First in a series. 

In Culver City, people may talk about a parks and recreation department. A mere mile east in District Eight of the Los Angeles City Council, “Parks” and “recreation” seldom are spoken in the same sentence.

During his 12 years on the City Council – which end Wednesday, owing to term limits — and his five years as chief of the LAPD, often soft-spoken Bernard Parks successfully escaped being labeled a fun guy.

A nice guy? Yes, at least by some residents.

For a probing analysis of one of the most curious and puzzling high-profile figures in contemporary Los Angeles, here is young Damien Goodmon, an astute observer of political Los Angeles, an accomplished heavyweight activist for the communities of the Crenshaw District and South Los Angeles.

People possessing political muscle predict that the impressive 32-year-old Mr. Goodmon is carving a path that will lead him to the mayor’s chair – some date in the post-Garcetti era.

Which brings us to Council District Eight, two-thirds black and one-quarter Latino.

The 71-year-old Mr. Parks, whose tigerish namesake son never is far away, will leave public life with a whisper rather than a shout, disappointing some followers.

He will be succeeded by a popular gentleman with opposite credentials, a well-liked, glad-handing 45-year-old community organizer, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, whose positive baggage includes a trunk of toweringly high hopes.

Not to mention a roomful of energy and the antithesis of Mr. Parks’s arm’s-length personality, seen as a negative when he entered politics a moment after his single term as police chief noisily ended in 2002.

Here is a taste of Mr. Goodmon’s occasionally salty analysis:

Mr. Goodmon said that Mr. Harris-Dawson “will run the CD 8 office very differently from Councilman Parks. That is just a description, not  necessarily an indictment, although one could indict.”

(To be continued)