110 CANDIDATES FILE FOR VALLEY MAYOR, COUNCIL.Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer With Friday's deadline for filing looming, more than 110 candidates have lined up to run for city council and mayor of a new San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. city as of Tuesday, while 16 are eyeing runs for a new Hollywood New Hollywood or post-classical Hollywood refers to the brief time between roughly 1967 (Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate) and 1982 (One from the Heart city. Of those, 23 in the Valley and four in Hollywood have turned in their nomination papers in advance of Friday's 5 p.m. deadline. Secession supporters, who have been hoping for a large field of candidates to help boost the secession campaign, have been doing some recruiting and training of candidates. On Saturday, they will hold a ``Rally for the Valley'' in Van Nuys to promote their cause and help train candidates in running their own campaigns, as well as teaching volunteers how to help with activities such as precinct A constable's or police district. A small geographical unit of government. An election district created for convenient localization of polling places. A county or municipal subdivision for casting and counting votes in elections. PRECINCT. walking. Richard Katz, chairman of the San Fernando Valley Independence Committee, said committee members have been working to recruit additional qualified candidates to help provide the new city with a good leadership base. At one point, Katz acknowledged, there was talk about recruiting candidates just for the sake of having a lot of names on the ballot to demonstrate support for the cause, but the idea was dropped as genuine candidates started coming out on their own. ``Some people talked about it,'' Katz said. ``I never thought it made much sense. We never went in that direction. You're seeing plenty of interest and plenty of candidates, and good-caliber candidates.'' Benny Bernal, a Mission Hills union organizer A union organizer (sometimes spelled "organiser") is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. A majority of unions appoint rather than elect their organizers. , is one of a dozen mayoral candidates. He's been a longtime supporter of the Valley secession effort and is a union steward Union Steward (aka Shop Steward) is the title of an official position within the organizational hierarchy of a labor union. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that rank-and-file members of the union hold this position voluntarily (through democratic election by fellow workers representing classified employees in the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . Bernal said he decided to run because he thinks the Valley needs a mayor who comes from a community-involvement background, not someone who has been in professional politics before. ``I had it in the back of my mind for quite a bit,'' Bernal said. ``I've been waiting and talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to a lot of community leaders. We looked at the overall need of the community and what is it the Valley needs and who's the best for the job. People are tired of the same politicians, the same speeches. They wanted somebody from the community, from the grass roots grass roots pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) 1. People or society at a local level rather than at the center of major political activity. Often used with the. 2. The groundwork or source of something. .'' The Nov. 5 ballot will have 14 district races for city council and a mayor elected Valleywide, as well as the actual secession question itself and a choice of five names for the new city. Candidates for the council must be registered voters who live in the district at the time they submit their nominating papers. Their nominating papers must include signatures from 30 people, at least 20 of them from registered voters in the district. |
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