I attended a fundraiser for U.S. Senator Alex Padilla in Tom Safran’s backyard recently. More on that in a moment.
Let me start by saying I saw Cindy Miscikowski there. It was great to see her, it had been several years. She is still actively involved with some nonprofits and helping run her late husband’s apartment management company. She looked good – hasn’t aged a bit.
We talked about the history of the district. I remember knowing and interviewing Marvin Braude when we started the Brentwood News in the early 1990s. He wasn’t your typical politician. He wasn’t all that warm, he didn’t seek attention, he didn’t show up often at public events. You wouldn’t dare ask him to kiss a baby. He just took his work very, very seriously.
And he got some very serious stuff done.
He worked for 30 years to get much of the open land in the hills above Brentwood and the Palisades to remain open in perpetuity. Forever is forever, so that’s something for us – and future generations – to applaud. In recognition of his efforts, there is a park named after him – Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park, which connects 1,500 acres to the “Big Wild,” run by the Mountains Recreation and Conservancy Authority.
Marvin was by no means a one-hit wonder. He did it again when he got the 21-mile bike path approved. It goes from Gladstone’s Restaurant where Sunset meets PCH (Will Rogers State Beach in the Palisades) all the way down to Torrance. Countless individuals from all over the world have enjoyed riding bikes along this path.
But wait! Marvin still wasn’t done. Marvin Braude spearheaded the effort to ban all smoking within restaurants and government buildings in Los Angeles, which passed back in 1995. Restaurant owners at the time went nuts and fought Braude tooth and nail. Marvin didn’t care. He really wasn’t too concerned with popular opinion – just doing what he thought was right.
Is there anyone today who would want to go back to restaurants with smoking and non-smoking sections? Marvin Braude was exceedingly independent – and a visionary.
When Cindy Miscikowski got elected, she was already well-known and quite beloved, having served as Braude’s chief of staff for years. She knew the district, the people, the issues. She was always very big on process, making sure everyone in the room got heard.
She often took her time revealing where she stood on the issues, wanting to make sure everyone felt heard first. I found her almost inhumanly patient when it came to speaking in a room full of people complaining about late trash pickup last week or a barking dog or traffic on Sunset or whatever the gripe was. Cindy never lost her smile.
While far more accessible, Cindy was, in her own way, like her former boss – also very visionary. She talked a lot about the need for wider freeways, public transportation from the Valley to LAX, the need to pay attention to our electrical grid and rotting water pipes.
These topics aren’t sexy, but they are extremely important. If a big water main breaks, there’s hell to pay. Much of LA’s infrastructure remains in need of attention today. Cindy was, in a way, way ahead of her time.
Then came Bill Rosendahl. Now there was a charmer if there ever was one. He loved everybody and everybody loved him. He swept into office on the good will he had built up by hosting a cable TV talk show back on what was then-known as Century Cable. He was a very civil moderator and promoted truly intelligent dialogue about local politics – something most TV stations don’t take seriously, and especially back in those days.
Once elected, it wasn’t always clear what Bill was actually accomplishing, but he sure made us feel good in the process. I remember, in public meetings, he used to hand out half-cartons of eggs, laid by his own chickens in his backyard, as a way of recognizing good works by the locals.
Bill Rosendahl was on the front page of the Brentwood News more than any other individual –before or after. He used to call me every other week or so to tell me what was “really” going on. He also wanted to know what I was hearing – good, bad or indifferent. I miss him.
I promised recently to back off when it comes to commenting on Mike Bonin. I’m not sure what to say about Mike. He seemed so promising at first. But something has gone horribly amiss in recent years and yes, I think Mike Bonin played a big role in all that. I think it’s going to take some time to clean up the mess he now leaves behind.
He was, in my view, in some odd form of denial for several years now. As homelessness grew all around us, he somehow always found a way to take credit for fixing things (that weren’t actually getting fixed) and to avoid taking personal responsibility for anything that was going wrong (which was plenty).
If you haven’t been to Venice in a while, go see it with your own eyes. Ask the people there what they think of Mike Bonin.
In a perfect world, our next city councilperson will be one part Marvin Braude (the independence and the vision and the grit), one part Cindy Miscikowski (to be sure we feel heard and that common sense prevails) and one part Bill Rosendahl (getting us to smile even though much of politics these days makes us want to cry).
If we are lucky enough to get a new city councilperson who fits this description – and a city council and a mayor willing to make the changes Los Angeles so desperately needs at this time – we can all break out and sing the old FDR campaign song: “Happy Days are Here Again.”
So, back to Alex Padilla. He came across to me as earnest, hard-working, deserving of our support. He went to MIT and has an engineer’s mind. It’s all about creating systems that work, according to Padilla. In order to create a system that works, a consensus must be built. He did not come across as a partisan flamethrower.
I’m sure all politicians need a big ego to run for office, but I didn’t detect that in Alex Padilla – not at all. Public servants are here to serve us, not the other way around.
Padilla came from humble roots – his dad was a short-order cook and his mom, a housemaid – and he won’t forget that. Education was stressed in his family, he was told he had to study. The system can work.
Special thanks to Tom Safran for giving a voice to those we count on to lead the way. Leadership is hard – especially if done right.
