Ernani Bernardi

After reading your article (Feb. 17) regarding L.A. City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, I am more than ever in favor of his opinions. Whenever I look at my sample ballot to vote on anything pertaining to a citywide election I always look to see what Councilman Bernardi feels about that particular person or subject. I wish we had more people on the council like him. I wish I had been asked to sign his petition for a reform measure for tougher restrictions on campaign fund-raising.

Ernani Bernardi, a maverick politician known for battling government waste, hamstringing the city's controversial redevelopment agency and writing some of Los Angeles' landmark political reform laws during his 32 years on the City Council, died Wednesday. He was 94. Bernardi died at his home in Van Nuys of apparent heart failure, according to his son John.

Ernani Bernardi, a maverick politician known for battling government waste, hamstringing the city's controversial redevelopment agency and writing some of Los Angeles' landmark political reform laws during his 32 years on the City Council, died Wednesday. He was 94. Bernardi died at his home in Van Nuys of apparent heart failure, according to his son John.

Re "Secessionists Invoke the Spirit of '76," July 27: The Declaration of Independence is our nation's most cherished symbol of liberty. It was the work of Thomas Jefferson and the other leaders of the 13 colonies. They included John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Samuel Adams, all of whom participated in the birth of a nation and a struggle against tyranny--as a world watched. Our freedom from taxation without representation was one of the liberties fought for in the American Revolutionary War. And the San Fernando Valley, since it first became part of Los Angeles, has been represented fully in accordance with the laws of this land.

Ernani Bernardi is known as the gadfly of the Los Angeles City Council because of his pesky pursuit of lost causes. So it came as no surprise that when he launched a drive to qualify an election campaign reform measure for the ballot, his colleagues dismissed it as just another one of Bernardi's one-man crusades. They doubted whether Bernardi had either the funds or the organization needed to get enough signatures on initiative petitions. But 128,000 voters did not doubt.

Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi proposed Thursday that instead of moving ahead with plans to build a municipal courthouse in Chatsworth, the Board of Supervisors should consider using an abandoned hospital in Lake View Terrace or a former department store in Panorama City.

In the 1930s, Ernani Bernardi blew the sax with such swing era bands as Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby. But after he became a Los Angeles city councilman in 1961, he spent most of his time blowing the whistle on waste in City Hall. Cantankerous and independent, Bernardi, now 85, was the council's longest-serving member when he retired in 1993 after 32 years in office, representing parts of the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Urged on by an influential resident of the neighborhood--Councilman Ernani Bernardi--the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday overrode one of Mayor Tom Bradley's rare vetoes to sustain an order that limits the size of a housing project in Van Nuys. By a 12-0 vote, the council upheld its Sept. 8 action to permit only 11 townhomes and one house to be built on the parcel at 14235 Sherman Way, two blocks from Bernardi's residence.

Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi will ask city officials today to take a new look at buying the defunct Lake View Medical Center, a move that could upset a recently revived plan to develop the 15-acre property as a drug rehabilitation center. "We should take a second look because it is being sold for less than half its original price," Bernardi said Monday of the facility in Lake View Terrace. Phoenix House, a nationwide nonprofit group, is seeking to buy the property for $3.

Buried within the stacks of old files, plaques and mementos at the offices of two outgoing Valley representatives to the Los Angeles City Council is nearly a half century of history. The most precious stuff--the photo of Ernani Bernardi and jazz great Artie Shaw, some of Joy Picus' favorite awards and countless other personal items--will be taken home by the council members and their staffs before the new tenants move in Thursday.

Former Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi was hospitalized briefly for observation Wednesday after he reported suffering chest pains. Bernardi, 90, underwent tests in the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Panorama City, and was released at 8 p.m., hospital spokeswoman Lisa Kort said. Bernardi, a Van Nuys resident, served for 32 years on the City Council before retiring in 1993. Last month the former big band saxophonist married 88-year-old Eve Troutman.

There are two Ernani Bernardis on this planet. One is a former Los Angeles city councilman shrunken and wizened by time, who holds onto the wall while he stands, speaks in a delayed whisper and looks every day of his 88 years. But there's another Bernardi who appears suspiciously akin to the ex-politico and shows up a couple times a month at Leon's Steak House in North Hollywood to blast big band music.

Hoping to inject new life into her sagging campaign for the 7th District City Council seat, Corinne Sanchez has secured endorsements from three of the four other candidates in the primary who did not make the runoff. Sanchez, who finished a distant second in the primary, is scheduled today to announce endorsements from Raul Godinez II, who finished fourth; Ollie McCaulley, who finished fifth; and Tony Lopez, who finished sixth in the April 13 balloting.

City Council President John Ferraro said Friday he is appointing former Councilman Ernani Bernardi to a panel to oversee spending of $744 million in bond funds for police and fire stations, if a bond measure is approved Tuesday by voters. Ferraro cited Bernardi's reputation as a tough fiscal watchdog while a council member.

Although he is no longer a fixture at City Hall, retired City Councilman Ernani Bernardi can still draw a crowd. Despite his slight frame, the 86-year-old Van Nuys man stands out, thanks to his booming voice and aggressive style. He compensates for poor hearing by standing close during conversations. Bernardi's wisdom was sought in Sherman Oaks on Thursday by Seniors for Action, a San Fernando Valley group. But before the politics came the jokes.

Although no longer a fixture at City Hall, retired City Councilman Ernani Bernardi can still draw a crowd. Despite his slight frame, the 86-year-old Van Nuys man still stands out, thanks to his booming voice and aggressive style. His hearing is bad, but he compensates by standing close during conversations. Bernardi's wisdom was sought Thursday by Seniors for Action, a San Fernando Valley group. But before the politics came the jokes.

Tireless, curmudgeonly Ernani Bernardi, an 83-year-old former Los Angeles city councilman, has the Community Redevelopment Agency scrambling to save its urban renewal plans for Downtown Los Angeles after scoring a courthouse victory against the agency this month.

For the second time in a little more than a year, the 2nd District Court of Appeal has refused to lift a 1977 Community Redevelopment Agency spending limit engineered by former Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi in his long-running battle against the agency. The $750-million spending cap in the agency's Central Business District Redevelopment Zone Project Area was the result of a consent decree to settle a 1975 lawsuit brought by Bernardi.

In the 1930s, Ernani Bernardi blew the sax with such swing era bands as Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Bob Crosby. But after he became a Los Angeles city councilman in 1961, he spent most of his time blowing the whistle on waste in City Hall. Cantankerous and independent, Bernardi, now 85, was the council's longest-serving member when he retired in 1993 after 32 years in office, representing parts of the northeast San Fernando Valley.