Runoff Marks Round 2 in Redondo Growth Duel : Mayor’s Alllies See to Wrest Control From Council Majority

Round two of the “pro-growth vs. slow-growth” duel in City Hall unfolds here Tuesday when allies of Mayor Barbara Doerr attempt to wrest control of the City Council from a majority that has favored several disputed development projects during the past four years.

Three of the city’s five council seats are on the ballot in the May 14 runoff election, which comes just two months after Doerr’s decisive reelection victory over two-term Councilman Jerry Goddard.

Doerr, leader of an active group of residents who are critical of what they call “overdevelopment” in the city, defeated Goddard in the March primary election and avoided a runoff by winning more than 54% of the vote in the three-candidate contest.

Council Criticized

But the slow-growth candidates that Doerr endorsed for the three council openings all finished second to candidates favored by more development-oriented interests led by Goddard. The March election, then, has set the stage for a second showdown between the two factions, with Doerr hoping to mold a council majority more sympathetic to her views while candidates less skeptical of development strive to maintain the status quo.

“I don’t feel that our council has represented the mainstream of our community,” said Doerr, who has veto power rather than a vote on council issues. “We can only sustain so much more development in this community. The election will determine the character our community will take in the years to come.”

Take-Over Try Denied

Doerr said the new council will be considering such crucial issues as controlling new development at King Harbor, lifting citywide restrictions on residential construction, imposing new housing density requirements and establishing stricter parking regulations in residential and harbor areas.

“We need all three people to win,” she said. “It doesn’t do any good just to be able to veto something and stop it from happening. You need a council majority.”

But after his defeat in March, Goddard warned that Doerr’s allies “would seriously injure the business community and the economics of the city” if they gained control of the council. He predicted at that time that the Doerr forces would be defeated next week.

Doerr has endorsed incumbent Councilman Ray Amys, City Treasurer Alice DeLong and two-term school board member Valerie Dombrowski in the three council races. While denying that she is attempting a take-over of the council, Doerr acknowledged that the three candidates share her “general philosophy” about “overdevelopment” in the city.

Amys, DeLong and Dombrowski speak highly of Doerr, but they, too, deny that they would be controlled by the mayor. Amys, however, has been Doerr’s only consistent City Council ally during the past four years.

Doerr and all three candidates she has endorsed back the Preserve Our Waterfront initiative, which would place strict controls on new development in the harbor area. All three oppose a bitterly disputed plan, approved by the City Council over Doerr’s objection, to build the 156-room hotel and sports complex called the Inn at King Harbor.

“It is critical that the newly elected officials be receptive to the needs of the residents,” said Doerr, charging that the current council majority is controlled by business leaders and harbor lessees who have contributed heavily to their campaigns. “Any city government has to be aware of the needs of the business community and be able to respond to those, but the residents determine the character and direction the community is to take.”

Labels Rejected

Goddard, in contrast, supports real estate broker Kay Horrell, county engineer John Chapman and incumbent Councilman Archie Snow--all of whom reject labels but nonetheless have been branded “overdevelopment” candidates by Doerr’s allies.

All three candidates have received direct or indirect financial and political support from the political group AWARE (Active Women About Redondo’s Environment), whose directors were also leaders of Goddard’s campaign. According to the group’s most recent financial statement filed with the city in March, AWARE had spent nearly $7,000 on behalf of candidates.

Neither Goddard nor the three candidates he favors have endorsed the waterfront initiative, which is vehemently opposed by the business community. Both Goddard and incumbent Snow, who has rarely sided with Doerr on development issues, have supported the Inn at King Harbor project.

Goddard, who is required to vacate his South Redondo council seat because he has served eight years, charged during the mayoral campaign that Doerr is anti-business and anti-development. The high school government teacher was supported strongly by Chamber of Commerce and King Harbor business leaders in his bid to unseat the mayor.

Not a Bloc

The so-called pro-growth candidates deny that they comprise an organized bloc of development-oriented interests. Each asserts his independence from the others, but all do concur that “business” and “development” should not be treated as dirty words in Redondo Beach.

“They are trying to make it look like you are a second-class citizen because you are in business,” said Horrell, past president of the city’s Chamber of Commerce. “It is not a bad label. There is nothing wrong with business. Through the years I have devoted much love and time to this community.”

