Activist Fails to Qualify as Council Candidate

Northridge community activist Robert A. Birch, one of seven candidates who filed papers to oppose Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson in the April 9 primary, has failed to qualify for the ballot, Los Angeles election officials said Saturday.

Birch’s name was dropped from the field of candidates because he did not file the valid signatures of 500 registered voters by Saturday’s deadline, said Joe Giles of the Los Angeles city clerk’s election division.

“He can no longer participate in the election,” Giles said. “His name will not appear on the ballot.”

Birch, an opponent of the massive Porter Ranch development supported by Bernson, can run as a write-in candidate if he files the necessary papers with the city clerk’s office, Giles said.

Bernson still faces six opponents in the primary, the largest field since he was elected in 1979. Los Angeles school board member Julie Korenstein and Walter Prince, a Northridge businessman, have emerged as the most formidable opponents. Both oppose the Porter Ranch plan.

Also challenging Bernson are attorney Ronald E. Michelman of Chatsworth; Allen Hecht, a printer and a Bernson appointee to the city’s Solid Waste Advisory Group; Los Angeles police detective-supervisor Arthur (Larry) Kagele; and Leonard Shapiro, a retired health-aids distributor who publishes a small newspaper about City Hall issues.

If no candidate wins a majority of votes in the primary, the two top vote-getters will face off June 4.