NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Panel Election Set

The Los Angeles City Council has voted to hold an election on March 8 for members of a citizens advisory panel overseeing the North Hollywood Redevelopment Project.

The council Tuesday instructed the city clerk to spend no more than $8,000 to supervise the election of 14 of the 25 members of the panel, formally called the Project Area Committee. Each member serves a two-year term.

The committee advises the Community Redevelopment Agency on issues involving the redevelopment project. For years, pro- and anti-redevelopment factions have struggled to gain control of the committee.

The last committee election, in October, 1992, was called unfair and procedurally flawed by redevelopment critics after they failed to win a majority of the seats on the panel. The critics said the League of Women Voters--which supervised the election--allowed dozens of voters to cast ballots before all of the candidates had been nominated. That move, the critics said, might have deprived some candidates of votes.

“We followed the rules that were approved by the City Council,” said Felita Waxman, a League of Women Voters representative who helped supervise the election.

Waxman defended the organization’s actions and said the election had been very volatile. She said the league had not decided whether to participate in the March 8 polling.

Councilman John Ferraro, who represents North Hollywood, said he hopes the participation of the city clerk in the election will eliminate a similar controversy.