Added Snow, “Development is always going to be an issue whenever you live in a very favorable place. But we can’t approach this with a meat ax. We have to be reasonable.”

With just one more weekend of campaigning, the three district races for the four-year council terms shape up as follows:

District 1--Alice DeLong, 51, who has been elected city treasurer three times, says it is time to give up her $38,000 job and move across City Hall to a council office so she “can get some things changed around here.” The part-time council job pays $3,600 a year.

John (Jack) Chapman, 43, a county building zoning coordinator, says DeLong is doing just fine in the city treasurer’s office. “I would hope that she would continue to do so,” Chapman said. “I think that Alice’s background in accounting and budgetary matters are best suited for the position she was elected for.”

DeLong, a staunch supporter of Doerr, and Chapman, a self-described political independent who has Goddard’s backing, are vying for Goddard’s council seat.

Chapman finished ahead of DeLong in the March primary, earning 39.5% of the vote compared to her 34.9%. The 16-year Redondo resident said his success is directly attributable to his qualifications.

“Many of the items that come to the council are land-use items and I have been involved in land-use control for the last 20 years,” he said, pointing to his experience with the Los Angeles County building, planning and public works departments. “I would be able to look at projects objectively, understand the mitigating environmental issues and come up with compatible land-use projects.”

Worked on Ballot Measures

But DeLong, a 15-year resident who has followed closely council politics from the treasurer’s office, said she has a proven track record in service to the community. She is one of several city officials who spearheaded the Preserve Our Waterfront ballot initiative. She also worked with Doerr in favor of successful ballot measures to halt a major road-widening project along Flagler Lane and to reserve a portion of the closed Aviation High campus for city-run recreational facilities.

“The business community is very important, but I would not push business and tourism at the expense of the quality of life in the city,” she said. “I know that we have a very desirable place, but I don’t think that we have to go out and beat the bushes to publicize Redondo Beach.”

According to the most recent campaign statements, Chapman has outspent DeLong this year by a more than 6-1 margin. Chapman has spent more than $10,000 compared to about $1,600 in expenses reported by DeLong. The bulk of DeLong’s money comes from loans from herself and her husband, while Chapman has loaned himself about $6,000 and collected the rest of the money from various sources including several out-of-town friends, construction companies and the AWARE group.

“I was a person that the people in Redondo did not know very well,” Chapman said in explaining his spending. “Alice has run three times, and if I were in her shoes I would probably not spend so much money because I would be well known.”

District 2--Kay Horrell, 58, says harbor-area incumbent Ray Amys, 63, is the issue in Tuesday’s election. And she minces no words in saying so.

“The man continues to tell the same untruths and be deceptive,” Horrell charged. “Apparently this man has no respect for the law and believes he is above law and order. I consider him unfit to sit in that seat in District 2.”

Deleted by Judge

Horrell’s charges came Wednesday after she read a campaign brochure distributed by Amys that reiterated many of the same allegations that a Torrance Superior Court judge last month deleted from a campaign statement Amys wrote for the city’s sample ballot.

In that statement and others, Amys has repeatedly contended that Horrell’s ties to the city’s business community and her voting record as chairman of the city Planning Commission show that she would encourage traffic congestion, parking problems and excessive development if she were elected to the City Council.

Horrell vehemently denies the charges, claiming that Amys is deliberately misrepresenting her views because she has him backed against the wall. The Superior Court judge deleted the charges from the sample ballot, ruling that they were misleading and deceptive.

“She has got to be pro-development and that has to be understood,” Amys said in explaining his campaign strategy. “She is into real estate, and that is her bread and butter. She certainly is not going to vote on anything that is going to take the butter off the table.”

Issue Is Development

Amys said that too much development, not his incumbency, is the issue in the harbor-area district and that he is running on his record. A retired manufacturer who has lived in Redondo Beach for 12 years, he said voters want “slow, well-planned growth” that requires long-term planning. “That means the last thing they want is a real estate person as a council person.”

Amys, along with Doerr, DeLong and City Clerk John Oliver, promoted the waterfront ballot initiative, which calls for stringent regulation of development in the harbor area. He said that he is opposed to condominium projects in the harbor area because they are “nothing but an advanced slum system,” and said that the area cannot sustain any more commercial development.

