Amidst all the noise of national election primaries, three citizens have quietly begun the process of running for Council District 11 in March 2005, when two-term Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski will be termed out. This will be the first election in the district since it became a coastal district exclusively, as a result of last year’s redistricting, and candidates are already staking out their territory on the issues. Flora Gil Krisiloff, a Brentwood resident since 1985, is running on her record as a community advocate. “When I moved to Brentwood from Mar Vista 19 years ago, I immediately got involved in preserving the Brentwood Country Mart on the corner of 26th and San Vicente,” Krisiloff told the Palisadian-Post. “Then Marvin Braude appointed me to the San Vicente Design Review Board, where I continue to serve.” In more recent times, Krisiloff co-founded and remains the only chairman of the Brentwood Community Council, which was established six years ago. She has also served as vice president of the West L.A. Planning Commission for two years and is currently the president. While not obligated to step down from her position on the commission, she will do so voluntarily “in order to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest.” “Because the West L. A. Planning Commission encompasses all of Council District 11, I have become familiar with planning issues throughout the entire district, which runs from the 405 freeway to the east, the ocean to the west, Pacific Palisades to the north and Westchester to the south.” Krisiloff has assembled a campaign team that includes Rich Taylor, who ran both of Cindy Miscikowski’s campaigns, Charley Dobbs to raise money and Mary Ellen Padilla as treasurer. She expects to begin her fundraising after March 8, when matching funds become available. Krisiloff, 52, earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from UCLA, where she taught in the nursing school. She also holds an MBA from UCLA. She and her husband, Milton, who is a urologist with a Santa Monica practice, have three sons. Bill Rosendahl, who has 22 years experience in cable television specializing in public affairs programs, most recently on Adelphia, is hoping to build consensus on the City Council. Since 1987, he has produced 3,000 shows on state and local issues. In addition, he has given voice to all candidates, big and small, who have run for local and statewide office and offered a forum to debate state and municipal propositions. “I think of myself as being accessible and open, and believe if we all sit at the table we can come up with solutions,” he said. A Mar Vista resident, Rosendahl plans to use the next six months to raise money and familiarize himself with specific issues. He will hold his first fundraiser on March 8. He has hired a team of consultants including Parke Skelton to run the campaign, Brian and Pat Bradford to raise money and Steve Kauffman to “keep my books straight.” A native of New Jersey, Rosendahl, who is single, has spent his career in and out of politics, working for a number of Democratic candidates, including Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 bid for president, which brought him to Los Angeles for the first time on that fateful evening. Rosendahl, who turns 60 in 2005, thinks of himself as a citizen politician, whose “experience, awareness and maturity” will serve him well. Los Angeles native Sheila Bernard’s foray into politics was prompted by her own personal commitment to affordable housing. A resident of Lincoln Place Apartments since 1988, Bernard, 54, has led the fight to protect and preserve the 800 units of housing in the middle of Venice. She is the single mother of three grown children. “This major activity got me interested in politics as I began to see that the biggest problems in Los Angeles include affordable housing, transportation and, of course water,” Bernard told the Post. A graduate of UCLA, where she studied public service, Bernard has been teaching adults and at-risk youth in the Division of Adult and Career Education of LAUSD since 1981. “During these years I have met several thousand at-risk youth of high school age and helped many of them to prepare for the GED and earn their high school diploma,” she says. “I have concluded that schools need more support and participation from government and from local communities if schools are to play all the roles that are expected of them in the lives of students and their families.” Bernard not only serves as president of the Lincoln Place Tenants Association, but also was co-founder and current president of the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council, which was certified two years ago. She says that she expects to run a “nontraditional” campaign. “The neighborhood council and tenants are my work in the community. The campaign has to accommodate my work in the community, not the other way around.”
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