LOS ANGELES : Bernardi’s Successor Blocks Scholarship Fund

In only his second session as a Los Angeles city councilman, Richard Alarcon succeeded Tuesday in stalling a parting gesture by his predecessor, Ernani Bernardi, by blocking plans to establish a $1-million scholarship fund in Bernardi’s name.

At Alarcon’s request, the council agreed to a three-week delay in voting to transfer to the scholarship fund $1 million from a fund to pay for public amenities for residents who live near the city’s Lopez Canyon dump in Lake View Terrace. The scholarship was set up for students at Mission College, a two-year school in Sylmar.

Leaders of some homeowners groups have protested that scholarships would be an inappropriate use of the money.

Bernardi declined to comment on the matter when reached at his home Tuesday afternoon.

Alarcon told the council Tuesday that he wanted the three-week delay so he could have an opportunity to look at the plan in greater detail. But later he said that although he has not made up his mind, the transfer represents a large amount of money out of the Lopez Canyon trust and he wants to reconsider whether it would be appropriate.