“There is a point where there is just no more parking,” he said. “If you add more businesses, you can’t impact the area with more people because there is no more parking. So the businesses will have to divide the dollars there. Let’s just stop any more development in the harbor area and upgrade what we have got.”

Horrell, a long-time real estate broker who has served on several city commissions and committees, finished ahead of Amys in the March primary. Horrell won 36.6% of the vote, compared to Amys’ 31.7%. Rene Burke, who earned 25.9% of the vote, has endorsed Amys.

“A lot of people out there are aware of his antics,” Horrell said of the surprisingly poor finish by incumbent Amys. “I am known as a very open-minded and fair person, with loads of good ol’ common sense--rather than someone who walks into a decision-making process with his mind made up.”

Amys has often been described as Mayor Doerr’s only consistent supporter on the City Council, a label he does not dispute. But Horrell, who said she has worked with the mayor on several city committees, said she would have no trouble working with Doerr at council meetings.

Amys “has been her one vote in many instances,” said Horrell, speculating on why Doerr endorsed him. “She probably feels that she owes it to him.”

According to campaign reports filed last week, Horrell has spent nearly $7,900, compared to Amys’ $1,200 on the election this year. Horrell, who has loaned herself $1,725, said the money has come from small donations “across the board.”

“We had to start from zero,” she said, explaining her wide margin in spending. “He has gone through this whole ritual once before.”

District 4--Valerie (Val) Dombrowski, a two-term city elementary school board member and the mother of 11, says that incumbent Archie Snow is leading North Redondo residents “down a path of destruction.”

“He spends money like there is no tomorrow, and is out-pricing Redondo Beach so that no one can live here anymore,” said Dombrowski, who says she is in her 40s. “He campaigned to stop condos, then he flip-flopped and let developers come in. All the people want is affordable housing. They don’t want to be priced out of living in Redondo.”

Dombrowski, a 27-year resident of Redondo, said that she wants to bring fiscal conservatism and a greater awareness of environmental issues to the City Council. She said the city is subsidizing developers in the harbor area, money that could be better spend on providing public services such as more paramedics and firefighters.

“I would like to know where the fire engines are going to go if there is major fire at one of these new hotels, and a fire at my house at the same time,” she said.

Snow, 67, dismisses Dombrowski’s campaign as one of “personal attacks and innuendo.” He denies that he has “flip-flopped” on the issues, and said he is running on a record of service to the district.

Last month, the one-time council gadfly wrote a 2 1/2-page letter to his constituents in an effort “to have the record set straight” regarding charges by Dombrowski about issues ranging from development of the Aviation High campus to his support for new development in the harbor.

Snow declined, however, to criticize Dombrowski outright, saying, “It is not to my advantage to knock my opponent.”

10-Point Program

Snow has proposed a 10-point program for North Redondo that includes working for new senior citizen housing, funding a shuttle bus between markets, schools and recreational facilities and purchasing sites for off-street parking.

But Dombrowski, who has been endorsed by Steve Reiss, the third- place finisher in the March primary, said residents in North Redondo resent the way Snow has been spending money for the city the past four years. She also criticized his “big spending” of contributions in the election campaign.

Snow has collected more contributions and spent more money than any of the candidates in Tuesday’s election. According to the most recent statements filed with the city clerk, Snow spent about $14,500 last year and this year, money that in large part came from the city’s leading business interests. Dombrowski, in contrast, has spent about $1,200.

Snow defends his so-called war chest, saying he collected the money because he originally intended to run for mayor but changed his mind when Goddard announced his bid.

Snow finished ahead of both Dombrowski and Reiss by large margins in March, earning 45.7% of the vote compared to Dombrowski’s 32% and Reiss’s 15.8%. But Dombrowski said that Snow “worked hard and spent lots” to win the primary, a strategy that won’t be as effective this time around, she said.

“Steve (Reiss) is now supporting me and I have been working hard for the seat,” she said. “The issue is Archie Snow. All he promises us is more debt and congestion.”

Polls in Districts 1, 2 and 4 will be open from 7 a.m to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Only residents from those districts are eligible to vote.