17 ELECTED OFFICIALS ENDORSE CITY CHARTER REFORM MEASURE.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Sponsors of a charter reform initiative, saying the demand for change is coming from a wide range of the political spectrum, announced endorsements Thursday by 17 elected officials.

At a Van Nuys City Hall news conference, backers of Proposition 8 on the April 8 ballot also said important new evidence of the need for charter reform was provided by a series of Daily News articles that showed how city government is spending much more than it did 20 years ago to provide fewer services.

``As the recent reporting in the Daily News indicates, City Hall is in desperate need of reform,'' said Councilman Joel Wachs, one of five council members and 12 other elected officials whose endorsements of the initiative were formally announced Thursday.

``I think it should be obvious to everyone that change is not going to come from City Hall,'' Wachs said. ``It has to come from the people. It's simply not realistic to think the council will ever change the status quo. It's human nature that people don't give up power on their own.''

If approved by voters, the initiative would create a 15-member, elected commission with power to submit proposed charter changes directly to the voters in 1999.

The measure was endorsed Thursday by council members Richard Alarcon, Laura Chick, Hal Bernson and Rudy Svorinich Jr.; City Attorney James Hahn; and County Supervisors Michael Antonovich and Don Knabe, in addition to Wachs.

Others endorsing the measure include state Assemblymen Tom McClintock, R-Granada Hills, and Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, as well as U.S. Reps. Howard Berman, D-Mission Hills, and Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita.

While there is no organized campaign against Proposition 8, Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg challenged the depth of support for the measure, calling it ``a mile wide and an inch deep.''

Endorsers of the proposition ``think it's going to pass because everybody will vote for something that says reform,'' Goldberg said. ``People are just jumping on the bandwagon.''

Council members who have opposed the measure say it is a disguised attempt by Mayor Richard Riordan to grab power from the City Council.

``People should not vote for this thing because it's a hoax,'' Goldberg said. ``If they were serious about charter reform, there would have been a serious and well thought out discussion about what's wrong with the charter.''

For example, she said, many people are calling for the creation of neighborhood councils with power to make local decisions. Such councils can be created now, by ordinance, and do not require charter changes, she said.