L.A. ELECTIONS / 10th DISTRICT : Holden vs. Sanders on Voters’ Key Concerns : Challenger calls economic revitalization, public safety and education top priorities. He is critical of Riordan.

Q: How would you, as a councilman, differ from Holden?

A: On [the proposed removal of] Leslie Winner, I spoke up: If I were on the City Council I would vote to keep Leslie Winner on the Fire Commission, doing what she was doing with the affirmative action policies that the Fire Department is struggling to implement. Holden, to my knowledge, has said nothing about where he is on Leslie Winner or where he is, for that matter, on affirmative action goals in [the Fire Department].

On the issue of Willie Williams, I think it was very clear that I was prepared to have the City Council take a leadership role. Let’s say it now, before it gets out of hand, that this is our chief, at least for the duration of his contract.

I don’t know what Nate Holden’s position is.

Q: With Nate Holden, when you ask these similar questions, what he comes back with is: What has Stan Sanders done in the past?

A: Well, as president of the Recreation and Parks Commission, we had the best affirmative action implementation record of performance [of] any of the departments in the city of Los Angeles.

Q: Give us some examples of how the commission took a leadership role.

A: In minority contracting, with women-owned businesses, black-owned businesses, Asian-owned business, Hispanic-owned businesses, we led the city.

Q: You backed Richard Riordan for mayor in 1993. Has there been a change in your political orientation since then?

A: No. I backed Richard Riordan because he was a friend and I knew him and I thought he was a better choice for the city than Michael Woo.

Q: Has Richard Riordan proved himself to be somebody who deserved your endorsement back in 1993?

A: Not yet. But I think it remains to be seen whether in four years he will have proved it. . . . I would like to see him more visible. I thought he was at his most effective in the aftermath of the ’94 quake when he seemed to be less concerned about message and more concerned about healing, getting out, solving problems, cutting through red tape.

Q: Do you share the concerns that were voiced by a number of African American leaders at a conference a month ago who seemed to be so unhappy with the mayor that they’re sorting out ways to come up with a challenger to Riordan ?

A: Oh, absolutely. Because we’re losing more of the black middle class in Los Angeles and my hope was that Dick Riordan as mayor would have been more attentive to those concerns that are driving the black middle class out of the city.

Q: And those are?

A: Those are economic stability, public education and public safety, in reverse order. Which is what he campaigned on.

Q: You don’t think he’s being attentive to public safety?

A: Well, I’m not so sure I would include public safety in that. Indeed, there’s evidence that he has been attentive to the issue of public safety to the exclusion of the other two.

Q: How would you address crime in the 10th District?

A: Gun control. I would enforce gun control in every aspect among juveniles. . . . There has to be some greater control of guns on the school campuses and the like. I would widen the penalties to even include parents who negligently allow guns purchased and owned by them to fall into the hands of juveniles.

Q: What issues do you see as the most important to the 10th District and/or the city?

A: Public safety, public education and economic revitalization.

Q: How would you improve those areas?

A: I think that it’s possible to identify, at least within the 10th District, high-crime areas where alternative patrols would be appropriate. And these would be foot patrols, say, for example in the Washington Boulevard area between La Brea and Marvin Avenue, where there is a high incidence of cocaine addiction, prostitution and crime.

You might even have some areas in that corridor that would be appropriate for mounted patrols. I know that they would be at least as appropriate there as they would be on Bunker Hill, if not more so, where the presence of mounted patrols appears to be sort of a superfluity.

Q: How do schools fit into this?

A: School campuses can be used as community centers without putting more money into bricks and mortar. You use the unexpended down time of public assets like school campuses to create an environment of greater activity for young people.

I see that happening first at the district level through the leadership of a city councilman to effect these kinds of partnerships between LAUSD schools in the district, the city of Los Angeles and whatever additional public and private resources that we can garner.

The 10th District is the most recreation- and park-poor district in the city. We don’t have any recreation facilities and so we have to use the Unified School District grounds for after-school activities to the greatest extent possible.

The third area of economic revitalization I think also makes good use of my professional background as a transaction lawyer and someone who has represented both developers as well as public agencies involved in development.

In the 10th District, we have a unique opportunity. The 10th District has the finest commercial corridors in the city of Los Angeles: the Washington Boulevards, the Adams, the Crenshaws, the La Cienegas, the Jefferson Boulevards, where there are existing buildings which were formerly retail outlets prior to the opening of the Santa Monica Freeway.

They still could service an increasingly upscale population of the 10th District that wants to shop nearby.

Q: Can you say anything good about Nate Holden?

A: I think his finest quality is his persistence. He has been under fire for the last four years under allegations of sexual harassment, of living outside of his district and of taking a very unpopular stand of supporting a police chief who fell into disfavor among his constituents. Now, here he is running for reelection as if nothing happened.

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Los Angeles City Councilman Nate Holden is locked in a tough reelection battle with lawyer J. Stanley Sanders. Voters on Tuesday will decide which man will represent the 10th District, which includes parts of Koreatown, West Adams, the Crenshaw district and the Wilshire Boulevard corridor. Among the top issues in the race have been crime and economic development. The candidates were interviewed separately this week by a panel of Times editors and reporters. These excerpts were compiled by Times staff writer PETER Y. HONG.