Candidate Hayden speaks at Bruin Democrats event

  City council candidate Tom Hayden
visited UCLA on Wednesday to address student concerns.

By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Contributor

Former state senator and Los Angeles city council hopeful Tom
Hayden visited UCLA Wednesday to address student concerns.

Hayden is a front-runner for the Fifth District council seat
currently held by Michael Feuer, who is running for city
attorney.

The affluent district, which stretches from Westwood through
Bel-Air and Van Nuys, is being contested by 11 candidates ““
twice the average for other council seats.

Speaking before an audience of 20 in an event sponsored by Bruin
Democrats, Hayden opened the discussion by addressing a recent
proposal to build a $44 million parking garage under the Intramural
Field that would provide 1,500 additional spaces.

“The university is only analyzing alternative parking lots
and not analyzing alternatives to more cars,” Hayden
said.

Before building a parking structure, he said, all feasible
alternatives must be explored, including the BruinGo! bus program,
which provides free busing for UCLA students via the Santa Monica
Big Blue Bus.

Stating his support for affirmative action, Hayden said he will
attend the March 14 student rally to repeal SP-1 and 2, policies
that eliminated affirmative action in admissions and hiring
throughout the UC system in 1995.

“A public university can’t allow itself to be
positioned to become all one demographic anymore,” he
said.

Hayden said he would like to implement UCLA’s research
capabilities to help with city issues. In addition, he encouraged a
subculture to establish a rapport with the city to research
critical urban problems.

“The role of university students and faculty in providing
services becomes greater,” Hayden said.

“UCLA is an untapped resource because it didn’t
consider itself part of the city until lately,” he
continued.

He also objected to how money is spent on university education
and contended that most of the money is spent on those who do not
need further help.

“We spend most of our money on the students who are
easiest to teach and we spend the least of our money on those who
are hardest to teach,” he said.

Among those hardest to teach are single parents, laid-off
industrial workers and immigrants, all of whom have the drive to
succeed but need good teaching, he said.

Hayden also criticized low budget allocations to important
aspects of city maintenance.

Because pothole repair is only allotted $1.5 million per year,
Hayden said, it will take 65 years at this rate to fix all
identified potholes in the city.

Elected to the State Assembly in 1982 and to the State Senate in
1992, Hayden served a total of seven consecutive terms.

Hayden has recently come under fire for changing his residence
to become eligible for the Fifth District election and for refusing
to accept matching city campaign funds in order to avoid the
accompanying $330,000 spending limit.

In response to criticism that his extended stay in Sacramento
has put him out of touch with city issues, Hayden said most of his
legislative work has been on city issues.

“We think he’s a good candidate and that he’s
doing good work,” said Kristina Meshelski, internal vice
president of Bruin Democrats.

Near the end of his visit, Hayden stated his support for Antonio
Villaraigosa in the coinciding mayoral election on April 10.

Hayden described Villaraigosa, whom he worked with in the
California state legislature, as the most idealistic of the mayoral
candidates who can energize the city.

But regardless of who wins the mayoral race, Hayden said he
would be able to work with that person if elected for city
council.

“I think this is the beginning of a more reform-minded
city government,” Hayden said.