L.A. CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS 4TH DISTRICT : Ferraro Runs Unopposed for 7th Term

In the enormity of Los Angeles, some City Council districts provide a measure of identity. There are mostly Latino districts on the Eastside, suburban wards in the San Fernando Valley and predominantly black districts in South Los Angeles.

But the sickle-shaped 4th Council District has little cohesion--with fragments of North Hollywood and Studio City, fringes of Los Feliz and Silver Lake and bits of Hancock Park and the Fairfax District.

Some council colleagues say City Council President John Ferraro, like his district, has not established a distinct political identity or agenda--but has consistently attended to the needs of constituents in his far-flung district.

He has served for 25 years on the council--and in the April 9 municipal election faces no opposition as he runs for a seventh term.

Ferraro, 66, a former football All-American from USC, has built a seemingly unassailable incumbency by taking care of constituent concerns, raising a formidable campaign war chest and charting a moderate position on development--a nettlesome reelection issue this year for some of his colleagues.

Said Councilman Michael Woo of the neighboring 13th District: “He is a popular incumbent who takes care of the bread-and-butter issues.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said: “He has not had any major local issues that have affected his constituents, and that would have motivated candidates to challenge him.”

Councilman Marvin Braude said Ferraro takes care of “the nuts and bolts of serving constituents, such as parking and garbage collection.”

Ferraro was typically unassuming in explaining why he will have a free ride back into office. “I would hope it is because people are happy with what we do,” he said, “and because we are accessible.”

The absence of a strong ideological image actually may be part of Ferraro’s strength, said one colleague. “While he doesn’t excite the public positively, he doesn’t excite them negatively either,” said the council member, who asked to remain anonymous.

Three would-be opponents also made matters easy on Ferraro this time around by failing to qualify for the ballot. All three took out papers for the race, but one was disqualified when he failed to submit a statement of economic interest, as required by campaign disclosure laws, and two others did not file the 500 signatures needed to place their names on the ballot.

This is Ferraro’s easiest campaign, though he has never had a real struggle.

Appointed to the council in 1966, he was reelected a year later when a single challenger got just 28% of the vote. No one has come any closer in five subsequent elections, with Ferraro facing a maximum of three challengers each time around.

Ferraro has not had as much luck stepping up. He lost a 1974 bid for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to then-fellow Councilman Ed Edelman and he received just 30% of the vote in his 1985 challenge to Mayor Tom Bradley.

His lack of a citywide identity seemed to hurt his mayoral bid. One survey said 40% of the voters said they had never heard of him.

Despite the poor mayoral showing, Ferraro returned to his safe haven in the 4th District. Even after a 1986 redistricting, the ward is still substantially in Ferraro’s mold--66% of the residents are white and 64% hold white-collar jobs.

If the 6-foot, 4 1/2-inch Ferraro does have an image, it is of “Big John,” the team-playing former athlete, who sometimes belittles his own intellect and makes points with analogies from the sports world. He was elected four years ago as president of the council, in part because colleagues felt that his genial manner would help keep peace among council members.

In his district, Ferraro pays attention to basics. “I return all of my phone calls and I emphasize that to my staff,” Ferraro said. “We try to help people. And if we can’t, we let them know we can’t.”

One Studio City man, for example, said he got a prompt response after complaining to Ferraro’s office about noisy construction near his home that began before 7 in the morning.

“They went and visited the construction site,” the man said, “and that was the end of the problem.”

Ferraro has also managed not to alienate too many constituents on development issues, which has presented a problem this year for fellow council members Hal Bernson and Ruth Galanter.

Ferraro defused the biggest potential building issue in his district last fall when he supported a reduction by more than half of a shopping center proposed for Los Angeles’ Farmers Market.

Owners of the market had proposed a 2-million-square-foot project, but Ferraro said he would agree to only 700,000 square feet of new construction.

“The work he did on Farmers Market was not perfect, but politically perfect,” said David Hamlin, president of the nearby Park La Brea Tenants Assn.