[
Nevertheless, Bernson refused aid from the Community Redevelopment Agency in rebuilding damage in his district from the ]1994 Northridge earthquake
The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.
The quake had a duration of approximately ...
on the grounds that the agency was trying to foist "social engineering" off on the area.
In 1997 he was given the Alfred E. Alquist Award for Achievement in Earthquake Safety.
Transportation and planning
He was chair of the council's Transportation Committee. He also served on the boards of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angele ...
and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority
Metrolink is a commuter rail system in Southern California, serving Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties, as well as to Oceanside in San Diego County. The core commuter rail network consists of seven lines and ...
. He was described as "a master of planning issues."
In 2002, at age 71 and cited as the "dean of the Los Angeles City Council, he served as chairman of the LACMTA, the rail authority and the Southern California Association of Governments
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) of six of the ten counties in Southern California, serving Imperial County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bern ...
at the same time.[ The ''Times'' noted that Bernson's service on these boards made him the "Stipend King" of the City Council because he was able to collect thousands of dollars in extra pay for attending their meetings. "I put in an awful lot of extra effort in those things I'm involved in," he said.
Bernson was presented the first Julian C. Dixon Award in November 2002 as "a leader in transportation ]ho had
Ho (or the transliterations He or Heo) may refer to:
People Language and ethnicity
* Ho people, an ethnic group of India
** Ho language, a tribal language in India
* Hani people, or Ho people, an ethnic group in China, Laos and Vietnam
* Hiri Mo ...
made an outstanding contribution to the transportation community."
Porter Ranch
Bus tour. The councilman guided his colleagues on a bus tour of his district in May 1989, pointing out such problem sites as the proposed 1,300-acre Porter Ranch
Porter Ranch is a suburban neighborhood in the northwest San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California.
History
New home construction that was completed in the Porter Ranch area in the 1990s–2000s, including the Renaissan ...
development, "where a plan to develop the pristine rolling hills into a major $2-billion residential and commercial city center is at the forefront of public debate," and a development project in the Bryant-Street Vanalden neighborhood (below).[
Compromise. Mayor Tom Bradley announced in December 1989 that he and Bernson had reached a compromise on the Porter Ranch project in Chatsworth, the biggest single development project in Los Angeles history.
]
Secession
Bernson took a leading role in a drive at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries for the San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
to secede from the city of Los Angeles and perhaps even from the county. As well, the councilman advocated that the Valley pull out of the Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...
and form its own district for its own schools. He called the proposal the "hottest issue around"" and said the current school system was "a farce."
Later, he was a member of the county's Local Area Formation Commission, even while he was a "vocal advocate of speeding up the process" of getting Valley secession on the November 2002 ballot. Despite his statement that he would be neutral as a commissioner, City Council president Alex Padilla
Alejandro Padilla ( ; born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from California since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Padilla served as the 30th secretary of state of California from 2015 ...
replaced him on the commission in August 2001 with Council Member Cindy Miscikowski
Cindy Miscikowski represented the 11th District on the Los Angeles City Council for two full terms from 1997 through 2005. Previously, she was an aide to Councilman Marvin Braude and the Executive Director of the Skirball Cultural Center in its b ...
, a secession opponent.
Ethics
In 1992, it was reported that the California Fair Political Practices Commission
The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) of California is a five-member independent nonpartisan commission that has primary responsibility for the impartial and effective administration of the Political Reform Act of 1974. The Commission's o ...
had opened "five separate inquiries into charges of various improprieties against Bernson, but each time closed its files without formal charges" being made.[
The city's Ethics Commission found in 1994 that Bernson had failed to disclose the source of $11,000 in campaign contributions made by a private company and ordered him to repay the funds. While rejecting the commission's authority requiring him to repay the money, he said he would donate an equal sum to the police in his district.
In 1997 Bernson ended a two-year battle with the Ethics Commission by paying a $1,500 fine levied against him for spending $1,140 in officeholder account funds to buy season tickets to the Hollywood Bowl. The account is funded by lobbyists and supporters and can be used only on expenses related to serving and communicating with constituents. It was the first case of its kind brought against an elected official since the commission was created in 1990.
Later the same year, the Ethics Commission rejected a Bernson request to let his staff use Hollywood Bowl tickets that were intended for poor and disabled constituents, after about a hundred of them were left unused because residents who had asked for the complimentary passes never claimed them.
Three years later, the Ethics Commission and Bernson agreed that he would pay a $3,000 fine "for improperly accepting an excess amount of free legal services from the law firm of City Hall lobbyist ]Neil Papiano
Neil Papiano (November 25, 1933 – February 14, 2019) was an American lawyer, and managing partner of Iverson, Yoakum, Papiano & Hatch. He received Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Stanford University, the latter in 1957, and an ...
," who had represented Bernson in the Hollywood Bowl case. The law firm was also fined.
In 2001 he agreed that he would pay fines of $18,500 for accepting campaign contributions that exceeded legal limits. "There is no evidence that the violations were committed intentionally or willfully," a written agreement stipulated.
Travel expenses
An investigative feature by the ''Times'' found in April 1990 that Bernson was the "top travel spender" in City Hall, having paid out $120,622 of his campaign funds in three years for trips to places like Louisiana, Hawaii, Israel and Italy, in the latter two of which he and his wife stayed in "luxury hotels." Other trips were made by the couple to Paris, Hong Kong, London, Beijing, British Columbia, New York, Seattle, Boston and Carmel, California. He said the trips were proper and enabled him to do a better job as a councilman.
