Council Overrides Bradley Veto of Building Slowdown

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday overrode Mayor Tom Bradley’s veto of a temporary moratorium on building in two pockets of the 10th Council District, prompting some city officials to predict chaos in the city’s planning process.

“It’s a planning fiasco for the future,” said Councilwoman Gloria Molina after the vote. “It’s not smart, but it talks to the desperation we all have.”

The moratorium was proposed by 10th District Councilman Nate Holden last month when homeowners alerted him that developers were taking advantage of the several months required to approve an interim growth ordinance by rushing to demolish single-family homes and erect apartment buildings in the Pico-Fairfax and Wilshire-Crenshaw areas.

Overrides Are Rare

Molina was one of 10 council members to enact the ban over the mayor’s rare veto. According to a Bradley aide, the council last overrode a Bradley veto on a non-budget item in 1986. The issue then was the reapportionment of council districts.

Bradley vetoed the moratorium last month, saying it was illegal and a bad form of urban planning. The city attorney’s office had not issued an opinion on whether the ban was legal when the emergency measure went to Bradley.

Pressed by council members Wednesday, Assistant City Atty. Claudia McGee-Henry said it would be difficult to defend the city if the ban were implemented, but said it was not illegal per se.

The moratorium would automatically expire when a more detailed interim control ordinance, which already is in the works, is implemented.

‘Haste Was the Rule’

Bradley’s administrative assistant, Anton Calleia, said after the vote that the issue was whether to follow due process or whether “by leaning on the Planning Department, you can waive all the rules and go on and do it. . . . In this case, haste was the rule of the day.”

Holden, who unsuccessfully challenged Bradley for mayor in April, said the veto was a “pro-development” act by the mayor.

“Somebody has to take the courage to stand against developers and protect the families who take pride in their neighborhoods and want to save their communities from being destroyed,” Holden said.

Some council members suggested that the character of the neighborhoods added urgency to the question. Both are stable, integrated neighborhoods consisting mostly of single-family homes of relatively modest price.

During the debate, however, several members took Director of Planning Kenneth Topping to task for allowing Holden to push the ban through in a week. When they faced similar concerns in their districts, Molina and others said, they were told they had to adhere to a more lengthy process of obtaining an interim control ordinance to manage development.