TIPOFF : COALITION GETS STRONG ALLY IN CHARTER EFFORT.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

THE Coalition - the loose-knit group of San Fernando Valley and Westside business and homeowner organizations formed last week - might have started a prairie fire of interest in charter reform.

While there have been some fits and starts over which groups are members in its initial phase, it already is drawing a powerful ally with the leaders of the Service Employees International Union, which represents some 6,500 city workers, joining in.

``While we aren't as clear on expanding the council, we are strongly supportive of elected neighborhood councils,'' said Julie Butcher, general manager of Local 347. ``What's exciting to us about this is it is bringing in homeowner groups, businesses - particularly the midsized businesses - and unions to work together. That's something you don't see very often in this city.''

Butcher said her local also is looking to form alliances with other groups to deal with other issues expected to be raised as part of charter reform, including the division of power between the mayor and the City Council.

It is on the elected Charter Reform Commission that most groups are focusing their attention because whatever it comes up with will go directly on the ballot, with no changes by the council.

Starting Monday, the Los Angeles City Council will begin an 11-day recess - the first time in its history that it has scheduled vacation time.

All of which recalls remarks made years ago when former Councilman Ernani Bernardi defended the reduction in meeting days from five to three a week.

``Those two days a week we don't meet means there's less mischief that we can cause,'' Bernardi said. ``That's the only time the city is safe from us.''

Of course, it was also Bernardi who noted once that he was never concerned about his ``no'' votes on issues. ``It's the `yes' votes that scare me,'' he said.

Also taking advantage of the vacation time is Mayor Richard Riordan, who has planned a six-day bicycle ride around Victoria, British Columbia.

But when the mayor goes on a bike ride, his companions are not your everyday Joes. No, it's your everyday Mike Nichols, Diane Sawyer, Fran Liebowitz and Michael Eisner.

Just another ho-hum holiday with ordinary folks.

With word coming that Al Davis wants to return his Raiders professional football team to Los Angeles, Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas is stepping up his efforts to develop a unified approach to the National Football League.

Ridley-Thomas has been promoting a remodeled ``new'' Coliseum for an expansion franchise that he believes will be more popular than the Raiders or any other existing team.

The councilman said he plans to write to Michael Ovitz, the one-time Hollywood super-agent promoting a site in Carson, to try to join forces. Ovitz aides said he decided to promote his own effort away from the Coliseum out of the belief that NFL owners would reject the downtown site.

``We need to work together,'' Ridley-Thomas said, ``and as we look at some $1 billion for this franchise, the Coliseum begins to look more attractive.''

But if the Raiders did decide to play some games in Los Angeles this year or next, there's not much that could be done to stop them.

``Anyone can rent our facility,'' Coliseum General Manager Pat Lynch said, adding that details would have to be worked out with the Coliseum Commission. ``That's what we're here for. As long as their money is green, so is our grass.''