ELECTIONS / L.A. CITY COUNCIL : Yaroslavsky, Lake Spar on Transit

Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky debated election rival Laura Lake in Van Nuys on Thursday, with Lake accusing the councilman of running on a platform of broken promises and Yaroslavsky accusing Lake of flip-flopping on a key mass transit issue.

“If you like the way the city has been governed, vote for the incumbent; if you want change, this is the time,” said Lake, an environmental activist trying to win the council seat Yaroslavsky has held for 18 years.

Speaking before a group of senior citizens, Yaroslavsky accused his rival of having once favored an aboveground light-rail system for the San Fernando Valley, which she denied.

Both candidates voiced support Thursday for an underground east-west rail line, though local transportation officials now are committed to a rival plan for an elevated rail system above the Ventura Freeway.

The third candidate in the 5th District race, city building inspector Michael Rosenberg of North Hollywood, used most of his time during a two-hour question-and-answer session to press for eliminating waste and inefficiency at City Hall.

Of the 50 people who attended the session, fewer than two dozen were residents of the 5th District, which includes the southern San Fernando Valley from Sherman Oaks to North Hollywood and portions of the Westside. Others came to hear four challengers seeking to oust Councilwoman Joy Picus for the 3rd District seat representing the southwestern Valley. Picus did not attend.

Except for the brief quarrel regarding Lake’s previous stand on the Valley light-rail line, the joint appearance by Yaroslavsky and Lake was mostly non-confrontational.

For at least a few in the audience, the session did little to help them make a choice.

“I was disappointed that Laura doesn’t seem to be as good a speaker as I thought she was, and yet I don’t think Zev has ever done much for the Valley,” said Belle Palmer, president of the 125-member Seniors for Action, which sponsored the gathering.

Yaroslavsky, who showed up an hour late after giving a noon speech downtown, said crime is the most important issue the city faces.

The councilman said he was proud that spending for law enforcement represented the single largest percentage of the city’s budget during his tenure as chairman of the council’s budget and finance committee.

Yaroslavsky called approval of Proposition 1, a measure on the April 20 ballot that would put another 1,000 police officers on the streets, “critical to the survival of the city.”

In a theme she has used repeatedly in her campaign, Lake said new leadership is needed if Los Angeles is to solve its problems.

And in a swipe at Yaroslavsky, she likened his call for more police to “promises four years ago for more police, and it didn’t happen,” adding, “these are election promises again.”