Council: Pluses, Minuses of High-Profile Yaroslavsky Name in Race

Can we get real about Barbara Yaroslavsky for just a moment? I don’t know her as well as I do her husband, but she’s probably a very nice person and dedicated to doing good in her community. However, the thought that she is simply another City Council candidate on some imaginary level playing field is naive and dangerous.

Barbara has about as high-profile a name as one could have in L.A. politics. She will use it freely. She will get votes from those who see a vote for her as the equivalent of a vote for Zev. She will get campaign money from those who know that a donation to her is a donation to Supervisor Zev.

None of this is illegal and one should expect a politician to do it. But if Barbara is going to benefit from Zev’s drawing power, she ought to suffer for the destruction he has left behind.

Westsiders should think of Barbara Yaroslavsky when they watch Westside small businesses and jobs leaving the area, when they struggle with burgeoning traffic congestion, and when they lock their doors and stay off the streets at night.

Angelenos should put Barbara’s face on years of grinding City Council gridlock, huge financial settlements to incompetent and larcenous City functionaries and outrageous boondoggles like our never-to-be subway system.

Maybe it’s not so bad that at least one candidate has a history we can attach her to. On the other hand, maybe she was out of the loop.

ALLAN RABINOWITZ

Los Angeles