A startling plaudit appeared in last week’s letters section from none other than school-board member David Tokofsky. Tokofsky alleged, “I suspect that the constituents of the 14th [City Council District] are in for a dramatic loss of services and representation if Councilman Alatorre is not there in 1999.”Actually, the rest of us 14th District residents are still waiting for our “services and representation” to regain the luster they enjoyed under Alatorre predecessor Art Snyder. Almost any competent successor, lacking Alatorre’s energy-draining webworks of political, social and fiscal obligations, should find more time to tend to the district than the harried (and presently convalescing) incumbent does now. A terrific example of just how enmeshed Alatorre’s personal dilemmas and public duties have become surfaced just last week. Unable to attend the news conference that followed a major environmental-law settlement involving the Wyvernwood Garden Apartments complex in Boyle Heights, the councilman issued a congratulatory press release that read, in part, “It’s been a frustrating process because until this lawsuit was adjudicated, my only option to try to improve conditions on this property was to seek a new owner.” Hold on to that “new owner” bit.
Read More At: Alatorre’s Tangled Web | L.A. Weekly