Rolling Hills Estates Incumbents, Unopposed in ‘81, Now Face Attack

Four years ago, Mayor Jerome Belsky and Councilwoman Nell Mirels were returned to office without the polls ever opening. They had no opposition.

But as they seek reelection again on Nov. 5, the veteran incumbents face two challengers--retired police commander Sidney S. Barth and general contractor Dan E. Butcher--who say the political longevity of Belsky and Mirels has become a liability to this semirural Palos Verdes Peninsula community. Mirels has been in office since 1972 and Belsky since 1976.

Barth, 63, a resident for 13 years, claims that housing density has increased significantly since 1970 and said he holds the incumbents responsible. Now, he contends, the city plans to allow “the building of town homes, condominiums and other types of attached housing” on the site of the old Chandler gravel quarry, which a developer is proposing to fill and make the focal point of a 300-acre residential project.

The 68-year-old Butcher, who has lived in the community for 32 years, said the incumbents “have quit listening to what the people want and are just doing things their own way.”

‘Non-Issues Election’

Belsky and Mirels say their years in office prove that residents are satisfied with them and that they are being attacked by people who have shown no interest in the community until now.

“This is a non-issues election,” said Mirels, 55, a substitute high school teacher with the Palos Verdes Unified School District. “We have two incumbents who have done a very good, conscientious job being opposed by one person (Barth) who didn’t come near City Hall until he started running and another (Butcher) who came only when he was trying to get permission to build” on his property.

“We have a proven record of accomplishment, nothing the city has to be ashamed of, and a lot it has to be proud of,” said Belsky, 66, owner of a Harbor City manufacturing company. “The two candidates opposing us have never been involved in activities of the city.”

The council sets policy for the city, hires the city manager and hears appeals from actions taken by the staff and appointed commissions. Council members serve for four years and receive no salary. The mayor is elected by council members. Voters on Nov. 5 will vote for two candidates and the two top vote-getters will win.

‘Window Dressing’ Committees

Denying that he is a newcomer to city affairs, Barth said one of the things that prompted him to run has been the failure of the city Public Safety Committee to hold a meeting since he was appointed to the panel two years ago. “The city sends out bulletins saying they have committees, but if they’re not functioning, they’re window dressing,” said Barth, who was commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s South Bureau when he retired six years ago.

Butcher, owner of a Torrance home building company, said his appearances before the council and Planning Commission over his building plans led him to conclude he can “help the city a lot” with his expertise in construction and public works. For more than a decade, Butcher has been trying to develop 7 1/2 acres he owns near the Palos Verdes Reservoir, but each proposal has been turned down by the city. He now says he has “dropped the project” and will sell the property.

Mirels and Belsky deny Barth’s contention that high-density multiple units are slated for the quarry property. Mirels said her opponent has “confused what may or may not go into the Chandler” area with the city’s General Plan housing element, which identifies the quarry as a probable site for low- and moderate-income housing. If the quarry is developed, the city will permit “no low-cost housing or high-rise condos,” Mirels said.

Active in Community

Mirels began community activities with the League of Women Voters after moving to the city in 1961, and she was a planning commissioner before being elected to the council. She has specialized in intergovernmental activities, serving in leadership roles with the League of California Cities, California Contract Cities Assn. and Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee.

She said she thought about making her current council term her last but changed her mind after being elected two years ago to the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, which rules on annexations and incorporations. “I’m the first South Bay person on the commission in two decades and it’s really important for someone to be there who knows what the South Bay looks like,” she said.

Belsky, who came to the city 27 years ago, also moved from the Planning Commission to the council. This year he was named Citizen of the Year for community service by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. Among his accomplishments on the council, he said, are securing the donation of 33 acres of private land for city open space, initiating a joint Rolling Hills Estates-Rancho Palos Verdes law enforcement program, and preventing the relocation of the Peninsula Center post office.

A director of Al Malaikah Shrine in Los Angeles, Butcher said he was asked to run for council by the Roanwood Homeowners Assn., which has been quarreling with the council over a recent expansion of the city stable on Crenshaw Boulevard.

Mayor’s ‘Heavy Gavel’

Butcher appears to be making a target out of Belsky, accusing the mayor of wielding a “heavy gavel” and of “intimidating the rest of the council to go along with what he wants.” Belsky said that whenever the council votes 4 to 1, he is usually the 1: “It’s insulting the rest of the council to say I dominate.” Mirels said that while Belsky is a “forceful personality,” council members are independent. “You can’t be a wimp and get elected,” she said.

In campaigning, Butcher also has brought up the $46,000 fine and restitution charge handed down last year against Belsky’s company, Bumper Line Inc., after it pleaded no contest to charges of illegally dumping hazardous wastes into the Los Angeles city sewer system.

“I resent Butcher’s making these statements,” said Belsky. “What happens to my business in Harbor City has no reflection on my capability of handling a job as councilman in Rolling Hills Estates. No one else has brought it up.”

Deputy Los Angeles City Atty. Steven R. Tekosky said there was no evidence that the dumping was intentional and the facility now is regarded as a “model” by the Bureau of Sanitation.