Councilman Seeks Review of Port in Triathlon Failure

Los Angeles Councilman Nate Holden, saying the Port of Los Angeles “just blew $100,000” on a failed attempt to stage a triathlon, Tuesday called for a “thorough review” of the port’s role in the effort and suggested the City Council may want to look more closely at how the port spends its money.

In a motion to be considered by the City Council next week, Holden called on the city administrative officer, the city attorney and the chief legislative analyst to “prepare a detailed report” of the port’s involvement in the proposed Oct. 2 triathlon.

The motion said the report should look into the roles played by the Board of Harbor Commissioners, the port’s administrative staff and the mayor’s office, and should determine what led to the port’s “abrupt withdrawal from the project after providing $100,000.”

Began Running Out of Money

The Board of Harbor Commissioners allocated the $100,000 as “seed money” for the triathlon last August, set up a nonprofit corporation to organize the race and hired a public relations firm to raise an additional $200,000 in private donations. Last month, the nonprofit group began running out of money, and fund-raisers were having little luck attracting corporate contributions. Ezunial Burts, the port’s executive director, then canceled the event, saying the port was unwilling to further subsidize it.

“They just blew $100,000 on the event when they had no commitments” from private contributors, Holden said in an interview Tuesday. “They were throwing good money after bad. Can you imagine?”

A port spokeswoman said Wednesday that Burts had no comment on Holden’s proposal. “We have not seen the motion,” spokeswoman Julia Nagano said.

Harbor Commissioner Ira Distenfield said the port welcomes “any suggestion from anybody” about the port’s marketing strategy, but said he had “a little bit of a problem totally understanding” why Holden was concentrating on the triathlon. The triathlon, proposed by the port’s marketing director, was intended to attract international attention--and hence new customers--to the port, but Distenfield said it was just one component of a larger marketing effort.

“In a port that has a budget of more than $300 million, I don’t know if this could be construed to warrant a City Council investigation, but then I try to look at things with a positive light,” Distenfield said. “If I was going to guess, I would say the triathlon will come off. The fact that it will not come off in ‘88, but rather in ’89 or ‘90, means we will have used our experience in ’88 to make it a better event when it happens. . . . I would only accept the investigation in the hope that the results will make an event in ’89 or ’90 more successful.”

Mayor’s Blessing

Dede Myers, a spokeswoman for Mayor Tom Bradley, said the mayor was not involved in planning the triathlon “aside from giving it his blessing.” Bradley spoke at a lavish kickoff for the race in January when he predicted the event would become “the world’s pre-eminent triathlon.”

Holden’s motion also calls on city officials to recommend whether the City Council should establish a policy--affecting all city departments--that would require council approval of department expenditures for events such as the triathlon. Three city departments--the Harbor Department, the Department of Water and Power and the Department of Airports--are so-called “proprietary” agencies that have a large amount of independence from the council.

“We’re doing things a little differently around here now,” said Holden, who was elected last year to represent the mid-city 10th District. “We have new blood. They are used to rubber-stamping everything. . . . They haven’t seen anything yet down there at the harbor. I am going to make them squirm.”

In the case of the Harbor Department, Distenfield said, increased council oversight might conflict with state laws that govern how the port can spend its money. Although port revenues are not tax dollars, they are considered public funds because they are generated from state-owned tidelands. The tidelands have been leased to the city of Los Angeles by the state, which monitors the lease’s provisions through the State Lands Commission.

Assistant City Atty. Raymond Bender said the city’s tidelands deed allows for City Council involvement in port decisions, but those areas of City Council jurisdiction are clearly defined in the City Charter. Changes along the lines envisioned by Holden would probably require a charter amendment, he said.

Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who represents the harbor area, said she has suggested to her colleagues on several occasions that the city amend its charter--which would require a citywide election--to give the City Council greater control over the harbor. She said she would welcome Holden’s support for such an effort.