Neighbors Rally to Holden’s Side on Charges of Non-Residency

To hear these Baldwin Vista residents tell it, Nate Holden is the perfect neighbor.

He’s so courteous he stops while jogging to chitchat. He keeps an immaculate front yard, attends neighborhood meetings and never throws noisy parties. Most important, they say, Holden really does live in their midst.

About 30 neighbors rallied around the 10th District Los Angeles councilman on his front lawn Saturday. They wanted to help him rebut allegations made in the campaign literature of Madison Shockley, his opponent in the hotly contested June 8 runoff election, that Holden actually lives in Marina del Rey.

“A lot of people say Nate doesn’t live here. But he does live here,” said Ron Mayberry, who lives next door to Holden’s light-brown house on South Cochran Street.

“I see him every morning,” said Ruth Chaney, who lives nearby.

Mayberry’s wife, Dolores, added: “I see him every evening. I see his lights on at night.”

Holden said he has been doing little more than sleep in the house because of his campaign schedule. But it has been his home for 10 years, he said, and he wanted to stop the “propaganda” and “lies” about his residency, which has been the subject of speculation and controversy for some years.

The law requires council members to reside in their districts. In 1987, a citizens group unsuccessfully challenged Holden’s residency. He had been a longtime resident of Ladera Heights. But shortly before the election, he rented a small apartment in the 10th District--which extends from Mid-Wilshire and the Crenshaw district to Palms in West Los Angeles. In 1992, The Times reported that Holden was dividing his time between a condominium he owned in Marina del Rey and a Baldwin Vista house because he said he feared for his life after receiving threats.

A leaflet from Shockley’s campaign quoted The Times article and displayed a photo of the tony waterfront condo complex.

“I only stayed there for a short period of time when I needed protection,” Holden said Saturday. “I stayed there full time for a month, and only a month.”

Last year he spent about 10 days and five nights at the condo, and this year he has not spent any nights and has made only five or seven day trips there, he said.

“It’s a place to go to relax. You watch the water go by,” Holden said. “Not too many constituent problems. [People there] don’t bother me. I like that.”

Located in a quiet residential neighborhood, the three-bedroom house in Baldwin Vista bears testament to his life as a busy public official who lives alone.

A hallway is overflowing with unread newspapers stacked several feet tall.

In the tastefully appointed living room, decorated with art from several official visits to East Asia, are hundreds of bottles of water. On the floor was a partly opened box with clothing inside. “A Christmas present. From a friend,” Holden said.

A gardener tends the manicured lawn and lush, flower-filled garden, Holden said. He added with a sigh: “I don’t pay enough attention to the house.

“One of these days when the election is over, I’ll clean it up.”