VICA Presses City Council to Fill Yaroslavsky Seat Quickly

THAT VACANT FEELING: The Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. is the latest to raise an apprehensive voice about what may happen if Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s seat is left vacant for possibly as long as seven months.

VICA’s executive board voted unanimously this week to endorse the idea of having the City Council appoint an interim member to fill Yaroslavsky’s seat until his permanent successor can be elected. Yaroslavsky will be stepping down in early December from his 5th District council seat representing Sherman Oaks and sizable parts of Van Nuys to take on new duties as a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The prospect of the 5th District seat being vacant for up to seven months makes VICA uneasy, said Wendy Brogin, chairwoman of the business organization’s local issues committee. Particularly spooky was the recent fight over housing-rehabilitation dollars at City Hall, Brogin said. In this coup--later reversed--central-city council members took advantage of the absence one day of several of their Valley colleagues to shift millions of rehab dollars away from the quake-ravaged Valley.

Brogin said VICA sees the interim appointment as a Valley issue, not just a 5th District one, and she vowed to try to mobilize the Valley’s entire council delegation to support the plan. “I’ve got my running shoes on to work on the council to support this,” Brogin said this week.

The selection of a mass transit rail route (the Chandler Boulevard versus Ventura Freeway debate) and a proposal to set up a redevelopment project in the Valley to deal with earthquake recovery are just two of the critical public-policy issues that are headed for decisions in coming months. If the 5th District has no voice in these debates, its constituents and the Valley as a whole may be the loser, Brogin said.

Although Yaroslavsky got the interim-appointment debate rolling several weeks ago, nothing has been heard from him about the matter recently. In fact, council President John Ferraro said he did not sense that Yaroslavsky was really all that committed to the issue.

So has Yaroslavsky lost interest? “No, he’s still very serious about this idea,” Alisa Katz, the councilman’s top aide, insisted Thursday. “He’s talking to his colleagues about it. It’s coming along. It’s going to be a battle, though. People need convincing and we’re continuing to try to do that.” Katz, however, declined to say which of his council colleagues Yaroslavsky has been lobbying.

Meanwhile, VICA is also trying to develop a list of politically unambitious “elder statesmen” who might take the interim post--it being an article of faith that only such a neutered appointee would be acceptable. But Brogin declined to name anyone whom VICA might be considering as a likely candidate.

One name that continues to float around: state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys).

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SPIN DOCTORS AT WORK: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so, too, are political kudos.

So when two sides present different pictures of who deserves credit for a new law, who do you believe? It’s a conundrum that grows more common as the November election creeps closer.

Consider the case of AB 3096, a bill that--again, depending on whose news release you believe--either creates jobs or restores Mono Lake. It either carries out the wishes of the Wilson Administration or those of the bill’s author, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar). It either benefits the San Fernando Valley or the new west basin plant in El Segundo.

Actually, it does all of the above. The bill provides $9 million for new water-conservation programs in Los Angeles so the city can afford to take less water from Mono Lake. The programs, starting with an East Valley Reclamation Project, means new jobs for people to perform water audits and teach people how to conserve water.

But when Wilson’s and Katz’s staff put their own spins on the legislation, only part of the picture emerges--the part that is favorable to that politician.

“Governor Signs Katz Water Conservation Bill . . . Valley Expects New Jobs,” blared Katz’s announcement.

“Governor Pete Wilson Signs Legislation to Help Mono Lake,” said Wilson’s release, taking credit for an “agreement between the Wilson Administration, environmental groups, and the City of Los Angeles.”

Maybe Katz’s handout said it best. The law, it observed, is a “win-win situation for everyone.”

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SPEAKING OF KATZ: The assemblyman held a news conference earlier this week to urge Wilson to sign a bill giving the Los Angeles school district $1 million for campus security. “This is, in a sense, a waiting-for-Pete press conference,” Katz said. “Find time among the photo ops. Find time among the press conferences. Do it today. Our kids can’t afford to wait any longer.”

Meanwhile, Wilson was in his Sacramento office reading and signing bills. He signed Katz’s bill earlier in the day, his office said.

How did the Katz team respond? With a revised statement: “Responding to a plea by students, school officials and parents, Governor Wilson signed a bill . . . to install metal detectors and increase school security.”

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SPEAKING OF TIMING: It appears that every time Los Angeles schools Supt. Sid Thompson schedules a news conference on campus security, a shooting has just occurred.

Last week, a student was fatally shot outside Hollywood High School, the day before Thompson and others held a news conference on school security.

On Tuesday, Thompson attended the aforementioned news conference on metal detectors. On Monday, a student was shot on the football field at Locke High.

Thompson says there’s not much the school system can do about stopping these shootings. “There are ways we could preclude some of this,” Thompson said. “But we know when we open school, we stand a risk with the gang turf issue. We try to beef up . . . but things can’t always be prevented.”

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HERE COME THE LOOKY-LOOS: In an effort to stay abreast of the district’s needs, the Sacramento staff of state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) will pile into a bus for a tour of Los Angeles next week.

With about half of Hayden’s district falling within the boundaries of the San Fernando Valley, the tour group will spend much of its time cruising the area’s earthquake-ravaged boulevards.

“The Valley arguably is under-represented,” said Hayden Chief of Staff Duane Peterson. “Roberti’s leaving. (Sen. Herschel) Rosenthal’s poised to move in, but is from outside the district. So Tom is very interested in aggressively representing the Valley.”

Although Hayden is more often identified with his home base of Santa Monica than this side of the mountains, he has added a Valley resident to his staff: former Daily News reporter Rocky Rushing.