Bernardi in Guarded Condition After Heart Attack

Former San Fernando Valley City Councilman Ernani Bernardi suffered a heart attack Thursday morning as he was being treated for unrelated health problems at a Panorama City hospital, authorities said.

The ailing 81-year-old saxophonist-turned-politician is in “guarded condition” at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center’s cardiac care unit, said hospital spokeswoman Magdalena Beltran-del Olmo.

She said it was too early to tell how serious the attack was or to make a prognosis for his recovery. Bernardi was admitted Feb. 11 for treatment of other problems, but Beltran-del Olmo said Bernardi’s family requested that no additional information be released.

However, friends and former colleagues said Bernardi has appeared sickly since his wife of 60 years, Lucille Bernardi, died in October after a bout with Alzheimer’s disease. They said he was being treated at the hospital for an unspecified prostate problem.

Maria Fant, president of the North Hollywood Residents Assn. and a close political ally, said Bernardi’s family told her that the heart attack was very serious.

Bernardi, who became the longest-serving council member, has also been the city’s fiercest foe of community redevelopment programs, which he views as wasteful. In fact, he sued the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday over a community redevelopment program that he has spent years fighting.

The lawsuit accuses the board of violating state open-meeting laws when it held a closed-door session in December to discuss lifting a spending cap on a downtown redevelopment project. Bernardi has filed a similar suit against the city of Los Angeles for private meetings that two city panels held on the same subject in December.

Fant said that despite his health problems, Bernardi has continued to be a devout advocate for eliminating wasteful spending.

Bernardi, who represented the East Valley, was elected to the City Council in 1960. He retired in June.

Staff writer Julie Tamaki contributed to this story.