Bernson Emerges as Council Peacemaker

Henry Kissinger negotiated the Vietnam peace accord and the Sinai disengagement. Warren Christopher secured the release of the Tehran hostages. George Mitchell showed Northern Ireland’s Catholics and Protestants a way past their centuries of strife.

Move over guys, and make room for Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson.

The San Fernando Valley suit and T-shirt salesman-turned-politician brokered a meeting Thursday between two implacable antagonists--Mayor Richard Riordan and Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg.

It was no small task.

For weeks, Riordan and Goldberg have been at odds over a Hollywood nightclub’s request for a dance permit. The councilwoman sees no reason the club shouldn’t have it. The mayor sees plenty; he vetoed the council’s approval of the permit.

Over the past few weeks, Goldberg has lobbied, cajoled, nudged and nearly threatened her colleagues to give her 12 votes to override the mayor. But she hasn’t had the votes.

Enter Bernson, the self-appointed mediator who says he just wanted to bring both sides together to talk it out. Never mind that the meeting was scheduled, postponed and scheduled again several times before Thursday.

Peacemakers are patient.

“I felt that there was a middle ground, a common ground, that could resolve this without any blood,” Bernson said after the 45-minute meeting.

“The mayor had some concerns . . . and Jackie felt this was an important business in her district,” Bernson said. “I felt there was a way to resolve this.”

As is typical in these types of sensitive peace talks, none of the participants would publicly reveal the contents of the negotiations. Goldberg, in fact, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

But sources close to the discussions said some new proposals that would allow the club, Hollywood Moguls, to receive its dance permit were floated and that Goldberg and Riordan now need time to consider them.

The club, located on Schrader Boulevard half a block off Hollywood Boulevard, already has entertainment and liquor permits. But an investigation by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control last fall found numerous violations of the club’s permit conditions, including music playing 15 minutes past midnight and failing to offer enough food choices.

Not exactly the underage drinking or drug dealing that the ABC investigators sometimes uncover along Hollywood Boulevard, but enough to sway Riordan.

“The mayor was firm on his reasons for opposing this,” said Noelia Rodriguez, Riordan’s spokeswoman. “The fact is that these violations exist and that it’s a quality of life issue.”

But supporters of the club say that bad advice led to Riordan’s veto. They seek to discredit the club’s main opponent--George Willard, the owner of a nearby apartment building who has fought the permit all the way through City Hall’s bureaucratic maze.

Phil Duff, who owns Hollywood Moguls, said the alleged violations are unproved and that the club is meeting its liquor and entertainment permit conditions.

The mayor, meanwhile, plans to continue his “open door policy” to the council members, Rodriguez said. “The intent was to work out a resolution to this,” she said.

Rodriguez described the meeting as “spirited,” adding that “we didn’t need to call in a bouncer or anything.”

But sources said the meeting got hot at times with tempers and emotions flaring.

Overall, mediator Bernson received high marks.

He “has been very gracious to be the liaison in this whole issue,” Rodriguez said.

Bernson, who heads the council’s planning and land use management committee and who has served on the council since 1979, has been a broker before, ironing out problems with major developments inside and outside of the Valley district he represents.

Still, he is probably running behind Mitchell in the race for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.