Alarcon to Seek Bernardi’s Seat on Council

Portraying himself as a lifelong San Fernando Valley resident fighting for those without a voice in city government, Richard Alarcon, Mayor Tom Bradley’s Valley liaison, formally announced Sunday that he will seek the seat of retiring City Councilman Ernani Bernardi.

Alarcon, who announced his candidacy in the front yard of his childhood home in Sun Valley, is perhaps the best-known candidate in what is expected to be a crowded field to replace Bernardi, who has said he will retire from his northeast Valley seat next year.

At least six others are considering a run for Bernardi’s District 7 seat--including the widow of former Councilman Howard Finn, Bernardi deputy Raymond J. Magana and fire Captain Lyle Hall, who in 1989 forced Bernardi into a hotly contested runoff election.

Speaking to a crowd of about 75 supporters, Alarcon, 38, characterized himself as a local boy seeking to have his community’s voice heard by city leaders. He promised to overhaul the city’s planning process, encourage the creation of new jobs and work closely with local schools.

“A strong, clear and influential voice in City Hall is just what our part of the Valley needs,” he said. “I am pledging to be that voice.”

Bradley’s Valley liaison since 1990, Alarcon is a former schoolteacher who is involved with more than 50 community organizations. In 1986, he was among a group of young activists pressing for a council redistricting plan favorable to Latinos. More recently, he briefly belonged to a Latino coalition that backed a redistricting plan for the Los Angeles school board, which was subsequently adopted.

For several years, Bernardi’s district has been viewed as the most likely to elect the Valley’s first Latino council member. The City Council redistricting plan adopted last summer, based on 1990 U.S. Census Bureau data, carved out a seventh district with a Latino population of 70%. However, only 31% of the district’s registered voters are Latino.

Alarcon said he will run a grass-roots campaign encouraging Latinos to register to vote, but added that he will not concentrate solely on one ethnic group. He said he wants to unite different groups across the Valley.

“It’s not just Latinos,” he said. “Clearly, this community is diverse.”

Running Alarcon’s campaign will be Al Avila, a former aide to Councilman Richard Alatorre and a longtime Sylmar resident. A consultant to government, Avila himself had been viewed as a possible candidate for Bernardi’s seat.

Alarcon said he will take a leave of absence from his job with the mayor’s office to campaign full time when he files his official candidacy papers in January.

In addition to Alarcon, Hall and Magana, others who have filed declarations of intent to raise money for the District 7 race are LeRoy Chase Jr., head of the Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley; Anne Finn, the 77-year-old widow of former Councilman Howard Finn; Albert Dib, who ran against Bernardi in 1989, and Sharon Humphrey-Peterson.