Interview conducted by Maegan Carberry, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.
DB: I understand you were an English student at Pepperdine?
JH: Yes. And I minored in journalism. I worked at Pepperdine’s paper. I wrote features, and in the old days before computers, we actually had to do the let type and figure out headlines and layout.
DB: So we have it easy now?
JH: (laughs) A little bit.
DB: What inspired you to get into politics and go to law school?
ANGIE LEVINE Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn answers questions about the future of UCLA and the city.
JH: I was in my last year at Pepperdine and thinking about going to graduate school. And one of those things that happens to you in life that you’re not planning on happened to me.
There was this new program called University International where you could spend a year working in a community-based organization. I got involved in it volunteering at the Legal Aid’s family law program. I helped women get restraining orders, which was my first exposure to domestic violence. It changed my plans. I decided to go to law school. I thought it was a way I could make a contribution.
DB: And politics runs in your family?
JH: Politics. My dad was a professor at Pepperdine and ran for city council. Certainly, I was around politics growing up. I never really planned to be in politics though. It just happened. I wanted to be a lawyer, a prosecutor and I was a City Attorney for some time.
DB: Obviously, this is a unique time to be involved in politics. There’s never been an attack on America of this kind before. What was your reaction to the attacks? I believe you were out of Los Angeles at the time, weren’t you?
JH: I was in Washington, D.C. We were in a meeting, and someone told us that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I thought it was terrible. There was a woman in the meeting who said she didn’t think it was an accident. Then a few minutes later, we were told a second plane had hit. So that ended our meeting and we decided to leave.
As we walked out of the executive office building, which is right next to the White House, we were being ordered to evacuate. Then, just as we got outside the building, we didn’t hear anything but we saw some smoke rise up in the distance. A woman next to me shouted “the Pentagon,” and she burst into tears.
That was a very scary moment because you realized that America was under attack from the air – something we never thought could happen. I think everyone was very worried in those first few minutes. Would there be more attacks?
I wanted to get ahold of people here in Los Angeles. I tried to get through on my cell phone but it wouldn’t work. I tried a pay phone. All those lines were busy. It took me about an hour before I was able to talk to the chief of police. It was frustrating trying to get back. But I was finally able to leave on the first commercial flight.
But that’s an experience I’ll never forget, either. The sun was just setting – I wish I had a camera. As we pulled away from the gate, we were the first commercial flight to leave Dulles, and about three dozen American Airlines employees came out. They were waving and one guy had an American flag. You know, they lost people they knew. It was really an emotional moment.
DB: I can imagine. It’s hard to believe that anything else is going on right now at all.
JH: There isn’t. You can hardly take a breath.
DB: How does that affect Los Angeles? What about the other issues you’ve been addressing since the campaign about education, business and neighborhood safety? What does this do to those things?
JH: The important message that the president is saying – and what I’m saying too – is that we have to go on with our lives. That’s real important. People are attacking our freedom and our liberty, and we’re not going to give it up. I’m going to stick with what I plan to do.
Obviously, there are additional duties pressed on me. But I am still committed to expanding afterschool programs. Today we’ve got 23 new schools added to our L.A.’s Best program. They evaluated L.A’s Best program at UCLA and were able to find that participants are more likely to do better in school, better on tests and grades. Also their attendance went up in the program. So on all levels it’s a very successful program. So, thanks for the precious help. I want to keep expanding that program.
I also want to improve public safety. Being a prosecutor for over 20 years, I’m interested in keeping our community safe. I think a big part of that is getting our police department back up to full strength. We’re down 1,000 officers from where we were two years ago. We’re losing officers faster than we can hire them, so we want to stop that trend. I’m stressing a flexible work schedule plan to be competitive with other jurisdictions. So I’m going to push that.
I’m also going to push on the economic climate of the city. Part of that to me is building up our housing stock. We’re way behind on all levels of housing.
And finally, I want to keep the city together. A big part of that is improving the delivery of basic city services that taxpayers expect – that the streets don’t have potholes in them, that the sidewalks are fine, that the trees are trimmed. Those things help people feel like their city government is doing its job.
DB: How does UCLA fit into this picture? How can students improve Los Angeles?
JH: I think UCLA students should get involved in the communities. We need to build bridges between people in this community. I think college students have a real desire to improve the world.
The best way to start is to work in communities nearby. Look for opportunities to get involved – whether it’s tutoring, helping people at the VA hospital or working with underprivileged communities or afterschool programs. I think that there’s a number of ways students can make a real difference in communities.
When I was in college, I did some tutoring in the Watts area trying to teach young people reading skills. I was also very fortunate to be involved in that Legal Aid program.
Those things changed my life. I think that students should open themselves up to those possibilities. It may change their lives as well. Nothing comes closer in life than the reward of really having made a difference in someone’s life. It’s worth a lot more than having a healthy bank account or a big stock portfolio. It’s the feeling of helping an individual with a problem that seems insurmountable to them – that’s a feeling you just can’t surpass.
DB: One last question Mr. Mayor. Who will you be rooting for at the big game in November? The Bruins or the Trojans?
JH: (chuckles) That’s one hell of a question. I’ll be rooting for a good game.