Redondo Beach Mayor Assails Postponements : Council Accused of Election Ploy

Several Redondo Beach residents and Mayor Barbara J. Doerr have accused the City Council of attempting to postpone action and preclude public comment on a variety of issues until after the March 3 municipal elections.

Several residents at last week’s council meeting said it is especially important for them to hear council member’s viewpoints before an election.

“We are not your subjects and you are our servants,” said frequent council critic Tom O’Leary. “And you better remember that.”

Five Items Tabled

After a complicated series of motions, vetoes and overrides, the council eventually tabled five agenda items--including several controversial issues--until after the election.

Councilman John Chapman originally proposed tabling four issues to the Feb. 17 meeting and five to the March 17 session. He said he had not had time to read all the background information. His request was approved 4 to 0, with Councilman Archie Snow absent.

But Doerr vetoed the motion. In Redondo Beach, the mayor is not a voting member of the council but can veto its actions. She eventually persuaded the council to act on the four items that Chapman wanted tabled until Feb. 17.

Three of the items were requests from the mayor for routine staff action. The fourth item Doerr wanted to discuss was the modification of ordinances so that renters, and not just property owners, would be notified of public hearings. The council referred the issue to the city staff for study.

The City Council voted 4 to 0 again to put off the five items until March 17. Doerr again vetoed the action, saying, “On some of these it’s a sham because you just want to wait until after the election.”

No Political Motive

Chapman said in an interview later that his reasons for tabling the items had nothing to do with politics. “All those things I want to look into and be fully aware of when we discuss them,” he said, “because they’re really not just for discussion; normally you end up acting on them.”

One of those items was a request from Doerr to discuss imposing a moratorium on development along the North Catalina Avenue Corridor until a master development plan is adopted. Such a moratorium would preclude construction of a convenience store by a major developer.

Another was a request from the chairman of the Public Improvement Commission, Steve Colin, to send out a questionnaire seeking residents’ opinions on possible capital improvements.

Colin is challenging District 3 Councilwoman Marcia Martin in the March election. Councilman Ronald Cawdrey is the other member up for reelection.

Doerr argued that Colin, as a council-appointed commissioner, should be given the courtesy of addressing council members on subjects relating to the commission.

Seeking Public Discussion

When the council indicated its intent to override the mayor’s veto and not discuss the five items until March 17, Doerr asked whether the public had the right to speak on the proposed veto override.

Council members Chapman, Cawdrey and Kay Horrell voted not to allow the public to speak on the override. Martin abstained. Doerr vetoed that action as well. Cawdrey, Horrell and Chapman attempted to override her veto, but Martin abstained so public comment was allowed.

Martin told the council she abstained because “this is ridiculous and immature and stupid, and the only reason it’s coming up is because it’s an election . . . and if this continues, I’ll just leave.”

Horrell said she did not want any public comment on the attempted override because Doerr was not controlling the meeting and council members were being subjected to abuse by residents.

At one point during the meeting, council critic O’Leary yelled at the council, demanding that Chapman justify his efforts to prevent public comment.

Swamped in Politics

Resident Joel Munch was the only citizen to ask the council to override the mayor’s veto and table the items. He said the council was not accomplishing anything at the meeting and was getting bogged down in politics.

Colin told the council that even if the items were tabled, he intended to bring up the Public Improvement Commission’s request at the end of the meeting, during the citizen participation segment, when a resident can talk about any city-related topic.

The council eventually voted 4 to 0 to override the mayor’s veto and tabled the five items without allowing public comment on them.

When Colin spoke at the end of the meeting, he emphasized that the request to send out a questionnaire was from the commission and not from him, and that it was not scheduled to go out until after the March 3 election.