Council Race Quickens in 5th District

Dozens of supporters hoisting blue-and-white campaign signs practically cheered themselves silly when Laura M. Lake recently announced her plans for a grass-roots political assault on Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky.

“We’ve beaten Zev before, and we’ll beat him again,” Lake pledged as she formally kicked off her campaign in the shadow of the Westside Pavilion shopping center. “We will retake the 5th District block by block and house by house.”

From that day forward, Lake, the savvy Westwood community activist who poses the toughest challenge to Yaroslavsky in the April 11 primary, has been tirelessly working to attract the support of a broad range of her fellow 5th District activists. But it appears that she has her work cut out for her.

In response to Lake’s assertions that his constituents are deserting him, Yaroslavsky recently released the names of more than 25 past and present community organization leaders who already have committed to backing him.

‘Not Surrendering’

“You wouldn’t have this many homeowner representatives supporting my reelection if there wasn’t a certain level of satisfaction,” Yaroslavsky said. “I’m not surrendering one precinct in this election to anybody.”

Said Lake when she heard about the names: “I’m not going to get into matching lists with him. All that establishes is that he has 25 votes.”

Whether Yaroslavsky’s list of endorsements will translate into significant support on Election Day--and most political observers believe that it will--remains to be seen. But at the very least, it shows that the councilman, who has been vilified by his opponents as a pawn of developers, still enjoys the good will of a good many grass-roots activists.

Richard Agay, president of the Westside Community Planning Council and the Westwood Design Review Board, is effusive in his praise of Yaroslavsky.

‘Performance Spectacular’

“Zev is the best one for the job for a number of reasons,” Agay said recently. “His performance is spectacular in terms of protecting homeowners and the environment. I don’t know how we could do better than we have with him.”

Richard Close, president of the powerful Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., is equally impressed. “I think that he has been very effective in our area,” Close said. “People view him as a leader trying to solve problems.”

Yaroslavsky’s list shows that he enjoys similar support from neighborhood leaders in Benedict Canyon, Century City, Carthay Circle, Beverlywood, Holmby Hills, Bel-Air, West Los Angeles, Studio City, Beverly Glen and Melrose-Fairfax--areas that represent a broad cross section of the council district.

His problems come in places where development is especially intensive, such as Westwood and the Beverly-La Cienega area.

After dealing with Yaroslavsky on construction of the controversial Ma Maison Sofitel Hotel, Diana Plotkin, leader of the Beverly Wilshire Homeowners Assn., called him a disaster.

Destroyed District

“He has completely neglected this community,” Plotkin charged. “He has had 13 years to destroy the 5th Council District, and he has done it.”

Sandy Brown, who has battled Yaroslavsky over the Westside Pavilion and other developments as a leader of Friends of Westwood and the Holmby-Westwood Homeowners Assn., says Yaroslavsky has worn out his welcome.

“There was a time when Zev was sensitive to what was happening,” Brown said. “Now, when you work with him, you feel like you’re getting screwed.”

Yaroslavsky’s council foes have been hammering home similar messages for weeks. Jack McGrath, who once served as his chief of staff and campaign manager, says Yaroslavsky has given tacit approval to growth by failing to stop it. Ryan Snyder, a transportation consultant, says 5th District traffic problems are the issue.

But the strongest indictment has come from Lake, who blames Yaroslavsky for robbing 5th District residents of their quality of life by allowing the area to buckle under the weight of commercial growth.

Things Could Be Better

As she circles the district in her compact car, Lake tells anyone who will listen that things could be better.

“If you go over the notorious projects he has been associated with, including the Wilshire Corridor, Westwood Village and a string of projects in the Valley, you can see that he hasn’t been taking care of the district for the last eight years,” Lake said. “It has been too little, too late.”

Yaroslavsky’s opponents say his performance started to decline years ago and became especially acute over the past 18 months as he flirted with the idea of challenging Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. They contend that his slow-growth image, molded on such high-profile efforts as his joint authorship of Proposition U, the landmark measure that cut densities citywide, is actually a facade.

Susan Brown, president of the Cheviot Hills Homeowners Assn., said she sees no evidence of Yaroslavsky’s commitment to communities. Instead, she said, she and her neighbors must constantly battle development projects independently.

“We’re chasing our councilman,” said Brown, whose group was involved in recent opposition to the expansion of Westside Pavilion. “We’re trying to get him to play the role that this town needs. We have even had to fight to get people to adhere to Proposition U because Zev wasn’t doing it.”

Disagreements over developmental standards for Westwood Village, the Wilshire Corridor and Westside Pavilion are just some of the issues that have placed Yaroslavsky at odds with such activists as Lake, a UCLA environmental science professor. Yaroslavsky says he has done everything possible to protect those areas, including downzoning. But others dispute that.

“We have had to take a club and hit Zev on the head and say we didn’t want what was planned” for Westwood Village, Sandy Brown said. “We weren’t getting anywhere with him privately. It was not a question of caring. The fact is that he is not slow-growth, at least not in the 5th District.”

Westside Pavilion

Yaroslavsky’s splits with certain Westwood factions may also have contributed to the undoing of his mayoral bid. In December, Bradley, acting at the behest of such Westwood residents as Sandy Brown, vetoed the 105,000-square-foot Westside Pavilion expansion plan sponsored by Yaroslavsky on the grounds that its connector bridge violated Proposition U development standards.

Yaroslavsky’s supporters called the veto a cheap publicity stunt and said Proposition U would have been observed. But a frustrated Yaroslavsky dropped his mayoral bid two weeks later, citing unfavorable polling results.

The Westwood Design Review Board’s Agay, one of many Westwood activists who still stand behind Yaroslavsky, said that in the heat of battle, many people forget the good deeds that the councilman has done.

“His plan dramatically downzoned the village,” he said. “And the new community plan implemented reductions in the size of growth.”

Called Responsive

Kurt Hunter, president of the Valley Village Homeowners Assn. of North Hollywood, said Yaroslavsky has always been the most responsive of the five councilmen who ended up with parts of North Hollywood during redistricting.

“On our side of the hill, I feel that he has really responded to some very difficult issues, especially the light-rail issue,” Hunter said. He added that Yaroslavsky has taken a stand against it, while others have avoided the issue.

Yaroslavsky contends that come Election Day, neighborhood activist supporters such as Hunter and Agay will help put him over the top easily. He said Lake’s support remains limited.

“We’ll find out on April 11 whether Laura’s feelings are shared by other 5th District residents,” Yaroslavsky said. “I don’t think they are.”

Lake, however, said the existence of Yaroslavsky’s list of supporters raises questions about his confidence. “The fact that he has compiled this list shows that he is very much on the defensive,” she said. “He’s running scared.”