5TH DISTRICT: NAME COUNTS IN COUNCIL ELECTION.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard

HERE'S the short version of the 5th Council District campaign: 10 unknowns and one 800-pound gorilla.

It was anybody's game until former state Sen. Tom Hayden joined the race. Now, with his name recognition, speculation turns to who will come closest to him in Tuesday's primary and win a spot in the June runoff.

The 11 candidates are vying to succeed Mike Feuer, who is running for city attorney.

Hayden's front-runner status has subjected him to the most criticism from the other candidates. Most try to paint him as a carpetbagger who doesn't understand local issues. Hayden, 61, lists his residence as Westwood.

At least two rival candidates have filed residency challenges, but Hayden calls the issue a sensationalized diversion.

``People would like to divert attention to this issue, because they can't imagine winning if I'm on the ballot,'' he said. ``They would like to disenfranchise people from being able to vote for me.''

The controversy also feeds into other claims.

``I think the job of City Council (members) is being of the community, for the community and by the community,'' said candidate Steven A. Saltzman. ``I think Tom has spent 18 years in the state Legislature living in Sacramento dealing with state issues. I don't think he really understands or knows the community.''

Hayden, however, lists local issues as priorities if he wins - strengthening the power of neighborhoods in city government and boosting budgets for potholes and paramedics.

Candidate Jack Weiss, 36, was an assistant U.S. attorney until stepping down to campaign full time. His top priority is reforming the Los Angeles Police Department.

``You do that by focusing on improving the quality of recruits, and providing incentives to recruits and young officers to continue their education,'' Weiss said.

Weiss, a resident of Westwood, does not think LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks should be removed, arguing that the city has been too quick to blame police chiefs.

Saltzman, 51, who lives in West Los Angeles, would reduce traffic congestion by using some of the measures the city took during the 1984 Olympics, such as staggered working hours and days.

He would give a boost to libraries.

``We should double the size of our libraries and keep them open 12 hours and seven days,'' Saltzman said.

Jill Barad, 61, said her top priority is ``to bring City Hall into the neighborhoods'' and improve services at the local level. She would hold regular open office hours in the Valley rather than have constituents drive to City Hall. ``There's nothing like talking to constituents directly,'' the Sherman Oaks resident said.

She also supports redistricting to create another all-Valley seat and thinks Parks should be replaced and that a compressed work schedule should be considered for LAPD officers.

Nathan Bernstein, 37, is a consumer protection attorney. He lives in the Pico-Robertson area.

``I've mostly represented the little guy on cases against the IRS or corporations,'' he said. ``I have prided myself in my ability to solve problems quickly through mediation and using alternative dispute resolution.''

He supports Parks but thinks the LAPD needs increased civilian oversight. He supports greater restrictions on night flights out of Van Nuys Airport.

Joe Connolly, 45, has been involved in city efforts to fight graffiti and crime. He lives in the Fairfax district.

He opposes secession, saying he believes Valley residents are against it, and describes cityhood proponents as frustrated politicians.

``It's stupid to break up a family just because you have a bunch of selfish people who want to do something nobody wants,'' he said.

Businessman Ken Gerston, 46, thinks the Police Department needs a new chief and a full-time paid commission president to provide more oversight. He also supports a compressed workweek for officers.

Like the other candidates, he does not support Valley cityhood, but wouldn't try to block it from the ballot. He believes if the Valley had stronger representation on the City Council, possibly through redistricting, secession would lose momentum among Valley residents. Gerston lives in Sherman Oaks.

``They want better representation,'' he said. ``So ... I believe if we get one more council seat or two more, which is possible on the council, the secession movement will probably go away on its own.''

Laura Lake, 54, a former professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, believes both Parks and Fire Chief William Bamattre need to be replaced. She wants to create all-Valley council districts, and she wants the advisory neighborhood councils to have more authority.

``We already have a lot of advisory bodies,'' Lake said. ``I'd like to decentralize government to the neighborhood level.''

Lake lives in Westwood.

Constantina Milonopoulos, 48, and her sons founded Kidz Voice L.A., a group that encourages children and parents to lobby for gun control legislation. She supports Parks because he has helped her gun-control efforts.

``We've gone through so many chiefs recently. ... At some point we need to look at ourselves and say, Is there something we're doing wrong?''

On secession, she said she doesn't have a strong opinion formed yet, but would yield to the wishes of the people in her district. She lives in Studio City.

Robyn Ritter Simon, 39, a former reporter, co-founded a group that recruits families back to their local public schools. She lives in Beverlywood.

She proposes reducing traffic using streets in residential neighborhoods as shortcuts by prohibiting turns in peak hours. She also suggests making main arteries such as Olympic and Ventura boulevards one-way during peak hours.

``We have to do something because people are so frustrated,'' she said.

Victor N. Viereck, 61, focuses on housing, development and transportation issues. He would like the city to help property owners who want to fix up rundown buildings.

``The rental housing situation has been really hurt by City Council decisions because people are afraid now to invest in rental housing as far as even buying and fixing up older properties,'' Viereck said. He lives in North Hollywood.

CAPTION(S):

11 photos

Photo: (1) BARAD

(2) BERNSTEIN

(3) CONNOLLY

(4) GERSTON

(5) HAYDEN

(6) LAKE

(7) MILONOPOULOS

(8) SALTZMAN

(9) RITTER

(10) VIERECK

(11) WEISS