Dump’s Neighbors Sue Bernardi Over Funds

Residents living near the Lopez Canyon garbage dump have sued Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, accusing him of illegally trying to spend $700,000 that was supposed to underwrite civic improvements in their neighborhoods.

Bernardi refused to comment on the lawsuit, filed Friday by the Lake View Terrace Home Owners Assn., the Kagel Canyon Civic Assn. and several homeowner leaders, including Lew Snow and Rob Zapple.

In April, the City Council adopted an ordinance, introduced by Bernardi, earmarking $700,000 for “a gang prevention program located in Pacoima.”

But the homeowners say the money, part of a $5-million Lopez Canyon Community Amenities Trust Fund, should be spent on neighborhoods that are directly affected by odors, noise and dust from the garbage dump, not Pacoima.

The lawsuit is the latest chapter in a feud over the trust fund that has strained a previous alliance between Bernardi and residents, who had joined forces to fight expansion of the dump. That expansion was approved over their objections in 1991, but Bernardi and residents persuaded the city to create the trust fund to make life more bearable in their neighborhoods.

According to the lawsuit, the city’s intent was that the trust money be spent on “amenities such as recreational facilities, tree planting and recycling for those members of the community directly impacted by the presence of the landfill.

“The people of Lake View Terrace and Kagel Canyon live in the shadow of the Lopez Canyon landfill,” the lawsuit continued. “They experience the presence of the dump every day. The amenities fund was a small consolation for their forbearance.”

On the other hand, “most of Pacoima . . . is not located in the direct vicinity of the landfill,” the lawsuit said. “Nor does the program have any relationship whatsoever to the conditions created by the landfill which the amenities fund was designed to ameliorate.”

The plaintiffs said they believe Pacoima is in “desperate need” of an anti-gang program but that Bernardi’s spending plan has improperly “pitted one neglected community against another.”

The lawsuit not only seeks to invalidate the council ordinance authorizing the expenditure for the anti-gang program but to further define where the trust money is to be spent. The ordinance simply says the money should be spent in the vicinity of the Lopez Canyon landfill, without offering many specifics.

In their lawsuit, the homeowners proposed a spending formula for the trust fund money. It says 70% of the money should be spent on areas most significantly troubled by the landfill’s operations, 30% on areas where the impact is moderate and 10% on areas only marginally affected. No funds would be spent outside a two-mile radius of the landfill, according to the proposed guidelines.

Bernardi had hoped the $700,000 would provide a home for the Los Angeles Police Department’s Jeopardy program in the Foothill Division. But city officials have yet to find a permanent site for the program, which seeks to steer “at-risk” youngsters away from gang life.

One possible site for Jeopardy was Pacoima’s San Fernando Valley Boys & Girls Club, but the plan suffered a setback when it was learned recently that the clubhouse fails to meet building codes and may need to be torn down. Other potential sites for the program in Pacoima also are being considered.