ELECTIONS : CITY COUNCIL, STATE ASSEMBLY : Forums Slated Next Week for Candidates in 2 Races

Community organizations in Northeast and North-Central Los Angeles will conduct two political forums next week for candidates running for vacancies on the Los Angeles City Council and in the 46th California Assembly District.

The seats will be filled in a special election June 4. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, runoff elections will be held.

1st District Council Race

The six candidates running for the 1st District council seat are slated to appear Monday at a forum sponsored by the Mt. Washington Assn. The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Carlin G. Smith Center, 511 W. Ave. 46, Mt. Washington.

Voters will elect a candidate to fill the remaining two years in the term of Gloria Molina, who surrendered her council seat when she was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors earlier this year. The district includes portions of downtown Los Angeles and East Los Angeles, along with northeastern communities such as Mt. Washington and Echo Park.

At Monday’s forum, the candidates will answer four questions provided in advance by the Mt. Washington Assn. Community leaders said these questions will concern topics such as hillside development, water conservation, family services and government expenditures. The candidates will also answer questions from the audience.

Scheduled to attend the forum are candidates Caesar Kenneth Aquirre, Sandra L. Figueroa, Frank Juarez Foster, Michael P. Hernandez, Sharon Mee Yung Lowe and Maria Elizabeth Munoz.

No date has been set for a runoff council election, which would be held if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote. The two top vote-getters would compete in the runoff.

46th Assembly District Race

All 15 candidates for the Assembly seat vacated by Mike Roos have said they will attend a town meeting Tuesday sponsored by a coalition of groups representing Los Angeles City College students and the communities of Echo Park, Silver Lake, Pico Union, Rampart, Rampart Heights and Westlake.

The event will run from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Clausen Hall at Los Angeles City College, 855 N. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles school board president Jackie Goldberg will serve as moderator.

Because of the number of candidates participating, each answer will be limited to one minute per question. Organizers of the event have prepared questions on a range of topics and will direct each to three to five candidates, based on a chance drawing. After that, written questions from the audience will be asked.

The ethnically diverse 46th District includes affluent areas near Griffith Park, the Silver Lake community to the south, the western edge of downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown and the mid-Wilshire area. The district has more than 373,000 residents, with Democrats holding a strong lead in party registration.

Key issues include the location of a proposed state prison, reapportionment, social services, gang activity and court reform. The new Assembly member will complete Roos’ term, which ends Dec. 7, 1992.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote June 4, a runoff will be held July 30 for the top vote-getters in each party.

Democrats running for the seat are Bob Burke, Michael Cacciotti, T. S. Chung, John Emerson, Barbara Friedman, Sal Genovese, Jill Halverson, John Ladner, Adam Schiff, Kathleen A. Torres, Keith Kaz Umemoto and Joselyn Geaga Yap.

Geoffrey C. Church is the lone Republican candidate. Mike Everling is running from the Libertarian Party, and Elizabeth A. Nakano is the Peace and Freedom Party candidate.