POLITICS—Hahn Is More Than Fashionably Late at Hollywood Extravaganza

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With dozens of television cameras present, it was no surprise that politicians aplenty showed up at the glitzy opening ceremony for the $615 million Hollywood & Highland project.

But one politician was conspicuously absent at the Nov. 9 ceremony: L.A. Mayor James Hahn. The mayor had attended a private dedication ceremony for the Hollywood & Highland project two days earlier, but chose to skip the public event.

Instead, Hahn attended a press conference put on that same morning by Fannie Mae announcing $50 billion in mortgage assistance for low-income families seeking housing in L.A. and Orange counties. This event received modest press coverage.

You could argue that the Fannie Mae program might be more far-reaching than the opening of Hollywood & Highland. But still, Hahn missed another opportunity to take center stage at a high-profile event.

“What he should have done was attend both events,” one City Hall insider said. Hollywood-area City Councilman Eric Garcetti managed this feat, so why not the mayor?

Mayoral spokesman Patrick Lee said that “just because he wasn’t there in front of all the television cameras, doesn’t mean he doesn’t support the project.”

Lee noted that Hahn did return to Hollywood & Highland on the evening after the opening and a couple television cameras picked him up there for the late evening news broadcasts.


Term Limits

In politics, timing is everything. Last week, at the behest of Councilman Nate Holden, the L.A. City Council voted to draft ordinances to extend term limits for councilmembers (and presumably other city elected officials) from the current two terms to three or four terms, or to abolish term limits altogether. This week, the Council will vote on whether to put one or more of these measures on the March ballot.

Trouble is, there already is an initiative extending term limits on the March ballot for state legislators. The idea of both state and city officials simultaneously seeking to hold onto office longer is bound to turn off some voters.

On another election-related matter, the Council passed a motion for city officials to draft an ordinance to move up city elections one month. Under the motion, the April primary in odd-numbered years would move up to March, while the June general election would be in May. The reason: to allow more time for a transition between administrations. This past election cycle, there was less than four weeks between the time James Hahn won the mayoral post to the time he was sworn in.


Other Election News

You can add another potential statewide bond measure into the mix on the March 2002 ballot. State Sen. John Burton is proposing a $2 billion bond initiative to fund affordable housing projects. Burton said last week that the money should go to low-rent apartments, homeless shelters and housing for farm workers.

If the Legislature puts the measure on the ballot, it would join a $2 billion park bond measure. In addition, Gov. Gray Davis has said he will consider requesting a special session of the Legislature to put a multibillion-dollar infrastructure bond measure on the March ballot.


DWP Search Continues

It’s been months since David Freeman formally left his post of general manager for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and still no replacement has been named. Freeman left the DWP back in April to become energy czar for Gov. Gray Davis and then to head up the California public power authority.

But it wasn’t until last month that the DWP Board of Commissioners hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart Inc. to search for candidates for the general manager position and the post of assistant general manager for customer service. Part of the delay was attributed to the change in mayoral administration; the events of Sept. 11 also slowed the process a bit.

Spencer Stuart is supposed to submit its short list of recommendations to the DWP Board and Mayor James Hahn next month.

Interim general manager David Wiggs is widely considered to be a front-runner.

Staff Reporter Howard Fine can be contacted at (323) 549-5225, ext. 227 or by e-mail at [email protected].

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