Los Angeles Elections 1989

Zev Yaroslavsky sat inside a Studio City coffee shop not long ago, sipping a diet soft drink and reflecting on a decision he had made two months earlier. "I would love to be mayor someday," the Los Angeles city councilman confessed to a reporter. "I'm just not sure I'm willing to do what I have to do to get there." It was a startling admission from a hard-driving politician who has spent much of his career preparing himself to be mayor.

Although Tom Bradley resigned as a director of a South-Central Los Angeles bank when he was first elected mayor in 1973 to "avoid any possible conflicts" of interest, he has since established ties with two other Los Angeles financial institutions. The firms either do business with the city or have received favorable decisions from the City Council and mayor, records show.

MAYORAL RACE Elizabeth Munoz, a bilingual elementary teacher, will have a joint press conference at 10 a.m. today on the Spring Street steps of City Hall, with Zairian human rights activist Camille Bolonga Bamba. CITY COUNCIL RACES Meet the candidates of 3rd District from 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Fallbrook Mall, 6507 Fallbrook Ave., Canoga Park. Ryan Snyder, an urban planner and 5th District candidate, speaks at 1 p.m.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, in the role of reelection-minded candidate obliged to offer a new program now and then, on Wednesday proposed a 6% increase in the size of the Police Department, or 500 new officers, for next year.

The Rolling Stone article infuriated Yoon Hee Kim. In a satire of the South Korean presidential election last year, the magazine made references that were offensive to Koreans. Kim and other leaders from Los Angeles' Korean community, looking for an apology, turned to the one man they knew would help: City Councilman Michael Woo. 'A Role Model' Woo immediately called a press conference and denounced the article as racist.

One man lived on Skid Row for two days to promote his City Council campaign. Another delivered a bottle of vodka to Ronald Reagan's new Bel-Air home and offered to keep the tour buses off the former President's street. They are among the little-known, underfunded challengers to six Los Angeles City Council members, Mayor Tom Bradley and Controller Rick Tuttle in the April 11 election.

When Ernani Bernardi was first elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1961, John F. Kennedy was President and actor Ronald Reagan and police lieutenant Tom Bradley had not yet embarked on their political careers. And Jules S. Bagneris III was 8 months old. Bagneris, the bright, energetic president of the Lake View Terrace Home Owners Assn.

Campaign signs for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joy Picus' opponents dot the well-manicured lawns along the proposed route of a light-rail line through Picus' West San Fernando Valley district. Many of the homeowners are upset that Picus has continued to push for a study of the trolley line, which they say will bring noise, vibrations and ugly overhead wires to their stable neighborhood.