Sunshine Canyon
In the 1980s and 1990s, Bernson was "the major foe" of a controversial proposed enlargement of a landfill project, or dump, in Sunshine Canyon in Granada Hills, at the eastern end of the Santa Susana Mountains
The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in Southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west, separating the San Fernando and Simi valleys on its south from the Santa Cla ...
. In 1992 he sued Browning-Ferris Industries
Browning-Ferris Industries was a North American waste management company that was bought out in 1999.
History
BFI was founded in Houston, Texas. The company was initially known as American Refuse Systems, and it opened its first landfill in 1968 ...
, operator of the landfill, for libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
, alleging that the company "leaked to news reporters a dossier containing false claims about Bernson's spending of public and private funds on travel" (above) in an attempt to discredit him.[ Jack Cheevers, "Bernson Lawsuit Accuses Landfill Owners of Libel," ''Los Angeles Times,'' San Fernando Valley edition, page 3]
/ref> A Superior Court judge dismissed the action, but the State Supreme Court reinstated it in June 1994, ruling 4–2 that " the usual one-year time limit for filing libel lawsuits can be extended when defendants accused of disseminating allegedly defamatory material intentionally conceal their identities."
Other
Slum conditions. Bernson pushed a proposal through the City Council in 1985 that would have made it easier to evict some of the three thousand tenants in the crime-plagued, predominantly Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
Bryant Street-Vanalden Avenue neighborhood of Northridge, but backed off when Mayor Tom Bradley said he would veto it.
The councilman said he "packed" a meeting in December 1985 with more than seven hundred Northridge residents, most of them Anglos
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term '' Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people ...
who "repeatedly cheered" their approval of Bernson's controversial proposal to force out some of the tenants. He said he did so because Mayor Bradley had not invited him to the meeting even though the problem neighborhood was in Bernson's district.
Four years later, he said his efforts had paid off in transforming "some of the worst slums in L.A." into an "ornate gated community."[Stephanie Chavez, "Council Members Get Bernson's-Eye View of District During Tour," ''Los Angeles Times'', San Fernando Valley edition, page 8]
/ref>
Pornography. He won approval in 1985 of an ordinance prohibiting new adult businesses, such as sexually oriented movie theaters, bookstores and night clubs, from opening within 500 feet of churches, homes and schools.
Salvadorans. Bernson was the only "no" vote in 1987 on a City Council offer of $10,000 for relocation assistance for Central American refugees allegedly threatened by El Salvador death squads.
Prostitution. The City Council acceded to his idea of publicizing the names of the men (and the few women) who were arrested for patronizing prostitutes.
Lieutenant governor. In 1989, Bernson's opening a campaign fund for a purported race for lieutenant governor drew criticism from California Common Cause
Common Cause is a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., with chapters in 35 states. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican, who was the former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the administration of President L ...
as a way to circumvent the city's campaign contribution limits. He rejected the charge.[
Toilets. The councilman submitted an ordinance in 1993 requiring twice the number of toilets for women as for men in any future construction of public facilities.
Environment. In response to some criticism of his appointment to the South Coast Air Quality Management Board by Mayor ]Richard Riordan
Richard Joseph Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is an American investment banker, businessman, lawyer, and former Republican politician who was the 39th Mayor of Los Angeles, from 1993 to 2001. Born in New York City and raised in New Rochelle, New Y ...
in January 1999, Bernson cited his defense of the Chatsworth Reservoir as a nature preserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
and his authorship of the city's oak-tree preservation ordinance as evidence for his "solid" environmental credentials. A ''Times'' reporter wrote that "Bernson has lobbied for two decades" to preserve the reservoir that "he says should stand as a legacy of the San Fernando Valley's past for future generations."
Personal life
Bernson and his wife, Robyn, had three daughters, Nicole, Holleigh and Sarah.[ They lived in ]Northridge, California
Northridge is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The community is home to California State University, Northridge, and the Northridge Fashion Center.
Originally named Zelzah by settlers in 1908, the comm ...
. Holleigh Bernson, an "aspiring film director," was killed in a one-car traffic accident in October 1995 when she lost control of her car in a night drive through Griffith Park and it went off the road. Named in tribute to Holly Golightly, the Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...
character in " Breakfast at Tiffany's," she had changed her name to Holleigh Rox-Anne Bernson. A city park in the Porter Ranch
Porter Ranch is a suburban neighborhood in the northwest San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California.
History
New home construction that was completed in the Porter Ranch area in the 1990s–2000s, including the Renaissan ...
area of the San Fernando Valley was named in her honor, and Bernson gave $70,000 from his City Council discretionary fund to the American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
to fund a scholarship named for her.
Bernson was known as "a man with a volatile temper, a tenacious politician with little tolerance for bureaucratic delays and council members who question his efforts."[Hugo Martin, "Seismic Safety Puts Bernson on Firm Footing on Council," ''Los Angeles Times,'' May 22, 1994]
/ref> He was also said to be "often gruff" and "impatient with schmoozing."[Nina Lelyveld, "No-Nonsense Politician Soon to Leave Council," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 28, 2003]
/ref>
In 2008 he was consulting on land use, transportation, environmental and government affairs.
Bernson died on the night of July 20, 2020, at the age of 89.
Legacy
There is a Hal Bernson Meeting Room at 10038 Old Depot Plaza Road, Chatsworth.Bing.com
/ref>
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernson, Hal
Los Angeles City Council members
1930 births
2020 deaths
People from Bakersfield, California
People from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles
People from South Gate, California
People from Northridge, Los Angeles
American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
California Republicans
Military personnel from California