WHAT PRICE POWER? L. A. public officials...

WHAT PRICE POWER? L. A. public officials make good money, as the graph above attests. Although county supervisors pledged to take an 8.25% pay cut along with other county employees, that still would leave them $91,105 a year--less than City Council members, but more than state legislators. . . . And yes, Assembly members really get $500 more than senators. Not clear why.

ABSINTHE YOGURT? Seems hard to think of North Hollywood as the next Greenwich Village or SoHo. But local groups and city agencies are mulling an official artists’ quarter, where the creative set could live and work in commercial buildings (B4). . . . A backer’s strategy: “Nobody’s going to be against it, unless they’re against art.”

FASHION CRIME: Into the gray area between teen-age fashion and incitement to crime steps the Santa Clarita Anti-Gang Task Force, calling on a local shop to stop selling T-shirts featuring the prison term for murder (B18). A store executive says he’ll yank the shirt if that’s so . . . adding that the store “absolutely does not” stock a shirt sold elsewhere carrying a slang phrase for “kill a cop.”

IMPOSSIBLE DREAM: No matter that Steve Maye is a 28-year-old, failed minor-league pitcher who suffered a torn rotator cuff. The high school coach still clings to the hope of pitching in the big leagues (C12). . . . He even makes the 300-mile round trip to Palm Springs at least once a week for a short lesson with a minor-league pitching coach.

PAIN LANE: Most of us fume at slow freeways, but what about those who fear the fast lane? Those who can’t face an interchange, or even an on-ramp, without breaking out in cold sweat? For them, a Van Nuys psychotherapist specializes in freeway phobias. See Around the Valley (B5) for an afternoon with “the Freud of the Freeways” and a white-knuckled patient.

Top Dollars

Salaries of selected public officials L.A. Mayor: $117,884 Governor: $114,285 L.A. County Supervisors: $99,297 L.A. City Council members: $90,680 State Assembly members: $52,500 State Senate members: $52,000 Source: Times research