Which Way, L.A.?

Bernard Parks, Former Police Chief Who Would Be Mayor

Bernard Parks joined the LA Police Department at a time when racism made life difficult for African Americans. While on the job, he earned a college degree at Pepperdine and a Masters from USC. When Chief Daryl Gates was replaced by an outsider, Parks bided his time but finally got the top job in 1997. Former Mayor Richard Riordan called Parks the -best police chief in the world,- but incumbent Jim Hahn didn-t agree, firing Parks after one five-year term. Now, Parks wants Hahn-s job as Mayor. Although he-s one of LA-s most visible public figures, Parks has fallen behind Hahn and other challengers in money raising and public opinion polls. What does he think of the LAPD under William Bratton? How would he be different from Hahn? What does revenge have to do with it? We speak with Bernard Parks in the second of our extended interviews with Mayoral candidates. Making News: LAUSD Bilingual Students Make Strides Today-s morning papers had good news for the LA Unified School District. Children learning English as their second language made strong gains in fluency. For the first time in the four-year history of state-wide testing, they out-performed students in other parts of California. Roy Romer, Superintendent of the LAUSD, credits the progress, in part, to the shift to English-emersion.