Fines fuel Weiss’ critics

In light of recent fines for past election violations imposed on
5th District Councilman Jack Weiss, some Westwood community members
have criticized his handling of Westwood Village issues such as
parking shortages and the lack of business development.

The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission fined Weiss $4,800 on
Nov. 9 for 32 cases of failing to present campaign literature to
the public domain during his 2001 council campaign.

Weiss’s office declined to comment on the recent
fines.

Weiss oversees the 5th District, which includes part of the San
Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles and is home to 258,748 people,
according to the district’s Web site.

After considering recommendations by the Enforcement Division of
the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission to fine Weiss $25,200 and by
an Administrative Law judge to fine Weiss more than $60,000, the
commission voted to fine Weiss $4,800. Although the fines were
significantly reduced, there are still those who are opposed to the
amount of the penalty.

“It’s still too high for that offense for something
that trivial,” said UCLA School of Law Professor Daniel
Lowenstein, who testified in the hearings for the fines.

Lowenstein said he saw no harmful intent in the failure to
report those mailers. Citing a pattern in the city’s policy
of over-punishing candidates for campaign violations, Lowenstein
said excessive castigation for violating minor campaign laws breeds
public confusion as to what constitutes major versus minor
violations as well as deters quality candidates from running for
office.

Lowenstein said these fines could potentially hurt Weiss should
he run for another office.

Despite the recent bad press, the UCLA Office of Local
Government Relations is supportive of Weiss.

“He is very accessible, and is very committed to
UCLA,” said Diana Bruggemann, executive director of Local
Government Relations.

Bruggemann said whenever UCLA has a problem with the city, UCLA
Local Government Relations will interact with Weiss to solve the
problem.

For example, several years ago during Weiss’ first term in
office, a 10-kilometer race, sponsored by a private charitable
organization, blocked the path of a UCLA Medical Center exit,
Bruggemann said. In that instance, UCLA Local Government Relations
representatives went directly to Weiss, who persuaded the
organization to move the race and keep the exit free, Bruggemann
said.

Sandy Brown, president of Holmby Hills Homeowners Association,
said Weiss maintains good relations with homeowners and deals
fairly with both developers and homeowners.

“Weiss certainly listens to the homeowners, and homeowners
clearly have a say in what happens,” Brown said.

She said Westwood Village is experiencing a turning point where
it will finally restore itself to the grandeur of what it once was
before the late 1980s.

Brown expressed concerns over the absence of a business
improvement district, which could potentially stand in the way of a
positive feature for Westwood.

Weiss is currently opposed to the creation of such as
district.

But Steve Sann, a local historian and co-owner of restaurants
Nine Thirty and The Backyard in the W Hotel on Hilgard Avenue, said
a new BID would essentially be a body of business property owners
and merchants that would interact with the councilman to improve
Westwood Village. He supports the creation of a BID.

A new BID would address issues such as village-wide events,
maintenance, and especially public parking, Sann said. There is
currently no consolidated parking program for Westwood Village, he
added.

“We can’t get organized without Weiss’s
support,” said Philip Gabriel, owner of Scrubs Unlimited on
Weyburn Avenue.

Gabriel, like many Westwood Village merchants, has expressed
disappointment with Weiss’s current performance as
councilman. Gabriel said Weiss has been unresponsive and has
neglected Westwood Village.

Business owners have articulated key needs that must be
addressed by Weiss, including the shortage of available public
parking, business owners said.

Gabriel described the parking situation in Westwood Village as a
“nightmare.”

Weiss pushed for the two-hour parking garage on Broxton Avenue,
which was a huge accomplishment for Westwood Village and its
business community, Sann said. But parking is still a major issue
in Westwood Village, since business leaders are still clamoring for
more free parking.

“Parking is the biggest concern,” said Clinton
Schudy, general manager of Oakley’s barber shop.

But parking isn’t the only concern. Schudy is also at the
forefront of an almost four-year-long lobbying effort to build a
new pedestrian-activated crosswalk on Gayley Avenue between Weyburn
and Kinross avenues. The only problem currently facing its
establishment is money, Schudy said, and Weiss has been reluctant
to request more money or use discretionary funds for the
project.

“I’m waiting for Mr. Weiss to be proactive to make
this happen next year,” Schudy said.