After Eight Years, Has Mayor Dick Made the Grade?
Los Angeles in 2001 is a far cry from Los Angeles circa 1993, when Mayor Richard Riordan took office. A metropolis that at the time was struggling to rebound from the 1992 riots and a brutal Southern California recession, today has recovered its international gloss. During Riordan's tenure, the city hosted a successful Democratic National Convention and broke ground on landmark structures such as Downtown's Walt Disney Concert Hall and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. As he prepares to step down, the 71-year-old Riordan leaves a city that is incontrovertibly better off than it was eight years ago.
But how much of the shine is due to Riordan's positions, policies and panache, and how much did his Los Angeles benefit from nationwide trends such as a bull market and a shrinking violent crime rate? Did Riordan, a mega-millionaire venture capitalist before he took office, make the grade as a mayor? We've broken it down.
Public Safety: Early on, Riordan repeatedly promised to invigorate a demoralized LAPD and boost membership, which was about 7,200 officers when he was first sworn in, to more than 10,000 (by comparison, New York City has some 40,000 cops). Although the peak during the Riordan years was about 9,800 officers, as of last week, according to the LAPD, there were only 9,041 police officers on the force. (Factors such as retirement helped keep the level below Riordan's goal.)
Riordan displayed guts when he withstood vocal criticism and dumped ineffective Police Chief Willie Williams in 1997, replacing him with Bernard Parks. Riordan also enjoyed a steadily falling crime rate during his time in office. However, the Rampart scandal proves the department was never fully cleansed, and scars Riordan's oft-stated effort to make Los Angeles "the safest big city in America." And although he fought as long as he could, Riordan and the city ultimately signed a federal consent decree for the LAPD, something that can't be called a mayoral victory.
Grade: B-
Civics: Riordan by all accounts was a brilliant businessman in his private life. Yet in public office, his CEO style had him routinely butting heads with City Council. With his power limited by the City Charter (Mayor Hahn will enjoy the benefits of the document's rewrite), Council seemed to relish opportunities to take Riordan down a notch. His other governmental relations were often rocky: He frequently clashed with department heads and during his first six years in office ran through five chiefs of staff. Riordan never seemed to grasp the fact that compromise and shared credit, not corporate boardroom power plays, are the name of the game in ego-driven city government.
Grade: D+
Crisis Response: Riordan shined in the face of adversity. When Democratic National Convention preparations were slow, Riordan, a Republican, quickly put his deputy, Noelia Rodriguez, in charge. When the LAUSD hit its nadir, Riordan helped get rid of Superintendent Ruben Zacarias and also hand picked School Board candidates to put the district on course. (The moves brought equal outrage and applause.) After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Riordan mobilized city agencies; Los Angeles' rapid response was marked by the reopening of the Santa Monica Freeway (10) barely two months after it collapsed.
Grade: A
Business Studies: Riordan made Los Angeles a better place for business by revamping the city's Byzantine tax code and streamlining its permitting process. And his Mayor's Business Team claims it helped create 700,000 jobs since its 1993 formation. Granted, the city still faces economic issues such as a large homeless population and a film industry fleeing to Canada, a UCLA study questioned the Business Team's actual numbers. Also, the Downtown turnaround, while progressing, has a ways to go. But by creating an environment in which Los Angeles not only welcomed but actively courted business, Riordan deserves some credit for the recent boom.
Grade: A-
Public Speaking: Even after eight years, Hizzoner rarely sounded better than wooden, and reporters frequently smirked at his stunted "Los Angeles is on a roll" line. However, he was smart enough to hire good speech writers, and rarely embarrassed himself with Dubya-style miscues.
Grade: C
Physical Fitness: He's an avid bicyclist, and the press delighted in reporting on his hockey games with architect Frank Gehry. A few years ago I even saw him play pickup basketball at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. While Riordan's no Kobe, let's see you shoot hoops as a septuagenarian.
Grade: A
Accessibility: Riordan made himself more available to the public than many previous mayors. He led a series of community bicycle rides, in which Angelenos, if they could keep up, could bend the mayor's ear. He also routinely answered caller questions on radio station KFWB's "Ask the Mayor" program. And he seemed to listen to the populace: At one event, a woman complained to the mayor about the sorry state of her local park. Not only did Riordan swiftly clean it up, but the instance captured his imagination and kick-started a citywide parks renewal program.
Grade: A
Extracurricular Activities: During his tenure, Riordan embraced several projects that were not traditionally the domain of a sitting mayor. He and pal Eli Broad personally resuscitated Disney Hall when they persuaded (read: twisted the arms of) various corporations to donate to the stalled project. Although he recused himself from the Staples Center development because he owned the nearby Pantry restaurant, Riordan's hand was felt with the presence of his senior advisor, Steve Soboroff. Riordan recently pressured Hollywood writers and producers to resolve their contractual split: A strike was averted.
Grade: A
Keeping His Word: One case rises above all others in this subject: Riordan asked Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley to explore building a football stadium in Chavez Ravine. When the Coliseum became the preferred site for an NFL team (remember how that turned out), O'Malley was left alone, dangling like a limp flag. O'Malley cited this as a contributing factor when he sold the Dodgers to the FOX Corporation. We'd give him an "F," but perhaps there's part of the story we don't know.
Grade: D-
Overall: Richard Riordan was an energetic, more-than-capable mayor, eager to improve Los Angeles and willing to tackle the city's greatest challenges. The business-minded Riordan proved himself the right leader for the time he served. Yet while his forceful nature solved many problems, it created others, and his divisive Council relations remain prominent. Riordan certainly improved Los Angeles' economy, but did he unite a metropolis still dealing with racial tensions and a growing rich-poor divide? Riordan is perhaps best defined by his personal mantra: "It's easier to seek forgiveness than it is to get permission." That approach brought great success, and some notable shortcomings.
Grade: B+
Mayor Richard Riordan Report Card
Public Safety: B-
Civics: D+
Crisis Response: A
Business Studies: A-
Public Speaking: C
Physical Fitness: A
Accessibility: A
Extracurricular Activities: A
Keeping His Word: D-
Overall: B+
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