James Harvey Brown

James Harvey Brown (April 26, 1906 – July 10, 1995) was a City Council member in Los Angeles, California, between 1959 and 1964 and then municipal court judge in that city from 1964 to 1985.

Biography

Brown was born on April 26, 1906, in Jamestown, North Dakota. After graduating from high school, he went to sea as a chief radio operator and later worked as a disc jockey at radio stations KFOX and KGER. He earned a degree in engineering from UCLA and was chief engineer at KFAC and KGER. In 1937 he became master control supervisor for NBC. During World War II he was a Navy lieutenant assigned to airborne radar design, working at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other laboratories. After earning a degree from Southwestern University School of Law, he was both president of and attorney for the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians.

Public service

A "conservative Democrat," Brown ran unsuccessfully for seats in the State Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives. He was reelected in 1961 to a four-year term, which he did not complete because of his appointment to a municipal court judgeship.

In 1960 the 13th District included most of Hollywood. It extended from the Alhambra city limits to Fairfax Avenue.

Brown "helped develop Dodger Stadium and Los Angeles International Airport," according to the Los Angeles Times.

Brown was the first judge to be assigned to Los Angeles's first night traffic court in 1965. In 1966 he headed a committee of judges that agreed to set up a central, computerized file of all outstanding warrants in the county.

Brown presided over the preliminary hearing for eleven members of the Black Panther Party who were charged with taking part in a four-hour gun battle with police officers from their Central Avenue headquarters in December 1969. He termed their activities "armed anarchy" and bound them over for trial in Superior Court.

In 1971 Brown was a leading proponent of a plan to reduce the number of jurors required in a misdemeanor trial from twelve to six. The idea was rejected by the State Senate.

Brown was on the municipal court bench for a decade before retiring in 1985.

In 1973 he returned to the City Hall to fight a request by Santa Monica Mountains homeowners to curb "unsightly aerials" of amateur radio operators on hillside rooftops that interfered with the view from expensive lots. Brown said that ham operators had provided valuable communication links in disasters like the Sylmar earthquake and floods. A city council committee rejected any further control.