Hal Bernson

Harold M. Bernson (November 19, 1930July 20, 2020) was an American politician who was a member of the Los Angeles City Council for 24 years, from 1979 until his retirement in 2003.

A conservative Republican, he was a leading proponent of the San Fernando Valley seceding from the rest of Los Angeles.

Bernson was born in South Gate, California, on November 19, 1930, to Jewish parents, his father from Romania and his mother from Poland.

He grew up in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights, where he became a bar mitzvah at the historic Breed Street Shul.

He recalled that at the age of ten he attended services at the synagogue three times a day to recite a mourner's prayer for his father.

As a young man, he served in the Navy and afterward ran a clothing store in Bakersfield.

He moved back to Los Angeles in 1956 and to the San Fernando Valley in 1958.

In 1977, he was the Northwest San Fernando Valley chairman for Senator Alan Robbins' anti-busing initiative and amendments before being on the steering committee for Yes on Proposition 13 in 1978.

From 1978 to 1979, he was a columnist for the San Fernando Valley Chronicle He was also a cofounder and board member of CIVICC (Committee Investigating Valley Independence for the City/County).

In partisan politics, he was a Republican.

Bernson and Barbara Klein led the pack of sixteen candidates who in 1979 ran in Los Angeles City Council District 12, in the northwest San Fernando Valley, to succeed retiring Councilman Robert M. Wilkinson.

In the runoff, Bernson easily beat Klein by a vote of 24,825 to 12,415.

"the most avid proponent of seismic safety on the Los Angeles City Council for more than a decade, spearheading a slew of safety-minded ordinances, including a widely copied law requiring the retrofitting of thousands of unreinforced masonry buildings. . . . He took an interest in seismic safety and decided to back the proposal, warding off angry building owners and others. . . . But the law did pass, in 1981."

He helped organize the city's first international earthquake conference, attended by 28 countries.

He also developed a quake safety booklet for children and help create the "Quakey-Shakey Van," a vehicle that helped teach children about quake safety.

Bus tour. The councilman guided his colleagues on a bus tour of his district in May 1989, pointing out such problem sites as the proposed 1,300-acre Porter Ranch development, "where a plan to develop the pristine rolling hills into a major $2-billion residential and commercial city center is at the forefront of public debate," and a development project in the Bryant-Street Vanalden neighborhood (below).

Compromise. Mayor Tom Bradley announced in December 1989 that he and Bernson had reached a compromise on the Porter Ranch project in Chatsworth, the biggest single development project in Los Angeles history.

Bernson took a leading role in a drive at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries for the San Fernando Valley to secede from the city of Los Angeles and perhaps even from the county.

As well, the councilman advocated that the Valley pull out of the Los Angeles Unified School District and form its own district for its own schools.

He called the proposal the "hottest issue around"" and said the current school system was "a farce."

It was the first case of its kind brought against an elected official since the commission was created in 1990.

In 1992, it was reported that the California Fair Political Practices Commission had opened "five separate inquiries into charges of various improprieties against Bernson, but each time closed its files without formal charges" being made.

Nevertheless, Bernson refused aid from the Community Redevelopment Agency in rebuilding damage in his district from the 1994 Northridge earthquake on the grounds that the agency was trying to foist "social engineering" off on the area.

The city's Ethics Commission found in 1994 that Bernson had failed to disclose the source of $11,000 in campaign contributions made by a private company and ordered him to repay the funds.

While rejecting the commission's authority requiring him to repay the money, he said he would donate an equal sum to the police in his district.

In 1997 he was given the Alfred E. Alquist Award for Achievement in Earthquake Safety.

He was chair of the council's Transportation Committee.

He also served on the boards of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority.

He was described as "a master of planning issues."

In 1997 Bernson ended a two-year battle with the Ethics Commission by paying a $1,500 fine levied against him for spending $1,140 in officeholder account funds to buy season tickets to the Hollywood Bowl.

The account is funded by lobbyists and supporters and can be used only on expenses related to serving and communicating with constituents.

Despite his statement that he would be neutral as a commissioner, City Council president Alex Padilla replaced him on the commission in August 2001 with Council Member Cindy Miscikowski, a secession opponent.

In 2002, at age 71 and cited as the "dean of the Los Angeles City Council, he served as chairman of the LACMTA, the rail authority and the Southern California Association of Governments at the same time. The Times noted that Bernson's service on these boards made him the "Stipend King" of the City Council because he was able to collect thousands of dollars in extra pay for attending their meetings. "I put in an awful lot of extra effort in those things I'm involved in," he said.

Bernson was presented the first Julian C. Dixon Award in November 2002 as "a leader in transportation [who had] made an outstanding contribution to the transportation community."

Later, he was a member of the county's Local Area Formation Commission, even while he was a "vocal advocate of speeding up the process" of getting Valley secession on the November 2002 ballot.

Bernson was reelected in every vote thereafter until his own retirement in 2003, although in 1991 he was forced into a runoff with Julie Korenstein, who was one of the challengers who attacked him for backing the controversial Porter Ranch development in his district (below).

It was, however, not strictly true that Bernson was "pro-growth," the Times reported during that campaign, listing several incidents in which the councilman had voted against developers' wishes.

Bernson labeled Korenstein as "at one time . . . a Peace and Freedom member."

Bernson was dubbed "Mister Earthquake," for his driven attitude toward making city building safe in the event of temblors.

The Times said of that Bernson was