Council Confirms Garay as Harbor Commissioner

The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday confirmed Mayor Tom Bradley’s appointment of a longtime Rancho Palos Verdes resident to Los Angeles’ powerful Harbor Commission, with the understanding that the appointee will immediately search for a permanent residence in the city.

The 12-0 decision to place harbor area educator Reynaldo Garay, 56, on the commission came after a spirited council debate that weighed Garay’s years of community service against the 1928 City Charter requirement that all commissioners live within Los Angeles.

Noting the praise of Garay by several city lawmakers, harbor area Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores reminded colleagues that his good deeds were irrelevant. “The bottom line is that the City Charter does not say that somebody has to do good work in the city of Los Angeles . . . or that somebody has to be involved in matters in the city of Los Angeles,” Flores said. “It says that they have to live in the city of Los Angeles.”