MAYOR ZIPPING ALONG IN WEEK 1.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

In the week since declaring ``I'm ready'' on the eve of his inauguration, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has hit the ground running at a near-frenetic pace in a highly visible campaign to reshape city government and establish himself as a high-energy, dynamic leader.

He has appeared at dozens of events - from an Independence Day celebration in Warner Center to the ceremonial swearing-in of new Councilman Bill Rosendahl - and has moved quickly on his promised agenda to try to reform the city's ethics and transportation operations. Within hours of Thursday's London bombings, he was on the air and riding the subways to reassure residents.

``You are seeing someone who has good instincts and been working for years to prepare for this job, from his days in the Assembly, when he was speaker, when he ran for mayor four years ago and when he served on the council,'' said former Speaker Bob Hertzberg, who ran for mayor this year and later backed Villaraigosa and went on to head his transition team.

``He has been thinking about what he would do as the city's mayor all those years. And now he can do it.''

He's also gotten a lot of help from his quickly assembled brain trust in performing flawlessly during his first week as mayor.

Villaraigosa also has assembled a team of experienced and politically savvy experts - many of whom he has worked with for years - who are helping him craft a strategy and vision for the city that contrasts sharply with a previous administration dogged by controversy, criminal investigations and an unambitious agenda.

He meets with all of his top aides daily - sometimes several times a day - and reaches out to a wide network of friends and associates whom he has worked with over the years.

Among key advisers is Hertzberg, an attorney and Sherman Oaks resident who worked with Villaraigosa for a number of years on Eastside political issues. The two were roommates in Sacramento when they served in the Assembly.

Mended fences

The two had a falling-out over the transition period - and in their challenge against each other this year for mayor - but they say they now have mended fences and are again a team.

Villaraigosa's chief deputy mayor, Robin Kramer, has worked with Villaraigosa for years on various issues and served as the staff director of his transition team. She also has a long tenure in city government, having served as chief deputy to former Mayor Richard Riordan as well as with former City Councilmen Richard Alatorre and Bob Ronka, as well as serving as a key figure in billionaire Eli Broad's philanthropic foundation.

Deputy Mayor Jimmy Blackman also is a close Villaraigosa ally, having worked for him when he was in the Assembly and was speaker, and during Villaraigosa's 2001 campaign for mayor. Blackman also served as Villaraigosa's chief of staff during his two years as a councilman.

Deputy Mayor Marcus Allen brings extensive local political and City Hall experience to Villaraigosa's team, having worked as chief deputy to City Controller Laura Chick and former Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky. In addition, he has experience in the city administrative and chief legislative analyst's offices.

Then there's Deputy Mayor Bud Ovrum, who impressed Villaraigosa in his role as executive director of the city's Community Redevelopment Agency, and prior to that headed the Burbank Redevelopment Agency, where he was credited with guiding the city's economic turnaround.

They already have begun to develop a close daily working relationship, with Kramer, Allen and Blackman meeting each morning at 8 to discuss plans for the day and developments from the day before. It serves as a prelude to a broader staff meeting later in the morning.

Villaraigosa has not been attending those sessions, but keeps in contact separately.

Together, the team has tackled an array of key issues in the first week, helping Villaraigosa navigate consensus behind the scenes and carefully execute what so far has been a bold and proactive image and direction.

In his first act after being sworn into office July 1, Villaraigosa removed five lobbyists who served as city commissioners. He followed that up last Tuesday with an appeal to the City Council to adopt a series of ethics reforms, created his own in-house ethics czar and signed an executive order to require his staff and all department heads to sign an ethics pledge.

That was followed with his appointments of two former San Fernando Valley secession leaders - former Assembly Democratic Leader Richard Katz and Republican attorney David Fleming - to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board and the release of his transit plans. Hahn had ousted Fleming from the Fire Commission in a controversial move seen as an attack on Valley leaders.

Villaraigosa's flurry of activity came after a six-week period between the election and the inauguration in which he was credited with resolving a long-standing labor dispute between hotel operators and their workers and calling for massive reform of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

While Villaraigosa has downplayed efforts to track him based on a timeline, his aides acknowledge privately there is an all-out effort to set a tone of change.

``We all know that (the press) will be looking at what we do in 100 days, at six months, at a year,'' said one top staffer, who spoke on condition of not being identified. ``We are all working to make sure there is something to look back on with pride.''

Hertzberg, who talks regularly with Villaraigosa and his top staff including Kramer, said he is only one of a number of people with whom the mayor talks about issues.

``He works the telephone tirelessly,'' Hertzberg said. ``He has a wide network of people he talks with to make sure they are on board or to get advice from. I don't think there is just one person he talks with.''

Important symbols

Jaime Regalado of the Pat Brown Institute at California State University, Los Angeles, said Villaraigosa understands the importance of the symbolism connected with the job as well as the need to reach out.

``What Antonio wants to remind voters in Los Angeles and the wider audience at large is that not only is he active and with lots of energy, but that he's in charge,'' Regalado said.

``He wants to be a mayor on the job 24-7 and wants to be the exact opposite of what many people perceived about (former mayor James) Hahn. He is going back to the image he had in the early part of his political career, when he seemed to be everywhere all the time.''

Regalado said Villaraigosa also comes from a background where he wants to build support to back his decisions before they are announced.

``His whole background is one of building consensus rather than forcing decisions on people,'' Regalado said. ``It is not in his nature to shoot from the hip. When he does something, it is carefully thought out. Hahn had a small inner circle of people, where Antonio is quite different. He has a wide network of people from all across the board that he draws from.''

But Joel Kotkin, an Irvine Fellow at the New America Institute who has been critical of the new mayor, said it's too early to predict the ultimate success of Villaraigosa because delicate choices still loom in the near future.

``He hasn't had to deal with the real issues yet,'' Kotkin said. ``He is going to have to make choices on all these things he's been talking about. Will the money be there for rail or will he need it to keep the buses running? Will he have the money to hire more cops or will he need to use it to shore up the pension funds? Will he be able to keep the City Council with him or will he face competition from them?''

Still, Kotkin said he has been encouraged by Villaraigosa's initial appointments and believes it marks a sharp contrast to the former administration.

``With Hahn, it was almost like insider baseball where he and his staff knew all the answers. With Villaraigosa, you're going to see more reaching out to get people on board with him.''

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Station 89 firefighters from North Hollywood watch as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa lifts a 300-pound manhole cover in a visit on Saturday.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer