Bernardi’s Scholarship Fund Cut Almost 75% : City Hall: Alarcon wins request to slash predecessor’s program. Critics called allocation a self-congratulatory monument.

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon won approval Tuesday to cut by almost 75% a $1-million scholarship fund for Mission College students that his predecessor Ernani Bernardi established over the protests of some Lake View Terrace residents.

By a 13-0 vote, the City Council quickly and quietly amended Bernardi’s original motion and appropriated just $265,000 for the scholarship program. “If all goes well,” Alarcon said, he will ask that an additional $250,000 be appropriated next year.

Alarcon had said previously that Bernardi devoted too much money to the scholarship, which Bernardi established in June, the month he left office. Harsher critics called it an inflated, self-congratulatory monument set up by Bernardi to commemorate his 32-year tenure on the council. Bernardi decided not to run for reelection last spring.

Money for the scholarship program comes from a $5-million trust fund created by the City Council to benefit the Lake View Terrace, Kagel Canyon and Pacoima communities as compensation for the council’s 1991 decision that allows garbage dumping at the city-owned Lopez Canyon landfill to continue until 1996.

Bernardi was instrumental in creating the trust fund to provide amenities for his constituents, who have complained about the dump for years and wanted it closed.

Bernardi, reached at his home, refused to criticize Alarcon’s action. “He is the councilman of the district now,” Bernardi said. “He has other programs he wants to fund. I’m not really in a position to evaluate them.”

Alarcon, at a City Hall news conference Tuesday, warmly praised Bernardi and said he has kept his predecessor fully advised of his plan to reduce the scholarship program. Bernardi “has not been in any way negative” to his proposal, Alarcon said.

And at Alarcon’s request, students receiving the scholarships will be asked to perform a modest amount of community service in the area affected by the dump and will be required to attend a workshop on the history of the landfill and Bernardi’s role in fighting to mitigate its impact on its neighbors, Alarcon said.

“This truly is a tribute to Ernani Bernardi . . . who spoke up for the little guy,” Alarcon said.

Despite Alarcon’s cutback, the Mission College fund will still provide scholarships for up to 60 students a year, it was estimated by college President Jack Fujimoto, who was present at Tuesday’s news conference with Alarcon.

The scholarship principal will be deposited in interest-bearing accounts, and only the interest income will be used to pay the scholarships.

Alarcon also introduced members of a 10-member panel that will advise him on how to spend the about $1.9 million remaining in the Lopez Canyon Community Amenities Trust Fund. Brief remarks were made by advisory board members Fujimoto and Sandy Hubbard, a Lake View Terrace community activist.

About half the $5 million earmarked for the amenities fund has already been spent on a dozen projects, including purchase of a headquarters in Pacoima for Jeopardy, an anti-gang program run by the Los Angeles Police Department, and the renovation of the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center.

Alarcon said he has not yet decided how to spend the remaining trust funds, but that he hopes to use the money to generate matching grants from other sources. For example, if money were to be spent on sports projects, matching funds should be raised as well from the Amateur Athletic Assn., Alarcon said.

Under the terms of the ordinance setting up the fund, he said, he doubts that the money could be used for economic development projects.

According to public records, the amenities fund dollars have been allocated for the following purposes: $700,000 to the Jeopardy program; $250,000 for improvements at Dexter Park; $229,500 to air-condition Brainard Avenue Elementary School in Lake View Terrace; $172,625 to paint Fenton Avenue Elementary School in Lake View Terrace; $170,000 to buy 5.17 acres for expanding the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center; and $50,000 to the Sylmar Independent Baseball League to build new sports facilities.

Also, $30,999 was allocated to purchase play equipment for the entrance to Lopez Canyon landfill; $57,880 to finance the Lake View Terrace Comprehensive Day Camp; $20,000 to the Lake View Terrace Garden Club to pay for renovating an ornamental garden at Foothill Boulevard and Osborne Street; $10,000 to pay for recreation services at Orcas Park; and $7,000 to finance the installation of a traffic signal at Orcas Park.