BERNARDI REPORT: Ernani Bernardi says he’s just...

BERNARDI REPORT: Ernani Bernardi says he’s just fine, thank you. The former Los Angeles councilman, who collapsed during Easter services and was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center for tests, said he has low blood pressure and wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about . . . “I’m fine--I was fine Sunday, 10 minutes after it happened,” said the 82-year-old Bernardi, who was released from the hospital Tuesday. “I just got dizzy. It happens.”

ODE TO THE QUAKE: Earthquake-poet Geraldine Forer Spagnoli shares a cleaner brand of humor with columnist and Valley Edition critic-in-residence Scott Harris . . . “Before the earthquake did intrude/ I went to bed quite in the nude/ Now I sleep in sweats instead/ For a hasty exit from my bed,” and other ditties. (B1)

HIDDEN POVERTY: Visit Pacoima and you’ll see well-kept houses and busy shopping centers. What you may not see is crippling poverty--the worst in the San Fernando Valley. . . . The community might receive a helping hand if declared a federal empowerment zone, the centerpiece of a Clinton Administration urban revitalization program. (B1) . . . Pacoima also has its rural side. Resident Eugene Davis, above, rides a horse he keeps at a stable there.

HEEERRRE’S PADUA HILLS: Johnny Carson may be gone, but Burbank soon will be home to yet another showbiz favorite . . . Padua Hills, after a two-year hiatus as Los Angeles’ premiere new-theater festival, will resume July 21 at its new home on the Woodbury University campus. (Sunday Calendar, page 48).

ON THE BALLOT: The big issue in Tuesday’s Lancaster City Council election is the incumbents’ vote to spend up to $187,000 to lure a large pet-supply store to town. (B6) . . . In Burbank, a $100-million bond measure to repair schools is on the ballot. (B3) . . . And in the Valley’s 20th state Senate District, the fate of state Sen. David Roberti is on the line. (B1)