Budget Embraces Pet Projects of Council Members

City Councilman Joel Wachs got money for an art center. Councilman Hal Bernson won funding for a crime prevention program. And Councilman Howard Finn obtained funds for the Pacoima Christmas Parade.

These are among the pet projects of Valley council members contained in the $2-billion-plus, 1985-1986 Los Angeles city budget. The budget got its final touches Friday when the City Council acted on Mayor Tom Bradley’s vetoes of council additions to his earlier budget proposal.

The projects range from purchase of a paramedic ambulance for Sylmar to acquisition of land for a new park in Tarzana, expansion of a dial-a-ride bus service for the northeast Valley, and establishment of a litter cleanup program on Mulholland Drive.

Account Seems Bottomless

Some of these projects come from a special, seemingly inexhaustible account called “general city purposes.” Council members who want something not covered under a city department’s portion of the budget simply draw from this account. To feed the special account, the council pulls as much money as needed from the city’s general fund.

From this account, Valley council members drew the following amounts for their districts:

Finn, $12,500

Marvin Braude, $5,000

Bernson, $8,000

Although council members Joy Picus, Wachs and Ernani Bernardi took nothing from this account, Picus and Wachs made sure such events as parades in their districts were covered in another part of the city budget.

The unwritten council tradition is: Generally, the council gives as much as an individual member seeks for his or her district, especially if the items for which funding is requested are relatively inexpensive.

‘You Scratch My Back . . . ‘

Translation: “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”

Bernson, for example, won approval to include $2,500 in the budget for Neighborhood Watch programs in his West Valley district. Although Finn pointed out that he pays for the program in his northeast Valley district out of his own campaign funds, he nonetheless supported Bernson’s request.

Finn, in turn, received approval for $12,500 to subsidize a number of community activities in his district, including the Pacoima Christmas Parade, the Sylmar Community Parade, the Mission Hills Community Festival and the Sunland-Tujunga Multipurpose Center Community Care and Concern Day.

“Other council members do it,” Finn said of his colleagues’ tendency to use city funds for parades in their districts, when asked to justify the expenditure. “My constituents have a right to some of the money,” he asserted.

Bernson defended his requests for city funding by saying he asked for less than most of his colleagues. Bernson won approval of $2,500 each for the Chatsworth Parade and the Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce Youth in Action Parade in his district. He also got another $500 to hold “community contact” meetings.

Constituents Bear Tax Load

“The people of my district pay the lion’s share of taxes,” Bernson said, referring to his frequently stated belief that people in his relatively affluent district pick up the greatest share of the cost of running the city. “I’m not going to deprive our people of these few meager things.”

Councilman Bernardi was the only one on the 15-member council who asked for no money for parades or other community events in his mid-Valley district.

“I didn’t ask for anything,” Bernardi said, adding that he voted against all of the others’ requests for funds from the special account.

Bernardi, known for his frugality with taxpayers’ funds, said the approximately $600,000 provided citywide for parades and other community events could be better spent on hiring police.

“There’s nothing wrong with having parades,” he said. “If the Chamber of Commerce wants to have a parade in the district, that’s fine. Let them pay for it.”

Other Sources of Money

Although Bernardi refused to tap the special fund, he did receive money from other sources for a few projects in his district, including development of Blythe Street Park and expansion of Delano Street Park, both in Van Nuys. The councilman said the projects were recommended by city staff because they are needed in the predominantly low-income neighborhoods.

The city budget also provided about $500,000 citywide for community arts groups. The money came from the $2.8-million Cultural Affairs Department’s share of the city budget. Some of the Valley groups that benefited were the San Fernando Valley Arts Council, $6,000; San Fernando Valley Symphony Assn., Valley Youth Orchestra and Van Nuys Civic Orchestra, $2,500 each, and the Valley Master Chorale, $2,000.

Picus also won approval for $3,000 for summer concerts in Warner Performing Arts Square, formerly known as Warner Park, in her West Valley district, and Bernson got $2,500 for the Megaw Theatre in his district.

Also included in the cultural affairs department allocation is $500,000 to turn a former city Department of Water and Power building on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood into a multimedia arts center, a pet project of Wachs.

Variety of Projects

The budget contains money for a variety of Valley residents’ recreational needs, including construction of a gymnasium at the Sylmar Community Building, purchase of land for a parking lot at Stoney Point in Chatsworth and purchase of additional parkland at John Quimby Park in Canoga Park.

Also included were funds for refurbishing a barn at O’Melveney Park in Granada Hills to accommodate community meetings, lighting for ball fields at Northridge, Branford (Arleta) and Stonehurst (Sun Valley) recreation centers and preparation of plans for a community building at Balboa Park in Encino. The bulk of the funds used to finance these projects comes from a voter-approved state bond issue that can be used only for parks.

The council’s Friday budget session centered on 32 Bradley vetoes of spending items, half of which the council upheld. One such item was Bradley’s veto of three more animal-control officers, which the council had earlier added to the budget to help enforce the city’s leash law. The action drew interest because of recent controversy over a crackdown on dogs running loose in Laurel Canyon Park in Studio City.