‘Could Be Jewel’ : Bernardi Foe Seeks Hansen Dam Revival

Los Angeles City Council candidate Jules S. Bagneris III called Thursday for rehabilitation of the Hansen Dam park while criticizing incumbent Ernani Bernardi for not taking a leadership role in restoring the area’s silt-filled lake.

Additionally, Bagneris blamed Bernardi for a lack of adequate recreational facilities for youths in the northeast San Fernando Valley, which he said contributes to the proliferation of drugs and gangs.

“A man with leadership would demand that the northeast Valley receive the same consideration as the area around the Sepulveda Basin in the south Valley,” Bagneris said, referring to plans for a $20-million recreation area in the Sepulveda Basin.

“A man with leadership would form a coalition with county, state and federal officials in a joint effort to revive Hansen Lake and Hansen Park,” he said.

Uses Bush’s Phrase

Then, borrowing a slogan from President George Bush’s speech at the Republican National Convention in August, Bagneris said: “I am that man.”

Bagneris, 28, a former aide to state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), will hold his first fund-raiser March 3. He is an investment consultant, president of the Lake View Terrace Home Owners Assn. and a minister with the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In addition to the Hansen Dam park, he said his major campaign issues will include opposition to expanding the Lopez Canyon landfill and to locating the Nancy Reagan Center for drug rehabilitation in Lake View Terrace.

If sufficient city and state funds cannot be found for the Hansen Dam project, which Bagneris estimated would cost at least $5 million, he said a bond issue should be placed before voters. If elected, he said he would lead that effort.

“This place could be the jewel of the Valley,” he said.

Silt Fills Lake

A major obstacle in refilling Hansen Dam Lake--which was closed to boats in the early 1970s, then to swimmers in 1982--is the vast accumulation of silt that has swept down from the hills during rainy seasons.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the dam area was designed to catch the silt. A private contractor is mining the sand and gravel, but Army Corps officials say that even if a new lake is constructed, eventually it will fill with silt.

However, Bagneris said a park could be developed even without a lake. People stay away from Hansen Dam because of a lack of recreational facilities and fear of drugs, gangs and the homeless people who live there, he said.

Bagneris proposed adding mounted police to the park and an emergency telephone system, similar to one instituted at UC San Diego when he was student body president there.