RIORDAN SEEKING CONTROL; MAYOR URGES POWER SHIFT.Byline: Patrick McGreevy and Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writers Jumping into the roiling debate over how to rewrite re·write v. re·wrote , re·writ·ten , re·writ·ing, re·writes v.tr. 1. To write again, especially in a different or improved form; revise. 2. the city's charter, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Mayor Richard Riordan Richard J. Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is a Republican politician from California, U.S. who served as the California Secretary of Education from 2003–2005 and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993–2001. Riordan ran for Governor of California unsuccessfully in 2002. called Tuesday for a major shift of powers from the City Council to the Mayor's Office. Ending months of study and closed-door deliberation deliberation n. the act of considering, discussing, and, hopefully, reaching a conclusion, such as a jury's discussions, voting and decision-making. DELIBERATION, contracts, crimes. , Riordan announced his vision for a greatly empowered mayor/chief executive - with more authority to manage city finances, fire poor administrators and run city departments. ``Right now power is diffused among a number of people - 15 City Council members, the mayor, the city controller, the city attorney . . .'' Riordan said during a meeting with editors and reporters of the Daily News. ``I'm held accountable for a lot of things that I have zero power (over), and I have to just grin and bear it Grin and Bear It is a daily panel comic strip created by George Lichtenstein under the penname George Lichty. It has been syndicated from 1932 through 1940, and from 1942 through to today. ,'' he said. Riordan's recommendations drew mostly opposition from City Council members and city union leaders, who said the proposals would eliminate important checks and balances. Some of the harshest criticism came from homeowner activists, who expressed shock that Riordan offered no plan to share power with the people, through the creation of neighborhood councils Neighborhood councils are governmental or non-governmental bodies composed of local people who handle neighborhood problems. They can be found in many cities throughout the world. or other groups. ``I think (the plan) goes beyond having a `strong mayor' form of government to being imperialistic,'' said Don Schultz For the Marketing expert, see . Don Schultz is a former president and a former vice-president of the United States Chess Federation. He was born in New York in 1937 and currently lives in Florida. He was elected vice-president on August 14 2005. , president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Association and a leader of the secession movement in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . ``We're talking about a power grab as opposed to a sharing of power with the communities.'' If charter reform ends up looking like the mayor's plan, it will do little to convince secessionists in the Valley, San Pedro and other areas to drop their campaigns to break away from Los Angeles, Schultz said. Valley secession leader Richard Close of Sherman Oaks said he supports Riordan's proposal to give the Mayor's Office more authority and accountability, but said the plan is deficient if there is no sharing of power with communities. In the interview, Riordan said he hopes the two commissions now rewriting the 700-page charter will create some system to give communities more say in their government, but he is not prepared to say what that system should be. ``Clearly, neighborhoods have to be given a greater voice,'' Riordan said, adding that he supports the concept of giving communities an ``organized voice in government.'' The mayor restated his opposition to secession, saying charter reform is the hope for the city's future. ``I'm the mayor of the whole city, and the Valley is the economic engine of the city,'' he said, explaining his opposition to secession. Riordan's proposal would give the mayor sole power to oversee and fire city managers, would strip the City Council of power to overturn city commissions' decisions, would transfer power over civil litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. from the city attorney to the executive branch, and would transfer financial management functions from the city controller to the executive office. The mayor should have power to appoint a chief financial officer and chief administrative officer A chief administrative officer (CAO) is responsible for administrative management of private, public or governmental corporations. The CAO is one of the highest ranking members of an organization, managing daily operations and usually reporting directly to the chief executive who report directly to the mayor and are part of the mayor's Cabinet, Riordan suggested. Currently, the city's chief administrative officer reports to the mayor and council. The focus of Riordan's reform plan is on the assignment of power in Los Angeles, where a ``weak mayor'' form of government has made it difficult for Riordan to get his initiatives through the City Council. ``They can all be Nobel Prize winners Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel Year Recipient(s) 1969 Ragnar Frisch Jan Tinbergen 1970 Paul A. Samuelson 1971 Simon Kuznets 1972 Sir John R. Hicks Kenneth J. ,'' he said, ``but they are going to raise havoc with projects. They put amendments in to emasculate e·mas·cu·late tr.v. e·mas·cu·lat·ed, e·mas·cu·lat·ing, e·mas·cu·lates 1. To castrate. 2. To deprive of strength or vigor; weaken. adj. Deprived of virility, strength, or vigor. things that have been well thought out.'' Under his proposal, the council's role would be limited mostly to legislative duties. On Tuesday, Riordan began what is expected to be a tough sell of his proposals, meeting with union leaders and the heads of the appointed and elected charter reform commissions engaged in rewriting the city's 72-year-old blueprint of government. Riordan offered several examples of how the present system has failed, including the many years of delay in getting a new 911 emergency telephone system completed. On that project, Riordan said, ``the council is all over the place, where there's no authority or responsibility. It's taken a lot longer than it should have by far.'' He complained it took three years to get council approval of merging the Social Services social services Noun, pl welfare services provided by local authorities or a state agency for people with particular social needs social services npl → servicios mpl sociales Department into the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. . ``It costs the city least $3,000 for the council to process each managerial, nonlegislative item,'' he said, adding that it includes a recent transfer of $360 from one account to another. ``The reason: We have no control over the finances of the city,'' Riordan said. The heads of the two competing charter reform panels said they were intrigued with Riordan's proposal but that it needs further study. ``This is an important contribution to the debate and the timing is excellent, coming as we prepare to begin examining these issues,'' said George Keiffer, chairman of the council-appointed panel. Erwin Chemerinsky Erwin Chemerinsky (born 1953) is a well-known professor of Constitutional law and federal civil procedure, has recently accepted a position at the University of California, Irvine, in the new Donald Bren School of Law, beginning in 2009. , who chairs the elected Charter Reform Commission, agreed with Keiffer that the key issue to be worked out by both panels is the form and nature of decentralizing de·cen·tral·ize v. de·cen·tral·ized, de·cen·tral·iz·ing, de·cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. the city government to place more power in the community. ``Of all the issues we face, that is the most important and will determine our success,'' he said. RIORDAN'S PLAN Here's a look at Mayor Richard Riordan's plan for reforming the Los Angeles City Charter: Create a ``strong mayor'' system in which the city's chief executive would have broad administrative powers over city departments. Limit the role of the City Council to legislative matters. Allow the mayor to fire department heads without City Council approval. Remove the City Council's ability to overturn decisions by city commissions. Create the post of an elected city prosecutor for criminal matters while creating an appointed legal counsel to provide advice to the mayor and City Council on all other matters. Limit the elected city controller to conducting audits while establishing a separate city Finance Department to perform accounting functions. CAPTION(S): Photo, box PHOTO (color): no caption (Riordan) Box: Riordan's plan (see text) |
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