructuring in the '80s. His view is that you have to weaken environmental standards and weaken community participation in order to foster a better climate for business.

My view is quite different. My view is that you have to improve the natural environment. The quality of the air, for example. You have to improve the school and community college system. And you have to improve neighborhood vitality and participation to make Los Angeles an attractive place to do business.

DN: Sometimes those things conflict with the needs of businesses. How do you deal with that?

Hayden: Let's take a specific example. . . . The mayor believes, and has said, that you have to have more private corporate jets fly in and out of Van Nuys, whatever the impact on the community, because that's good for business and makes L.A. an attractive place to invest.

I say that's catering to the private ethics of his corporate friends at the expense of neighborhood quality and at the expense of safety and at the expense of noise. The policies that he is embarking on are far from genial or friendly towards neighborhood values. They're based on the mystical belief in trickle-down economics. In this case, that the L.A. economy will improve for everyone if corporate executives have more opportunity to fly their jets in and out of Van Nuys. That doesn't seem like the American work ethic to me. It seems more like leisurely private ethics.

DN: Valley residents have long been promised rail service. Do you support rail service for the Valley?

Hayden: I oppose the subway in the Valley because it doesn't make any fiscal sense. It's hundreds of millions of dollars per mile.

That leaves the various light-rail options versus bus. I'm open to both. But I think you have to start by reconvening all the elected officials and civic associations and homeowners associations in the Valley for meetings that start not with false promises but with fiscal reality and say here's how much money there really is. Let's analyze who really travels in and out of the Valley.

I think it would come down to two choices, and it would be a tough choice. One would be to expand bus and super shuttle and jitney service, on the grounds that that's more flexible. The other would be to do some kind of light rail, which would be more expensive, probably more disruptive but would probably have a lot of popular support.

DN: Right now you're living outside of Los Angeles. How will you overcome the perception of Tom Hayden as an interloper from Santa Monica?

Hayden: Well, what do we have here? We have a mayor from Brentwood. If people feel that that's representative of the whole city, then fine. But it's all appearance. I have lived in Venice and Westwood as recently as in the last few years. And I intend to live in Los Angeles as soon as my wife and I can make up our minds on a house. If any of your readers have suggestions, we're open to them. Since you have to live in a house and it's not just a front, it does take some time to find one that makes you happy.

DN: Where are you looking?

Hayden: We have looked on the Westside. We've looked in the Hollywood Hills. We've looked in the hills that go both ways, to the Valley and the city. It's a debate over canyons versus air versus traffic. If people hold it against me, they hold it against me. But I've represented Los Angeles. The majority of my voters are from Los Angeles. My office is in Los Angeles. We'll move and then the question of whether to run for mayor will be an open question. But I hope to put this issue to rest.

DN: How much money do you think it will take to beat Riordan? Will you dip into your own pockets, or will you go with campaign spending limits and take matching funds?

Hayden: I will abide by the law, which as I understand it means I have to raise $150,000 in contributions of less than $500, and then I can seek matching funds on a dollar-for-dollar basis. One has to concede to Mayor Riordan the massive advantage here.

SOURCE: Daily News Staff Writer Patrick McGreevy contributed to this story.

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Photo: Tom Hayden

Intends to move to L.A.