LOCAL ELECTIONS / 5TH CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT : The Yaroslavsky Name Could Be a Liability in One Part of Valley

As a contender for the 5th District seat on the Los Angeles City Council, Barbara Yaroslavsky has a lot going for her: a well-recognized name, the endorsement of Mayor Richard Riordan and twice the campaign funds of any other candidate.

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But she may also have an Achilles’ heel: Sherman Oaks.

The well-to-do community at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains is home to about 20% of the district’s voters. But if community leaders there are any indication, Sherman Oaks may not be Yaroslavsky country.

Her campaign faces difficulties because of lingering hostility some Sherman Oaks residents hold toward her husband, Zev Yaroslavsky, the man who represented the district for 19 years before resigning in December to take a seat on the County Board of Supervisors.

Before he left, Zev Yaroslavsky drew the wrath of some residents by endorsing several controversial projects, including a redevelopment effort for quake victims that so angered the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. that it sued the city in January to kill the project.

It is too early to assess the overall impact of any disgruntlement in Sherman Oaks on Barbara Yaroslavsky’s political prospects. The 5th District includes other parts of the San Fernando Valley and the Westside, where Yaroslavsky lives and where she has drawn most of her financial support for the campaign so far. If she prevails with Westside voters, the Sherman Oaks factor may not affect the outcome.

Still, the animosity toward her in that community was evident recently when she underwent harsh questioning at a candidates forum sponsored by the homeowners group. Some residents and business owners expressed fear that she would continue her husband’s more controversial stands.

“Can you convince us tonight that the money you’ve raised is based on your merit and your views and not those of your husband?” one woman asked. “And how do we know that your vote will not just be a proxy vote for your husband?”

The questions sparked applause from 75 or so audience members.

Clearly agitated, Barbara Yaroslavsky called the question “sexist” because, she said, it assumes she can’t have opinions independent of her husband. She also defended her $279,000 campaign war chest, saying her contributors gave to her because they believe in her. According to political pundits, the blunt questioning at the forum demonstrates the politically precarious situation the candidate is in: She wants to capitalize on her husband’s popularity but she wants to reduce any negative impact his past actions may have on her campaign.

Political consultant Richard Lichtenstein said she can reduce the negative impact of being associated with her husband’s controversial stands and yet benefit from his popularity by clearly defining her personal beliefs and how they differ from her husband’s.

“The more the campaign moves along and the more Barbara remains an unidentified individual in her own right, the more she will be defined by Zev’s policies,” said Lichtenstein, who is not working for any of the candidates in the race.

Underscoring her problems in Sherman Oaks, Barbara Yaroslavsky has generated only $5,500, or about 2% of her campaign contributions, from the community’s residents and business owners.

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For her part, she said that during her door-to-door campaigning in Sherman Oaks she has found that many residents support her and that the kind of criticism she faced at the candidates forum was not widespread.

“I don’t think I’m going to have such a hard time in Sherman Oaks,” she said.

Still, Lichtenstein and other political observers say that the April primary and the June election are both likely to have relatively small voter turnouts and that the votes of a small but motivated group of Zev Yaroslavsky critics could influence the outcome.

The former councilman’s legacy that his wife must contend with includes several controversial positions he took in the last few months before he resigned.

In November, he and the rest of the City Council voted to support a senior citizens housing project at Ventura Boulevard and Woodman Avenue that several homeowners opposed because, they said, it would create traffic and parking problems.

Later that month, Zev Yaroslavsky and the City Council backed the expansion of the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square mall, despite protests from residents who complained that the project would generate parking problems.

In December, he sparked his strongest community protest when he backed a plan to use redevelopment powers to rebuild quake-damaged buildings in Sherman Oaks. At Zev Yaroslavsky’s behest, the City Council adopted the plan.

In January, the homeowners association sued to kill the project, claiming city officials had failed to justify the program and had failed to give residents enough time to review the plan before it was adopted. The critics are afraid that the Community Redevelopment Agency will not operate efficiently and could use taxpayer funds without providing adequate results.

Still, Sherman Oaks residents and business leaders disagree on how much these controversial decisions will affect Barbara Yaroslavsky’s campaign.

Despite his group’s lawsuit, Richard Close, president of the homeowners association, said Zev Yaroslavsky did a good job overall representing Sherman Oaks. But he said the former councilman’s clashes with residents there are likely to haunt his wife’s campaign.

“Having the same last name has its pluses and its minuses,” Close said.

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The District 5 Race Barbara Yaroslavsky is one of the top contenders in a field of four candidates for the City Council seat left vacant when her husband, Zev Yaroslavsky, resigned in December to take a seat on the County Board of Supervisors. The primary election is April 11.