13 Seek Council Seats Held by Bernson, Wachs, Ferraro

Thirteen challengers have declared that they will run for the Los Angeles City Council seats held by San Fernando Valley area Councilmen Hal Bernson, Joel Wachs and John Ferraro.

Seven people filed the necessary papers before Monday’s deadline to run against Bernson in the April 9 primary.

They are Robert A. Birch, a Northridge community activist who opposed the Porter Ranch development; Allen Robert Hecht, a Granada Hills printer and Bernson appointee to the city’s solid waste advisory group; Arthur (Larry) Kagele, a Los Angeles Police Department detective who lives in Granada Hills; Julie Korenstein, a member of the Los Angeles school board who lives in Northridge; Ronald E. Michelman, a Chatsworth attorney; Walter N. Prince of Chatsworth, a janitorial service owner who led a failed recall drive against Bernson, and Leonard Shapiro of Granada Hills, a City Council critic who attends and speaks at most council meetings.

Bernson is seeking a third four-year term to represent the 12th District, which includes Northridge and Chatsworth.

Three candidates are seeking to unseat Wachs from the 2nd District seat he has held since 1971.

The challengers are Mary Lou Holte, a Van Nuys “activist-crime fighter”; Peter Lynch of Sun Valley, a lobbyist for development interests at City Hall, and Tom Paterson of North Hollywood, president of the Valley Village Homeowners Assn. Paterson ran against Wachs in 1983 and received 5.7% of the vote.

The district includes Sunland and Tujunga and parts of Studio City and Van Nuys.

Seeking to oust council President Ferraro from his 4th District seat, which he has held since 1966, are Fabian Asensio of North Hollywood, who has identified himself to city election officials as a “community activist, driver”; Barney Feldman, a Los Feliz businessman, and Gregory Roberts of North Hollywood, a City Hall gadfly.

The district includes Toluca Lake and North Hollywood but is primarily located south of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Hancock Park, Park La Brea, Wilshire corridor and Atwater areas.