Westside race for 5th District City Council seat is wide open

If any section of Los Angeles knows how to confound the political establishment, it’s the City Council’s 5th District, a string of affluent Westside neighborhoods that has been electing newcomers and outsiders for decades.

In 1953, voters picked 22-year-old Roz Wyman, now known for helping to woo the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. Twelve years later, they threw out Wyman in favor of Ed Edelman, a 34-year-old political newcomer. And a decade after that, the district chose a passionate advocate for Soviet Jews, 26-year-old Zev Yaroslavsky, as their councilman.

With six evenly matched candidates running in the race to replace Councilman Jack Weiss, voters may deliver yet another surprise Tuesday.

“Any two of the six could end up in that runoff” election on May 19, said Yaroslavsky, now a veteran county supervisor. “As a resident of the district, and from what I hear and the lawn signs I see, I think it’s anybody’s race right now.”

Longtime political observers are struggling to predict how the candidates will play in the 5th, which covers neighborhoods such as Bel Air, Cheviot Hills, Century City, Encino and Westwood. In a district skeptical of insiders, only one candidate has held public office. The district traditionally embraces younger candidates, yet only one of the six is under 40.

Although neighborhood councils and labor unions have expanded their reach into other parts of Los Angeles, homeowner associations remain a potent political force in the 5th, at times hiring their own traffic engineers as they fight the district’s many multistory development projects.

Many of those neighborhood groups joined forces in 2007 to mount a recall campaign against Weiss, who is now running for city attorney. Although that effort fizzled, several of the same activists have coalesced this year around neighborhood council member David T. Vahedi, who lost to Weiss in 2005.

Vahedi, 42, made a splash by promising not to accept any contributions from real estate developers who do business with the city, a dramatic break from the current councilman. He also courted neighborhood activists by promoting a constituent bill of rights, one that includes “the right to have local homeowner association leaders and residents present at all meetings where development projects are discussed.”

Vahedi said the clause is needed because residents have been left in the dark about too many development projects. “I’d rather hear the information from both sides, instead of just being persuaded by a land-use attorney downtown,” he said.

The candidate with the greatest name recognition is Paul Koretz, a former state assemblyman and 12-year member of the West Hollywood City Council when he lived in that city.

Although Koretz has picked up the backing of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, he also has mounted a pro-homeowner platform that rivals Vahedi’s.

Asked to name a project that should not have been approved in the district, Koretz cited The Grove retail and restaurant development, saying it has had a devastating impact on traffic. Of the six candidates, Koretz also gave Weiss the lowest marks, saying the incumbent “wasn’t accessible and wasn’t engaged” -- and had been too favorable to development.

“I don’t think he liked working on constituent problems in a hands-on way,” Koretz said. “He didn’t want to fix the potholes or get the trees trimmed. I think he liked the big issues, but not the heart of the job. It wasn’t the right job suited for his personality.”

Koretz has offered up his own neighborhood bill of rights, promising not to announce a major project in a neighborhood without “consulting with that community first.”

Still, Koretz has come under fire from another candidate who has emphasized his own community: Ron Galperin, a member of the Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council.

In mailers and in person, Galperin has warned that Koretz would bring Sacramento-style budgeting to the City Council. A resident of Coldwater Canyon, Galperin has marketed himself as the big-picture candidate -- someone who will not just propose programs, but also find the money to implement them.

The cornerstone of Galperin’s platform is a promise to help the city do a better job of collecting on $1 billion in unpaid bills and fees on everything from false burglar alarms to elevator inspections. “There seems to be a real lack of understanding about the city’s budget among the other candidates -- and frankly, among many of the people who are on the council right now -- about where you look to actually save money,” he said.

While Galperin painted himself as a fiscal reformer, former Chamber of Commerce executive Robyn Ritter Simon has campaigned as the only mother in the race. Ritter Simon, 47, talked up her work as a co-founder of Beverlywood Moms, a parent group that worked to improve Canfield Elementary School.

Ritter Simon also made public safety a central theme of her campaign, saying that it remains the district’s top priority, despite debates about traffic and development. “All these other programs and initiatives have merit, but none of them are going to be successful if we have crime and gang violence and kids getting killed every day,” she said.

Like Galperin, Ritter Simon has hit several pro-business themes, pushing for the elimination of the city’s business tax for companies that take in less than $250,000 annually. Some candidates have criticized developers; Ritter Simon has instead taken on the coalition of homeowner groups behind Vahedi, asking whether it should register with the Ethics Commission as a campaign group.

If the 5th District has a soft spot for youthful politicians, then the candidate to watch is Adeena N. Bleich, a former Weiss aide who, at 31, is the youngest contender by a decade. Bleich is banking on the district to embrace a newer name, as it has in previous elections.

Eight years ago, the district picked Weiss over the more established politician, state Sen. Tom Hayden. And in 1995, voters favored 37-year-old attorney Mike Feuer over Yaroslavsky’s wife, Barbara.

Bleich said some longtime district residents even have compared her to Wyman, who served three terms before turning 35.

“The district needs new blood and someone who will shake it up, but in an appropriate way,” she said.

Despite her four years with Weiss, Bleich has stumbled in some debates, struggling with details surrounding the Los Angeles Police Department’s handling of illegal immigration and efforts to make Century City more pedestrian friendly. Still, that hasn’t stopped her from successfully wooing the city’s pro-business establishment, including former Mayor Richard Riordan and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bleich has promised to offer new tax breaks to green technology companies and embraces the concept of “smart growth,” the strategy of concentrating multistory apartments and condominiums on major boulevards that have access to public transit. She also opposes Measure B, a solar energy proposal criticized by business groups.

Another candidate who is promoting his business prowess is Robert Schwartz, an entertainment attorney who has promised to bring his business acumen to City Hall.

A resident of Encino, Schwartz touted his work over 30 years for MGM/United Artists and MTM Productions and as chief executive of Slamdance Media Group, a film distribution company.

Schwartz has called on the city to address the issue of runaway film production, now a central issue for the City Council. In his campaign materials, Schwartz also said the city needs someone with deal-making skills.

“Because of his long and successful career in the private sector, Robert understands the art of negotiation,” his website states.

david.zahniser@latimes.com