Riordan Appoints Final Two Deputy Mayors : City Hall: Mayor wins praise for selecting an African-American and a Latino. Early nominees had been criticized by minority groups.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan on Tuesday appointed the last of his five deputy mayors, three more than served under his predecessor, but top aides vowed that he still will wind up with a leaner staff than Tom Bradley’s Administration.

Four of the deputy mayors will earn $89,500 a year, while Jadine Nielsen--Riordan’s campaign manager who was named deputy mayor for executive and legislative services--will earn $99,639 because of additional administrative duties, Chief of Staff William McCarley said.

McCarley, the top-paid member of the Riordan Administration, will earn $149,208.

Riordan expects to save the city $117,882 by taking a $1-a-year salary, but it is too early to tell whether he will keep his campaign promise to cut the mayor’s budget and staff by 20%.

In its last year, the Bradley Administration had six staff members drawing more than $89,500 a year, including the mayor, who earned the top pay in the office at $117,883.

Riordan aides insisted Tuesday that even though they have more deputy mayors, they will have a leaner operation than the 85 staffers in the mayor’s office under Bradley.

“We will be less” than Bradley’s budget of $4.2 million, said McCarley, who promised to finalize a new organizational chart by the end of next week. “Our target is to be significantly less. . . . We’re not going to have 85 people by a long shot.”

He said Riordan will have fewer staff members and fewer city cars than his predecessor.

Riordan is being driven around town by a city police officer in the red Ford Explorer he bought at the beginning of his mayoral campaign, leaving Bradley’s city-owned Lincoln Town Car unused.

The new mayor, who was criticized by some minority groups for his early appointments, won praise Tuesday from Latino and African-American City Council members for the latest additions to his staff.

Riordan appointed Alfred R. Villalobos, a San Fernando Valley investment banker and prominent Latino Republican fund-raiser, as deputy mayor for economic development, and Rae James, an African-American legislative analyst for the City Council, as deputy mayor for housing and planning.

Riordan, who earlier appointed an Asian-American woman and a homosexual as deputy mayors, called Villalobos and James “the most able people in the city to handle the projects that are being given to them.”

Villalobos, 49, helped rally Latino support for Riordan during the mayoral campaign. But until a couple of weeks ago, Riordan did not know James, 43, who was recommended for the job by her former boss, McCarley, the ex-chief legislative analyst.

Villalobos is the second prominent Latino to be appointed to an important position in the Riordan Administration. Rick Hernandez, the owner of an Alhambra security firm, was appointed to the Police Commission last week.

The appointment of Hernandez drew some criticism from Latino activists because he has been living outside the city limits--in San Marino--and only recently rented a condominium in downtown Los Angeles as a condition of the appointment.

Commissioners must live within the city limits, but there is no such requirement for deputy mayors or other city employees.

Nielsen is from San Francisco. McCarley and two other deputy mayors--Bill Violante and James--live outside Los Angeles.

Nielsen said that she is looking to buy or rent a house in the city. James lives in View Park, an unincorporated area just beyond the city limits near the Crenshaw district. Violante lives in Canyon Country and has said he plans to move into the city. McCarley said he plans to remain in Hacienda Heights.

Councilmen Richard Alatorre and Mike Hernandez praised Riordan’s selection of Villalobos.

“He grew up in the community,” Alatorre said. “The mere fact that he became successful should not be a detriment in his understanding of the community.”

Councilwoman Rita Walters, although still furious over Riordan’s appointment of former police union leader Violante as deputy mayor for public safety, said she was delighted by Riordan’s choice of James.

Riordan will appear this morning with Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Hollenbeck Youth Center to kick off the Inner-City Games, which will begin Aug. 15. And the mayor will meet with rank-and-file police officers in Van Nuys on Thursday.