was elected to a four-year term. In the meantime, though, a move was afoot to shift the 12th District City Council seat into the San Fernando Valley, which had experienced steady population growth over the years, and in July 1964 the councilman agreed to the arrangement and said he would relocate into his new district area. In 1967 he ran for reelection in his new area but was ousted in the final balloting by Robert M. Wilkinson, who garnered a vote of 24,312 to Cassidy's 7,127. It was "a bitter campaign marked by frequent exchanges of 'smear' charges." Positions Cassidy generally supported the policies of Mayor Sam Yorty.Erwin Baker, "Mayor Expects Peace With the City Council," Los Angeles Times, May 3, 1965, page A-4 Basing his opposition on a postcard survey of 600 property owners, in 1963 he urged the abandonment of a $250 million controversial urban renewal project of 182 acres in his downtown district, which would establish a complex of high-rise office buildings, apartments and businesses. The "blighted area" was bounded by the Hollywood and Harbor freeways, First Street and Glendale Boulevard. He introduced a successful resolution in 1966 honoring Police Chief William H. Parker; it stated that Parker had done "everything in his power to establish a pattern of realistic human relations in all aspects of community life." The resolution was opposed by all three Negro members of the City Council—Tom Bradley, Billy G. Mills and Gilbert W. Lindsay—and favored by the twelve white members. Cassidy said Parker had made "substantial contributions to community life." In 1966 he was an advocate of adding fluorides to Los Angeles drinking water to bring all parts of the city up to medical standards."Fluoridated Water Proposal Rejected by Council Vote," Los Angeles Times, October 25, 1966, page 3 Cassidy and nine other council members voted in favor of a resolution commending Police Chief Tom Reddin and his department for their actions in controlling a crowd of ten thousand anti-Vietnam War protesters at the Century Plaza Hotel in June 1967; there were 45 arrests and injuries to 40 marchers and four policemen. Four council members were opposed. Post-council On July 1, 1967, a day after Cassidy left his City Council post, General Manager William Frederickson Jr. of the city's Recreation and Parks Department made an "emergency" appointment of Cassidy to a new post of the departmental public relations director at a salary