Column: Thanks to the election, big opportunities arise for L.A.

In the aftermath of last week’s elections, most commentary naturally focused on the changing balance in the U.S. Senate. But the effect of that shift on the lives of most people is likely to be negligible: A body where a minority of Republicans could thwart progress now becomes a body where a minority of Democrats can do the same.

By contrast, the results of a few of the lower-profile races on the Nov. 4 ballot could have profound influence on the lives of everyday people here in Southern California. Here are the results I think are most likely to affect Angelenos:

Jim McDonnell’s decisive victory in the L.A. County sheriff’s race.

The Sheriff’s Department has struggled for decades, resisting attempts to reduce violence in jails and impose meaningful civilian oversight. Sheriff Lee Baca often seemed overwhelmed by the task, and Baca’s former top deputy, Paul Tanaka, who ran against McDonnell in last week’s election, was widely seen as an impediment to reform.

McDonnell, by contrast, has pledged to move ahead with efforts to constrain excessive force and to lead the agency into a more sophisticated relationship with the public and county government. And he has the right credentials to make that happen. Most recently, McDonnell headed the Long Beach Police Department. Before that, at the LAPD, McDonnell helped lead the department to a new kind of policing that embraced community engagement, and he did it at a time when that department was trying to reconstruct trust after years of controversy — as the Sheriff’s Department is today.

It won’t be easy, but McDonnell has a chance to make real progress.

California’s new water bond.

Perhaps motivated by the drought, voters overwhelmingly approved Jerry Brown’s $7-billion water bond.

In one sense, they may be disappointed, as this measure will do nothing in the short run to alleviate the state’s alarming water shortage. But investment in state water infrastructure — something Brown’s father, too, did for the state — is needed to brace California for future dry spells, and this measure will belatedly start putting money into that effort.

Mark Gold, associate director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA and a columnist at the website LA Observed, recently warned against viewing the measure as a “panacea� but added that it could “help contribute to the L.A. region achieving more sustainable water management in the near future.�

Marcie Edwards, head of the L.A. Department of Water and Power, told me last week that Los Angeles is “prepared to compete for funds� that would pay for groundwater cleanup, recycling more water and capturing more storm runoff. These efforts, she said, could bring savings to local customers and provide security for the city’s water supply.

Sheila Kuehl’s election to the county Board of Supervisors.

Kuehl won a tough race over former Santa Monica Mayor Bobby Shriver, and the campaign — like many — had the effect of exaggerating the differences between her and Shriver. In fact, both are moderate-to-liberal Democrats, not that ideologically different from retiring Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, so dramatic change is not likely. But Kuehl has her own priorities and a different phalanx of support.

Most of the post-election commentary on Kuehl’s victory has focused on whether she can hold the line on county worker pay hikes, given the backing that public employee unions gave her. That’s a fair question, though Kuehl is famously stubborn and a little bit prickly, so I wouldn’t envy the person trying to call in a chit with her.

To me, the more intriguing aspect of her victory is what it might mean for one of the county’s gravest responsibilities: the operation of its foster care system, which cares for children who have been the victims of abuse or neglect and which has seen too much tragedy. This is an area that Kuehl knows and cares about.

Kuehl, whose sister is a judge in the Sacramento foster care system, speaks movingly of her determination to help young people. And as a state legislator, she wrote a slew of bills intended to protect children in the system.

Now she’s about to join a board that oversees the largest child welfare system in the nation, one that is responsible for more than 30,000 children at any given time. There’s some risk there — county supervisors historically have undermined management by trying to run departments themselves, and Kuehl is a hands-on type — but there’s also a chance to improve the lives of some of this county’s most desperate residents.

Once in a while, an important issue lands in the lap of a prepared leader. This could be one of those moments.

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Twitter: @newton_jim