Rosendahl Wins Westside Seat; LAX Police Plan Fails

Longtime television host Bill Rosendahl won election to the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday, pledging to stand up to developers and fix the Westside’s chronic traffic problems. A ballot measure that would have given the council authority over airport police lost by a substantial margin.

Rosendahl defeated Flora Gil Krisiloff for the District 11 council seat being vacated by Cindy Miscikowski, who could not run again because of term limits.

“It’s over. Some people think we still have a chance but I think that’s a heck of a lead to overcome,” Rick Taylor, Krisiloff’s campaign consultant, said at midnight.

Rosendahl, 60, a former cable television executive, is best known for the public affairs programs he hosted from 1987 until 2003 that helped introduce him to the city. He lives in Mar Vista and is openly gay -- and withstood a campaign in which Krisiloff’s camp was quick to remind voters of his sexual orientation.

Miscikowski had been grooming Krisiloff for the job, but Rosendahl won the endorsement of nine members of the council. Krisiloff, a longtime neighborhood activist in Brentwood, served for four years on the city’s West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission.

Voters said they supported Rosendahl for his stance on the environment, his support of a long-awaited dog park on the beach and his open opposition to large developments without fixes to traffic.

Sonia Morrison, 80, of Brentwood said she can remember when there were still orange groves there. “All of this” -- Morrison motioned toward offices and other buildings -- “went up since I was here, every single block from here to Wilshire.”

Measure A would have transferred control of the 400-member department -- which patrols the city’s four airports, including Los Angeles International Airport -- from the Airport Commission to the council.

At the rustic Mangy Moose bar at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City, airport police officers congratulated one another. Some pulled on T-shirts emblazoned with the words, “Mission Accomplished.”

“Our officers have done a fantastic job in the last two years facing this uncertainty,” Capt. LaPonda Fitchpatrick said. “I want a resolution for them so they can move forward and do their job.”

Those who fought the initiative argued it would cost taxpayers millions and put passengers at risk by removing a force that is specially trained in policing airports. Opponents included airport police unions, airlines, air traffic controllers and several former airport directors.

They also feared that the City Council would merge the force with the Los Angeles Police Department, which already operates a substation at LAX.

Proponents mounted no formal campaign, relying on the measure’s supporters, including Police Chief William J. Bratton, Mayor James K. Hahn, the Police Commission and Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, to talk about it. Supporters argued it was inefficient to have two police forces at LAX.

The District 11 campaign largely revolved around issues that have long received top billing in the Westside district -- traffic and development.

Krisiloff, 53, and Rosendahl have been campaigning for more than a year to represent a district that includes Venice, Playa del Rey, Mar Vista, Brentwood and the Pacific Palisades.

Rosendahl supporters gathered at the Venice home of Gary Shafner, who owns a marketing firm. As a band played, guests enjoyed such amenities as an electronic shuffleboard game built into the bathroom and a dining room table that resembled a giant book.

The candidates had spent more than $1.6 million through last Friday, a total that will climb.

Yet, turnout appeared low.

“They spent a lot of money and put a lot of things out -- you wouldn’t know it by the turnout,” said James Joseph, a volunteer poll worker at the Brentwood Library, where at 5 p.m., only 62 of 1,194 registered voters had cast ballots.

Last year, Miscikowski rescued Hahn’s $11-billion airport plan by devising a two-phase approach that won the votes of a majority of the council.

But Krisiloff and Rosendahl oppose the plan’s second phase, which includes tearing down three terminals and building a remote check-in facility at Manchester Square near the San Diego Freeway. Both candidates said they would oppose any project that would lead to more people using the airport and to more traffic.

Just north of the airport is Playa Vista, which has been controversial since development was proposed there in the late 1970s.

The second phase of the project is tied up in court, with several parties -- including the city of Santa Monica -- challenging an environmental impact report. Rosendahl has said he intends to slow or stop the second phase, while Krisiloff has said she wants to see the outcome of the litigation before taking a stand.

In the last four days of the campaign, two Playa Vista officials and the original developer spent $45,000 on independent expenditures in support of Krisiloff.

Rosendahl’s supporters, meanwhile, sent e-mails to voters stating that Krisiloff was Playa Vista’s candidate of choice.

On the ballot citywide was Measure A, which, with LAX in District 11, was particularly at issue on the Westside.

The council placed the measure on the ballot earlier this year after some members questioned the competency of the airport police.

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Times staff writers Steve Hymon, Jennifer Oldham and Sharon Bernstein contributed to this report.