Los Angeles officials honored former Mayor James Hahn Thursday by naming the City Hall East after him.
Hahn’s political career ended a decade ago when he hired police Chief Bill Bratton and fought secession efforts by Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley. But Hahn is the only person to have served as Los Angeles’ controller, city attorney and mayor. The Controller’s Office and City Attorney’s Office are both located in City Hall East, which is why it was selected for Hahn’s honor.
James K. Hahn City Hall East is now the eastern bookend to the Civic Center. The western bookend is the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, named for the longtime county supervisor and father of the former mayor.
When he was elected mayor in 2001, Hahn found a police department that had lost confidence in its leadership. He did not support then-Chief Bernard Parks for a second term and instead brought in Bratton from the NYPD.
Hahn’s other major challenge as mayor came as Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley tried to break away from the city of Los Angeles. The decision to fight secession, coupled with the firing of Parks, cost Hahn support in the valley and the African-American community. He lost reelection to Antonio Villaraigosa in 2005.
“The decisions were not really tough decisions. Decisions were easy to make,” Hahn said. “All I had to decide was ‘what’s the best thing to do for the city? What’s the right thing to do?’ So everybody says they were tough decisions but they weren’t. They were easy decisions because I knew what I wanted to do was to be able to say, when I looked in the mirror, that I did what was right rather than what was in my best interests.” (full Story at KPCC)
