Virginia Johannessen

In a wide-open race featuring a field of candidates as diverse as the district they hope to represent, eight people are running for City Council in District 13 north of downtown Los Angeles. With so many contenders, political observers expect that no candidate will receive the majority vote needed for an outright victory. By most accounts, the front-runners are two candidates with years in local politics.

In a wide-open race featuring a field of candidates as diverse as the district they hope to represent, eight people are running for City Council in District 13 north of downtown Los Angeles. With so many contenders, political observers expect that no candidate will receive the majority vote needed for an outright victory. By most accounts, the front-runners are two candidates with years in local politics.

In what could prove this year's most freewheeling race for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, 15 candidates--from former officeholders to political neophytes--have declared their intention to run for the 13th District seat that Michael Woo is vacating to run for mayor. So far, the candidates constitute the largest field in any of the eight council district races to be held April 20. A final list will be decided Feb. 13--the deadline for candidates to submit petition signatures to the city.

The anecdote was delicious, the kind that always goes over big at gatherings of ambitious women because it confirms their suspicions about the continuing sexism they face, no matter how lofty the professional heights they reach. It came during a luncheon speech by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and oft-quoted expert on politics and voter perceptions.

A small but vocal group of residents has challenged a plan to impose strict new rules on hillside building in Mt. Washington and Glassell Park, saying the proposal is discriminatory and economically damaging. The group, Citizens for a Fair Specific Plan, has persuaded Los Angeles officials to extend the period for public comment on the proposed Mt. Washington-Glassell Park Specific Plan through the end of March. City planners originally set a Feb.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of launching a fireworks-like projectile that exploded below a formation of helicopters spraying malathion over the Norwalk area, authorities said Saturday. No injuries were reported and none of the five helicopters in the low-flying formation were damaged in the incident, which occurred at about 9:45 p.m. Friday. The two men arrested, both 21, were identified by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as Patrick D. Gilmour of Lakewood and Charles W.

The Los Angeles Planning Commission is expected today to sort out a host of issues posed by a local effort to establish what would be the largest historic preservation district in the city. A neighborhood group and the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission are calling for the creation of a historic district covering a wide swath of Highland Park and including about 3,000 structures. It would have five times as many buildings as the largest of the city's five existing historic districts.

In the battle to capture the 13th District seat that Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo is vacating to run for mayor, conventional wisdom says Jackie Goldberg has the edge. An unabashed liberal who would become the council's first openly gay member, Goldberg would appear a good political fit in a Hollywood-to-Northeast Los Angeles district that includes some of the city's most progressive neighborhoods.

The signs were handmade but the messages were legible and curt. "Stop malathion spraying." "It's your air! No spraying." "Honk your support." The scrawled slogans reflected the frustrations and resolve of 100 demonstrators gathered last week at the intersection of Brea Boulevard and Imperial Highway in Orange County. For two hours, they persisted, waving the signs at rush-hour motorists and evoking nearly constant feedback of horns and shouts.

The Los Angeles city clerk's office has announced that the following candidates will be on the April 20 election ballot. Of the original 119 who filed to run for 17 offices, 95 qualified. Candidates' descriptions are their own. MAYOR Michael A. Leptuch; none stated Nick Patsaouras; businessman, transportation commissioner Philip R.

A group seeking to preserve Highland Park's historic character has won the endorsement of the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission for the formation of a historic zone under the supervision of a neighborhood association empowered to review alterations to any building. Despite resistance from two museums and some residents, the commission last week recommended that the Los Angeles City Council include most of Highland Park and portions of Mt.