Q&A with the Daily Bruin: Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn

Interview conducted by Maegan Carberry, Daily Bruin Senior
Staff.

DB: I understand you were an English student at
Pepperdine?

JH: Yes. And I minored in journalism. I worked at
Pepperdine’s paper. I wrote features, and in the old days
before computers, we actually had to do the let type and figure out
headlines and layout.

DB: So we have it easy now?

JH: (laughs) A little bit.

DB: What inspired you to get into politics and go to
law school?

  ANGIE LEVINE Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn
answers questions about the future of UCLA and the city.

JH: I was in my last year at Pepperdine and thinking about going
to graduate school. And one of those things that happens to you in
life that you’re not planning on happened to me.

There was this new program called University International where
you could spend a year working in a community-based organization. I
got involved in it volunteering at the Legal Aid’s family law
program. I helped women get restraining orders, which was my first
exposure to domestic violence. It changed my plans. I decided to go
to law school. I thought it was a way I could make a
contribution.

DB: And politics runs in your family?

JH: Politics. My dad was a professor at Pepperdine and ran for
city council. Certainly, I was around politics growing up. I never
really planned to be in politics though. It just happened. I wanted
to be a lawyer, a prosecutor and I was a City Attorney for some
time.

DB: Obviously, this is a unique time to be involved in
politics. There’s never been an attack on America of this
kind before. What was your reaction to the attacks? I believe you
were out of Los Angeles at the time, weren’t you?

JH: I was in Washington, D.C. We were in a meeting, and someone
told us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I thought it
was terrible. There was a woman in the meeting who said she
didn’t think it was an accident. Then a few minutes later, we
were told a second plane had hit. So that ended our meeting and we
decided to leave.

As we walked out of the executive office building, which is
right next to the White House, we were being ordered to evacuate.
Then, just as we got outside the building, we didn’t hear
anything but we saw some smoke rise up in the distance. A woman
next to me shouted “the Pentagon,” and she burst into
tears.

That was a very scary moment because you realized that America
was under attack from the air ““ something we never thought
could happen. I think everyone was very worried in those first few
minutes. Would there be more attacks?

I wanted to get ahold of people here in Los Angeles. I tried to
get through on my cell phone but it wouldn’t work. I tried a
pay phone. All those lines were busy. It took me about an hour
before I was able to talk to the chief of police. It was
frustrating trying to get back. But I was finally able to leave on
the first commercial flight.

But that’s an experience I’ll never forget, either.
The sun was just setting ““ I wish I had a camera. As we
pulled away from the gate, we were the first commercial flight to
leave Dulles, and about three dozen American Airlines employees
came out. They were waving and one guy had an American flag. You
know, they lost people they knew. It was really an emotional
moment.

DB: I can imagine. It’s hard to believe that anything
else is going on right now at all.

JH: There isn’t. You can hardly take a breath.

DB: How does that affect Los Angeles? What about the other
issues you’ve been addressing since the campaign about
education, business and neighborhood safety? What does this do to
those things?

JH: The important message that the president is saying ““
and what I’m saying too ““ is that we have to go on with
our lives. That’s real important. People are attacking our
freedom and our liberty, and we’re not going to give it up.
I’m going to stick with what I plan to do.

Obviously, there are additional duties pressed on me. But I am
still committed to expanding afterschool programs. Today
we’ve got 23 new schools added to our L.A.’s Best
program. They evaluated L.A’s Best program at UCLA and were
able to find that participants are more likely to do better in
school, better on tests and grades. Also their attendance went up
in the program. So on all levels it’s a very successful
program. So, thanks for the precious help. I want to keep expanding
that program.

I also want to improve public safety. Being a prosecutor for
over 20 years, I’m interested in keeping our community safe.
I think a big part of that is getting our police department back up
to full strength. We’re down 1,000 officers from where we
were two years ago. We’re losing officers faster than we can
hire them, so we want to stop that trend. I’m stressing a
flexible work schedule plan to be competitive with other
jurisdictions. So I’m going to push that.

I’m also going to push on the economic climate of the
city. Part of that to me is building up our housing stock.
We’re way behind on all levels of housing.

And finally, I want to keep the city together. A big part of
that is improving the delivery of basic city services that
taxpayers expect ““ that the streets don’t have potholes
in them, that the sidewalks are fine, that the trees are trimmed.
Those things help people feel like their city government is doing
its job.

DB: How does UCLA fit into this picture? How can students
improve Los Angeles?

JH: I think UCLA students should get involved in the
communities. We need to build bridges between people in this
community. I think college students have a real desire to improve
the world.

The best way to start is to work in communities nearby. Look for
opportunities to get involved ““ whether it’s tutoring,
helping people at the VA hospital or working with underprivileged
communities or afterschool programs. I think that there’s a
number of ways students can make a real difference in
communities.

When I was in college, I did some tutoring in the Watts area
trying to teach young people reading skills. I was also very
fortunate to be involved in that Legal Aid program.

Those things changed my life. I think that students should open
themselves up to those possibilities. It may change their lives as
well. Nothing comes closer in life than the reward of really having
made a difference in someone’s life. It’s worth a lot
more than having a healthy bank account or a big stock portfolio.
It’s the feeling of helping an individual with a problem that
seems insurmountable to them ““ that’s a feeling you
just can’t surpass.

DB: One last question Mr. Mayor. Who will you be rooting for
at the big game in November? The Bruins or the Trojans?

JH: (chuckles) That’s one hell of a question. I’ll
be rooting for a good game.