Showtime in Sylmar : City Council Takes Its Act on the Road; Richard Alarcon Hosts

Traveling to the San Fernando Valley for the second time in less than a year, the Los Angeles City Council gathered here Tuesday before 250 onlookers to approve a slew of local improvement projects, ranging from equestrian hitching posts to an environmental center.

In fact, 14 of the 21 items on the agenda dealt with projects that benefit the northeast Valley, prompting some council members to joke that the meeting had all the trappings of a campaign rally for Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the area and who organized the meeting. Alarcon wrote eight of the measures adopted Tuesday.

For the first hour of the meeting, Alarcon passed out plaques and certificates to community leaders, gang counselors and police whom he credited with helping improve life in the Valley. After the awards were presented, Council President John Ferraro looked out at the audience and joked: “If there is anyone in the audience who Richard did not introduce, please stand up.”

No one stood.

Ferraro also teased Valley Councilman Joel Wachs for putting on a “dog and pony show” after Wachs introduced Indy, a Laborador-mix dog that has been living in a Valley shelter and is up for adoption.

But Indy didn’t help his own cause. He almost let nature take its course all over Wachs’ dark business suit.

“I think he thought I was a fire hydrant,” Wachs said as he brushed at his jacket and rushed back to his seat. Despite the near disaster, Wachs promised to introduce a new pet for adoption each month at the council meetings.

The council last met in the Valley in October at Pierce College, attracting about 350 people, a crowd so large that some had to sit on folding chairs beneath a canopy outside of the main auditorium.

Tuesday’s meeting at Mission College drew less than a full house--900 seats had been set up.

As host of the Sylmar event, Alarcon spent $500 from his officeholder account for pastries, muffins, coffee and punch for the public. He spent another $300 from the account to cater a lunch of enchiladas and fajitas for the council members and their staff. The account is funded by contributions from Alarcon supporters.

The city spent a total of more than $5,000 on the meeting, including the cost of transporting the broadcast equipment, files and staff. Mission College provided its personnel, security, custodial staff and use of the auditorium for $892.

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Before the meeting, several city departments staffed booths outside the auditorium to answer questions about city services.

During the meeting, the council voted to:

* Spend $11,200 to install signs, hitching posts and other improvements for horse trails in the northeast Valley.

* Provide a $297,500 loan and $52,500 grant to allow Recreation World to rebuild the earthquake-damaged Panorama Bowl and turn it into an ice and roller rink. The entire $2.5-million renovation project will begin this summer and be complete by December, officials said.

* Rename Lopez Canyon Landfill, which closed July 1, to “Lopez Canyon Restoration Project.”

* Instruct the Planning Department to prepare a report on the possibility of holding zoning hearings on weeknights in locations throughout the city. The Valley hearings are currently held in Sherman Oaks during the day.

* Adopt goals to increase the percentage of streets that are posted for street sweeping. Alarcon complains that only 7% of the streets in his district are swept. Under an eight-year plan, the city would increase the percentage until in 2005, all city streets are posted for sweeping.

But not all of the items were without controversy.

Alarcon proposed spending $623,000 to buy 1.5 acres on which to build an “environmental awareness center” that will include a library in the 12000 block of Osborne Street in Lake View Terrace. Alarcon has already identified $3.5 million for construction costs and books from other funds.

Although the council eventually approved spending the money from a Lopez Canyon improvement fund, several members questioned whether the city has the money to staff the library.

“We don’t have adequate staffing for the current libraries,” said Councilman Mike Feuer. “The worst thing we can be doing is making a false promise.”

Council members Laura Chick and Wachs echoed Feuer’s concerns but said the city will simply have to find funding to run the library.

“I think we just need to keep our eye on the ball,” Chick said.

Some council members also questioned an Alarcon proposal to spend $1.6 million in transportation funds to build a MetroLink station in Sun Valley. The state has already committed $1.6 million for the balance of the project’s cost.

The council eventually voted unanimously to spend the money, but not before Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg suggested that the city spend less on rail projects and more on buses, which she said carry more passengers at a fraction of the cost of rail lines.

But other council members argued that the MetroLink line is already built and that a station in Sun Valley will simply allow more Valley residents to ride the existing line.

“MetroLink is continuously growing in ridership,” Alarcon argued.

By the end of the two-hour meeting, only about 50 people remained in the audience to speak during the “public testimony” period.

Jerome Goodman of Sylmar complained that the city has not moved ahead with a program to install more bus benches throughout the city. “We are trying to get people out of their cars but we don’t have enough bus benches,” he said.

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Two other residents complained that the city makes it too hard for small grocery stores to get liquor licenses. Another Sylmar resident urged the council to keep Mission College from buying up parts of adjacent El Cariso Regional Park.

Doraine Lee Parker, past president of the Sun Valley Chamber of Commerce, attended the meeting to receive a certificate of appreciation from Alarcon and waited to hear the public testimony at the end. But she eventually lost patience and walked out before the meeting broke.

“More people would be involved if it weren’t so deadly long and so deadly boring,” she said as she walked out.

“We have a life, after all.”