‘The Mayor of the San Fernando Valley’

Philanthropist and attorney David Fleming, whom his friend, Richard Riordan, fondly calls “the mayor of the San Fernando Valley,” was the force behind Mayor Riordan’s push for charter reform.

Fleming, an Iowa native who moved to the Valley in time for the boom years of the ‘50s and ‘60s, had his first law office down the hall from old friend Chuck Manatt, who went on to found the law firm Manatt Phelps and become chairman of the National Democratic Committee.

The 62-year-old Fleming, a Studio City resident, is a recipient of the Fernando Award for his community work and philanthropic efforts, and a former chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.

Friends call him a rainmaker who makes things happen with dogged work behind the scenes as an organizer, donor and fund-raiser.

During the recent election season, though, he was in the limelight himself, pushing hard for charter reform, an idea he supported before it had any panache.

Fleming’s dream is a city run by town councils, where neighbors could have a say about what goes on around them. The City Council, he says, should be a larger legislative body, made up of representatives from the neighborhoods.

Such change, he says, is the only way to restore a sense of civic pride in Los Angeles.

“The cynicism out there about government is incredible,” he said. “It’s going to kill democracy in this country. And this city is going to fly apart.”