Klein Assails Picus on Potholes, Failing to Deliver on Library

Seeking to boost his underdog City Council campaign, Gary Klein on Wednesday attacked 3rd District Councilwoman Joy Picus for failing to deliver a long-promised library, for failing to fix potholes and for what he called improper use of city phones and office space.

Klein, one of five candidates seeking to unseat Picus in the West Valley district, also blamed the two-term councilwoman for failing to halt what he said was an illegal discharge of liquids from a Canoga Park concrete mixing plant.

Other candidates in the April 9 election in the 3rd District are Gilbert Eisner, a former aide to ex-county Supervisor Baxter Ward; Matt Lynch, an attorney; Jon Robert Lorenzen, son of the late Councilman Donald Lorenzen, and Jeanne Nemo, a Republican activist.

Besides Canoga Park, the district includes Woodland Hills and Reseda.

During a press tour of the district, Klein, a former aide to Councilman Hal Bernson, alleged that the Skyline Concrete Co. on Deering Avenue in Canoga Park is in violation of state law because it has no discharge permit for runoff from the plant.

He also said the runoff might be pollution-laden and called the situation “one more example of Joy’s failure to pay attention to what is going on in her district.”

David Gayman, plant manager, said he does not believe a permit is necessary because the discharge is waste from washing down concrete trucks and contains no chemicals, “not even soap or detergents.”

John Lewis, staff engineer for the state Water Quality Control Board, confirmed that no permit is needed for runoff “that results from just simply knocking off dirt or dust.” But he said that in response to Klein’s complaint, a staff engineer will visit the plant today or Friday to test the runoff for the presence of pollutants.

Picus said she was unaware of the Skyline discharges, saying, “I can only say that we respond quickly to complaints about such discharges as soon as someone brings them to our attention.”

Klein also accused Picus of “Chicago-style politics” in obtaining free office space in the city’s West Valley Municipal Building in Reseda for the Reseda Revitalization Corp., a nonprofit group he said was operated by political allies of Picus.

He also criticized as improper the fact that Reseda Revitalization literature lists the telephone number of Picus’ nearby field office along with its own phone number.

Picus said that Reseda Revitalization was entitled to operate rent-free on city property because it “works hand in hand with the city. In fact, it’s almost part of the city, just as nonprofit revitalization groups in Van Nuys and other areas of the city function almost as parts of the city.”

She said her staff answers “maybe one call a month for Reseda Revitalization, and we do that as a courtesy.”

Picus acknowledged that several of the development group’s directors are her political allies and had contributed to her campaigns. “It’s only natural that my supporters include people who believe as I do that Reseda should be revitalized,” she said.

Klein called Picus’ failure to fulfill 1977 and 1981 campaign promises to deliver a library at Victory Boulevard and Platt Avenue “another example of Joy’s ineffectiveness as a council member.”

Picus retorted: “These have not been plush years for the city. As soon as funds are available, that library will be built.”

Klein said that repeated patching of potholes in recent years on Winnetka, DeSoto and Fallbrook avenues was “a waste of taxpayers’ money, because what is obviously needed is a long-term solution, and Joy, as chairwoman of the council’s Public Works Committee, should be taking a lead in that direction.”

Picus said a section of DeSoto was recently repaved and that she has pushed “as hard as I can for funds to repair streets. But, as with the library, the city is not rolling in money.”