KATY TSCHANN-GRIMM Thursday’s city council forum drew
(left to right) Laura Lake, Constantina
Milonopolous, Victor Viereck, and
Robyn Ritter Simon, as well as other candidates to
debate the issues.
By Dexter Gauntlett
Daily Bruin Contributor
With election day looming, Fifth District City Council
candidates made their final pitches to an assembly of about 100
students and UCLA neighbors in Covel Commons, where tempers often
flared and patience was lost.
“The hostility made me nervous because respect is
important to a forum like this,” said third-year political
science student Danielle Valentino, coordinator of the event.
“What they say shows who they are; I didn’t interrupt
because it’s important for people to see the candidates as
they really are.”
At Thursday night’s forum, the 10 candidates who attended
sought to distinguish themselves from each other at their final
meeting before the April 10 election. Concern that front-runner Tom
Hayden might win next week’s election outright prompted some
candidates to highlight Hayden’s weaknesses.
If any candidate were to amass over 50 percent of the vote, it
would prevent the expected runoff between the top two
candidates.
Consumer protection attorney Nate Bernstein challenged Hayden to
ride public transportation to work twice a week from his Brentwood
estate.
Graffiti fighter Joe Connolly answered for Hayden: “How
can he take the bus when he’s going to be in jail?”
Connolly is in the midst of a lawsuit in which he alleges the
former state senator is guilty of committing perjury and residency
fraud.
Though Hayden maintains a Brentwood residence that is in the
11th voting district, he recently moved to a Westwood property.
Election rules dictate that all candidates must live within the
district in which they are running for office.
“I’m a fighter. I’ll play. I work with
taggers, I work with gangs. I’m not someone you want to play
around with … I’m not afraid to play with snakes in the
snake pit,” Connolly said.
Hayden did not respond to Connolly’s comment.
After opening statements, the candidates addressed questions on
issues including traffic, housing and homelessness, and what some
called Westwood’s unfriendliness toward college life.
On the issue of traffic, former Assistant United States Attorney
Jack Weiss, who recently won the endorsement of the L.A. Times,
acknowledged the problems with public transportation.
“The MTA strike led to a loss of confidence that the
public had in the future of public transportation … they’ve
made horrible decisions,” Weiss said.
However, Weiss called upon UCLA students to do their part to
take advantage of what the city does offer.
“We need to encourage institutions such as UCLA to really
make a go at the BruinGo! program,” Weiss said.
Hayden agreed and proposed a free shuttle program on campus.
However, Hayden opposes the $45 million project to tear up the UCLA
intramural fields in order to build a parking structure.
“That’s going to add huge congestion and it
doesn’t explore feasible alternatives. I think that
it’s an inappropriate approach to an Environmental Impact
Report,” he said.
Third-year sociology student Jen Taylor asked the candidates to
explain what they would do to make Westwood a more attractive
college town.
In response, former UCLA professor Jill Barad called for the
revitalization of the Village.
“I think we need to revise Westwood Village. It used to be
terrific, it used to be a happening place, but now it looks like a
ghost town … we need dancing and cafes and eating outside,”
Barad said. “It needs to be more pedestrian friendly and
family friendly.”
Neighborhood planner Robyn Ritter Simon agreed and pointed to
the need for compromise between student and resident needs.
“There needs to be a balance between the community and the
college students and that balance has prevented a lot of projects
from moving forward,” Simon said.
Entertainment industry executive Steve Saltzman discussed the
issue of rent control in Westwood and said: “The city has a
housing crisis and needs 100,000 new units.”
Bernstein and former UCLA professor Laura Lake made a commitment
to increasing student participation in local government.
“I think students need to be at the table; they should be
at the business meetings and the city council meetings,” Lake
said.