L.A. Council Runoff to Focus on Growth, Traffic and Housing

Hideous traffic. Overdevelopment. Affordable housing, or lack thereof. And did we mention the awful, ghastly traffic?

Voters on the Westside will be hearing a lot more about those issues in the next 10 weeks as Bill Rosendahl and Flora Gil Krisiloff prepare for their runoff election for the only open seat on the Los Angeles City Council.

With 98.8% of precincts reporting, Rosendahl had 16,751 votes to Krisiloff’s 15,549. Angela Reddock, the third candidate, received 5,172 votes.

Because neither Rosendahl nor Krisiloff won 50% of Tuesday’s vote, they advance to the May 17 runoff. The winner’s council term begins July 1.

The district covers much of the Westside, including Playa del Rey, Venice, Mar Vista, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and West Los Angeles. Cindy Miscikowski, the incumbent, couldn’t run again because of term limits.

Rosendahl, 59, is a former cable television executive most familiar for hosting public affairs programs. Krisiloff, 53, has been a longtime community activist in Brentwood who is best known for stopping massive development at the VA complex in West Los Angeles.

Not surprisingly, Rosendahl and Krisiloff said they were seeking Reddock’s support.

Reddock’s answer: She’s pondering it.

“I need to make a decision as to which one I think would better serve the district,” Reddock said. “I may say either would or one would be better than the other. Of course, I thought I was the best.”

Rosendahl called her shortly after the polls closed Tuesday. Krisiloff tried to reach her but got no answer Wednesday. Fundraising starts anew with runoffs -- both candidates had raised more than $250,000 during the primary. Both candidates also plan efforts to get out the vote and further clarify their plans for traffic, development, housing and the massive Playa Vista development.

And they foresee a lot of precinct walking. If you live on the Westside and don’t like politicians, the next two months may be a good time to leave the dog in the frontyard.

“Connecting with voters is my greatest joy. This to me is the apple pie of the democracy,” Rosendahl said. “I found myself knocking on doors every day to overcome the sadness in my heart of the negative campaigning by Flora.”

Krisiloff mocked that suggestion and mentioned a couple of attacks that she said Rosendahl made on her. She, too, said that she would escalate her campaign.

“I was an unknown a year ago, and Bill was supposed to march in and take the seat,” she said. “It was totally unexpected that I as a community person would arrive at this point.”