Miles to Go and Promises to Keep : Alarcon Grapples With Scholarship Fund; Chick Needs to Avoid Minutiae

The early line on one of the Valley’s two new City Council members, Richard Alarcon, was that he was off to a slow start because he had made few staff appointments. But Alarcon has reacted swiftly, particularly in delaying a questionable last-minute effort by predecessor Ernani Bernardi to create a $1-million scholarship fund from monies that were earmarked for other purposes.

Just two days before the end of his term, Bernardi gained council approval of a $1-million transfer from the Lopez Canyon Community Amenities Trust Fund. The purpose: to begin the Ernani Bernardi Scholarship Trust Fund for students at Mission College in Sylmar. But the trust fund had been created solely for public amenities for northeast Valley residents who live near the city’s Lopez Canyon garbage dump.

When Alarcon arrived on the job, he quickly convinced his council colleagues to give him three weeks to determine whether this represents a reasonable use of the trust’s funds.

Alarcon has promised to address other matters too, and we hope for equally swift action there. Specifically, there was a promise to create a Community Advisory Group of local business people, educators, religious leaders and service providers to begin marketing the northeast Valley as a good place to live and do business. Another goal was to create a task force to develop specific plans for use of the old General Motors plant in Panorama City and other vacant and available parcels in the 7th District.

But we don’t agree with Alarcon on everything. Given our long-held belief that the death penalty is an ineffective deterrent, Alarcon should reconsider his backing of a state anti-crime bill that calls for capital punishment for those found guilty of drive-by killings.

Council newcomer Laura Chick has been far more low-key. In fact, we would urge the new 3rd District councilwoman to move on from campaign-related concerns to more substantive matters. For example, Chick pledged to cut $100,000 from her office budget to hire more police for her district, and the matter has already taken up more time than it deserves. She can’t cut that much. At best, in any case, we are talking about the hiring of one or two police officers when as many as 2,000 or more are needed. Voters hardly want to see Chick saddled with such minutiae.

Her opening days would be better spent fulfilling other promises, such as urging her council colleagues to move more swiftly in approving a blueprint for managing growth in the aging Reseda business district. That would be a far more worthy goal for the new councilwoman, especially since she had blasted former incumbent Joy Picus during the campaign for failing to address Reseda’s economic needs.