Demonstrators to Hit Valley Before Big Show at DNC

While downtown Los Angeles braces for massive demonstrations during the Democratic National Convention, the San Fernando Valley will get its own previews, albeit on a smaller scale.

Two weeks before it mounts a protest at the convention, the group California Peace Action is scheduled to launch demonstrations, complete with a 50-foot-long replica of a Trident nuclear missile, in front of Valley offices of Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), Rep. Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills) and Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale).

The demonstrations will begin Tuesday in front of Sherman’s Woodland Hills office, pick up Wednesday at Berman’s Mission Hills office and make a final Valley appearance Aug. 9 at the Pasadena office of Rogan.

The lawmakers’ offices are the latest stops on a national tour--heading toward the convention--aimed at urging a reduction in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, according to Peter Ferenbach, executive director of the group.

“We’re here in Woodland Hills to let Rep. Sherman know that millions of Americans oppose spending $35 billion per year on nuclear weapons, an amount that will undoubtedly increase if we go ahead and deploy a ‘Star Wars’ missile defense,” Ferenbach said.

To illustrate the point, Ferenbach noted that taxpayers in Sherman’s Valley district contribute $90 million annually toward nuclear weapons, an amount that could fund the hiring of an additional 2,050 teachers.

Sherman’s office is targeted even though the congressman recently voted to discontinue one missile program, said Danielle Babineau, a spokeswoman for the group.

She said Rogan’s voting record is more worrisome to the group, so it plans to have the largest contingent on hand for that demonstration.

Rogan strongly supports the controversial missile defense program currently being debated in Washington, but welcomes peaceful demonstrators who want to convey other views, said Jeff Solsby, a spokesman for the congressman.

Solsby said the demonstration might be an interesting distraction for Pasadena residents.

“It’s not every day that we have a Trident missile coming up Los Robles Avenue,” he said.

Solsby said demonstrators may have more mundane problems than convincing a congressman to change his position on national defense.

“If they are dragging around a Trident missile, I hope they can find parking,” Solsby said. “It’s hard to find a place to park here.”

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KOSHER BURRITOS? Oy vay . . . andale!

Mark your calendars for Sept. 24.

The San Fernando Valley’s first Latino Jewish Festival, Fiesta Shalom, is coming to Cal State Northridge.

A Wednesday press release from state Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar) announced the event, and Alarcon spokeswoman Sue Gold said one can expect mariachis, Israeli folk dancers and art exhibits among the festivities.

The bicultural fair is probably the first of its kind in the city, Gold added.

“You can safely assume there will be food from bagels to burritos,” Gold said.

The new festival may also be a hopeful sign that the tensions between the two groups that surfaced during the 1998 race between Alarcon and former Assemblyman Richard Katz for the 20th Senate District seat have eased.

Alarcon, who is on vacation, could not be reached for comment. But Gold said the festival was not about patching up past sore relations, and, “I think most people are way past that in the Jewish and the Latino community.”

Katz was equally diplomatic. “Anything that advances understanding will be helpful to a city that is going through the kind of changes that Los Angeles is,” he said.

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LIBERALLY CONSTRUED: As a Republican running in a predominantly Democratic district, Assembly candidate Jayne Murphy Shapiro has gone out of her way to appeal to more liberal voters from Malibu to Agoura Hills.

Democrats make up 49% of the voters in the 41st Assembly District, compared with 33% for Republicans.

Shapiro, an Encino resident, has made much of the fact that she is pro-choice and has been endorsed by prominent Democrats including Tammy Bruce, the liberal-leaning former head of the Los Angeles branch of the National Organization for Women.

Now, Shapiro has once again broken with more conservative members of her party by announcing her support for the legalization of marijuana use for medical purposes and a ballot measure that would send nonviolent drug users to rehabilitation programs instead of jail.

State voters approved a ballot measure in 1996 that allows seriously ill patients to use marijuana under a doctor’s care, but the measure conflicts with federal law, and the issues involved have been contended in several court cases.

A registered nurse, Shapiro said she felt compelled to speak out on the issue because of the experience she had when her husband died from cancer in 1990.

“Those five months from first symptoms to death made it very clear to me that use of marijuana should be available to people who need it for medical purposes,” Shapiro said.

She said marijuana allowed her physician husband to reduce the nausea and pain he was suffering, which in turn enabled him to eat more, a critically important matter for cancer patients.

Shapiro said she still supports criminal penalties for use of marijuana for recreational purposes but backs Proposition 36 on the November ballot, which would subject nonviolent drug users to diversion programs rather than jail time.

“By lifting the penalties associated with medical use and altering the penalties for criminal use to fit the crime more appropriately, California citizens can find responsible ways to utilize marijuana,” Shapiro said.

Fran Pavley, the Democratic contender in the 41st District race, said she has not taken a stand on Proposition 36 but has concerns because the measure is opposed by some major law enforcement groups, police chiefs and sheriffs.

Pavley, a former mayor of Agoura Hills, said Shapiro is attempting to distance herself from her own party.

“She is trying to appeal to the middle-of-the-pack voters,” Pavley said. “Why has she stayed a registered Republican all these years if she has these views?”

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FIRE POWER: The grumbling around City Hall about Mayor Richard Riordan’s swift changes on various commissions surfaced with angry comments at Wednesday’s council meeting.

One by one, several council members questioned why some commissioners were yanked after admirable service.

The recent Sturm und Drang was a result of the new city charter, council members said, which gave the mayor the power to fire any city commissioner. The old charter required the mayor to seek council approval before he could remove a commissioner.

Although the terms of many commissioners are expiring, the number of commissioners who have been removed or reassigned has been dizzying.

It’s a purge, complained Councilman Hal Bernson.

“There’s no explanation or discussion of why some people are being removed and a resignation is being asked for,” added Councilwoman Laura Chick.

The mayor is supposed to convey to the council the qualifications of an appointee and “that an appointment is made in the interest of the city,” added Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski. “There are some actions recently that call that into question.”

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg was bolder, alerting her colleagues that the new charter has ushered in a power shift, but said the council continues to “rubber stamp” mayoral appointments anyway.

On Wednesday, the so-called “rubber stamp” was halted, at least momentarily, when Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas’ moved to table four mayoral commissioner appointees until next week. Although Ridley-Thomas’ motion was approved, the council OKd the appointment of a fifth commissioner, Michael Keston, to the Water and Power commission.

During the last two weeks of June and all of July, Riordan must fill all expired terms and add commissioners where required by the new charter, said Peter Hidalgo, a mayoral spokesman. That totals 86 appointments, he said.