Whirlwind Day Is a High Note for Riordan

Capitalizing on the warm reception that has greeted his appointment of Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, Mayor Richard Riordan swept across Los Angeles on an eclectic tour Wednesday, announcing a new office to aid businesses owned by women and minorities and stopping to twist arms on a long-debated Police Department project--not to mention meeting with the president of Nicaragua.

Riordan’s decision to tap Parks for the top job in local law enforcement has given his administration a rare moment of accord with the City Council, which unanimously backed the nomination. And it has afforded Riordan a sort of second honeymoon as mayor.

Wednesday, the same mayor who sometimes is criticized for conducting city business in private was a whirlwind of public activity. He held news conferences, lobbied for the proposed merger of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority police force and the LAPD and beamed proudly with Parks as the two dropped by a police station and a school, accompanied in both places by a throng of reporters and cameras.

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Once greeted with some wariness by African American organizations and leaders, Riordan was welcomed enthusiastically Wednesday at a conference of minority business owners. Delivering the event’s keynote address, Riordan touted his support for the Alameda Corridor and encouraged business people to build strong companies that can realistically compete for a share of that massive public works project.

“We have to work harder and harder to get people like the people in this room a fair share of the economy,” Riordan said. To do that, Riordan announced that he was creating an economic development office in Watts, and said he hoped it will open by Sept. 1.

The office, Riordan said, would offer business owners a place to go for advice on qualifying for and bidding on government contracts, especially the Alameda Corridor project, a railway that will link the harbor to downtown and is expected to create more than 10,000 new construction jobs.

City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, a frequent Riordan critic, listened to the mayor’s speech and later playfully bantered with the mayor. The councilman also enthusiastically endorsed the creation of a South Los Angeles economic development office.

“Putting this office on the ground, in reasonable proximity to the corridor, demystifies the process,” said Ridley-Thomas. “This also is part of the overall effort to decentralize government and make it more accessible.”

Fresh from that announcement, Riordan returned to City Hall, where he popped up at a news conference by Councilman Joel Wachs to urge him to support the hotly debated proposal to merge MTA police officers into the LAPD. Riordan corralled Wachs on the steps of City Hall, forcefully making his case as the councilman prepared to go into the council chambers, where the matter was considered but a final vote delayed at least until next month.

Then the mayor ducked inside the building, announced plans for Latino Heritage Month and disappeared into his office to confer with the president of Nicaragua.

The afternoon saw Riordan on the stump accompanied by Parks, whose selection as chief of police has emerged as one of the mayor’s most popular moves.

Neither Parks nor Riordan is a stranger to the police rank and file, but Wednesday marked their first joint appearance before an LAPD roll call. The setting was Hollenbeck Division, the police station that Riordan most often cites favorably when discussing the LAPD’s efforts to respond to community needs. In particular, that station’s curfew program, pushed hard by the mayor despite the reservations of former Police Chief Willie L. Williams, has drawn lavish praise from the mayor.

On Wednesday, Riordan beamed as he strode out of the station, accompanied by Parks.

Although the roll call was off-limits to the press and public, Parks emerged carrying a piece of paper on which he had jotted down the ideas of officers who attended.

Among the issues Parks said officers called to his attention were time delays at local jails, complaints about excessive paperwork and concerns about whether Hollenbeck, which serves a primarily Latino community, was getting its fair share of police officers. Officers also urged the new chief to push ahead with a work schedule that would allow them to work just three days a week, 12 hours a day. Parks has avoided endorsing that schedule, and his unwillingness to back it has irritated some officers.

Still, the new chief said he was pleased by the reception his appointment has received.

“It’s been very positive,” he said. “The officers of this department have gone through a lot of adjustment. . . . They’re looking for leadership.”

Parks pledged to keep visiting roll calls and otherwise making himself available to the department’s rank and file.

“It certainly helps in the long and short term to have personal relationships,” he said, as the mayor nodded firmly. “It’s important for the officers to know that the chief is going to be visible.”

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If there are pockets of uncertainty within the LAPD about the new chief, that skepticism was not shared a few miles away, where Riordan concluded his daylong tour by dropping in on an after-school program at Logan Avenue Elementary School. Parks, wearing his police uniform with the four stars that signify his new rank, was at the mayor’s side. And, for many of the children, the new chief clearly was the main attraction.

“He’s coming, he’s coming,” some youngsters called out as Parks approached.

Inside, Riordan and Parks toured about half a dozen classrooms and greeted dozens of children. In one classroom, Parks spent 10 minutes signing autographs. Not one child asked for the mayor’s signature.

“Fame,” Riordan said wryly, “is fleeting.”

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Times staff writer Matt Lait contributed to this article.