Thursday, August 16, 2001
Page 10
Hahn Names 40 More Appointees to City Commissions
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Mayor James Hahn named daughter of former Mayor Richard Riordan, the wife of new Airport Commissioner Ted Stein, and the brother of his chief of staff to city panels along with about 40 other nominations.
Kathleen A. Riordan, first appointed by her father to the Board of Animal Services Commissioners, was picked by Hahn to serve a new term.
Ellen Stein, appointed by Richard Riordan to the paid post on the Board of Public Works, was also renominated. Stein currently serves as president of the panel and has been widely lauded for her effectiveness.
Unlike other city board or commission posts, members of the Board of Public Works serve fulltime and receive an annual salary of just under $100,000.
Stein’s husband, Ted Stein, ran an often bitter campaign against Hahn for city attorney in 1997, but later broke with Mayor Riordan and backed Hahn for mayor in the last election. Stein, who served on the Airport and Harbor commissions under Riordan, was conformed to return to the Airport Commission last week.
Attorney John McOsker of the law firm of Belcher, Henzie & Biegenzahn was appointed to the Area Planning Commission that covers San Pedro. McOsker is the brother of attorney Tim McOsker, Hahn’s chief of staff in the mayor’s office and, earlier, in the city attorney’s office.
Hahn and both McOskers are longtime residents of San Pedro, where residents have contemplated secession from Los Angeles. The area planning panels-—an innovation of the 1999 city charter—-were meant to address concerns that City Hall was too remote from local concerns.
Other appointments include developer Thomas Gilmore to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Gilmore has become best known for his efforts to restore old office buildings in historic downtown and reopen them as loft housing.
Other appointees to that panel were Joann Garcia and Christine Kearns. Hahn did not reappoint Michael Keeley, a former Riordan aide whose actions put him at odds with then-City Attorney Hahn in 1996.
Yolanda Chavez, former chief of staff for Rep Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Los Angeles, was appointed to serve on the Area Planning Commission for the district covering the eastern part of the city.
Chavez served briefly as the deputy director of the city’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.
Former Airport and Transportation Commission member Robert Chick, husband of City Controller Laura Chick, was named to serve on the Library Commission.
The appointments are subject to approval of the City Council.
In other City Hall appointments, council President Alex Padilla picked colleague Cindy Miscikowski to replace Hal Bernson on the Local Area Planning Commission, which has the lead role in determine the timing and mechanics of a secession vote by the San Fernando Valley.
The move sparked immediate outrage among Valley separatist leaders, who have long worked with Bernson on Valley issues. The councilman slated a news conference for this morning to criticize Padilla’s actions.
Bernson helped lead a Valley secession drive in the 1970s and is seen as far more favorable to a separate valley city than is Miscikowski, who has gone on record opposing a split.
Copyright 2001, Metropolitan News Company