City Council Candidates Hall, Alarcon Debate

Los Angeles City Council candidates Lyle Hall and Richard Alarcon, appearing Monday night at a campaign forum in Lake View Terrace, sought to hammer home their distinct positions on ways to fight crime and create new jobs in the northeastern San Fernando Valley.

In their second face-to-face appearance since the April 20th primary election, Hall and Alarcon each painted himself as the best representative for a district that they both depicted as “the city’s dumping grounds.” They said they were referring to the district being the site of the Lopez Canyon Landfill and the proposed site for Phoenix House, a drug rehabilitation center.

The forum, sponsored by the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn., attracted about 50 residents to the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center.

Hall, a Los Angeles Fire Department captain, was the top vote-getter in the primary, with 23% of the vote, leading six other candidates vying to succeed retiring 7th District Councilman Ernani Bernardi in the northeastern Valley.

Alarcon, a onetime deputy to Mayor Tom Bradley, was second with 18.9%. Should he win the June runoff, Alarcon would be the Valley’s first Latino council member.

It is the second time in four years that Hall, 53, has gone into a runoff campaign for the seat. In 1989, he forced Bernardi into a runoff but lost.

While the candidates touched on many issues, the audience seemed most intent on concentrating on crime and the proposed drug rehabilitation center.

To cut crime, Hall said he would promote the increased use of reserve police officers to double the number of patrol cars in Lake View Terrace. “I’ve been on the street and I’ve seen firsthand the impact of crime and graffiti on our neighborhood,” Hall said.

For his part, Alarcon said he would seek to cut waste in City Hall in an effort to find money to pay for additional police officers. He drew cheers from the crowd when he voiced opposition to Phoenix House, saying neighbors have expressed worries that it would lower their property values.

Hall supports the rehabilitation center, saying it passed an extensive city review process before the operators were granted a permit to open the center.

Both Hall and Alarcon said they would fight to get more tax dollars to improve streets, bridges and other aspects of the infrastructure, thus improving the community and revitalizing its economy.

The district represents a working-class area that stretches from Van Nuys to Sylmar. Its boundaries were redrawn last year by the City Council with an eye toward improving chances of a Latino winning.

During campaigning in the primary, the candidates discussed how to resuscitate the vast Van Nuys General Motors plant and attract new businesses to the economically troubled district. Also discussed was how to control crime. The district includes Blythe Street, one of the city’s most notorious drug hot spots until a police crackdown last fall.