2 Appointments to Coast Panel Draw Praise

A staunch environmentalist and a Latino activist have been named to the 12-member California Coastal Commission by the state Senate Rules Committee.

The appointments were greeted with approval Monday by environmental groups. But the new members are not expected to alter the voting domination by a faction allied with Gov. George Deukmejian.

The new commissioners are Madelyn Glickfeld, a Malibu planning consultant who had been serving as an alternate commissioner, and Lily Cervantes, a Monterey law student.

“They ought to bring more of a balance between environmental and development forces,” said Duane Garrett, an environmental activist who is being replaced by Glickfeld as commissioner.

The appointments were announced Monday, two days after the Rules Committee voted in the two new commissioners just before the Legislature adjourned for a three-month break.

Glickfeld and Garrett are philosophically attuned to one another on coastal issues, but Cervantes is expected to lean less toward development interests than former Commissioner Gilbert Contreras, who was ousted by state Sen. David Roberti (D-Los Angeles) on July 7 and temporarily replaced by Christine Minnehan, a Roberti aide. Garrett resigned from the commission to act as national chairman for the presidential campaign of former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt.

Four Members Reappointed

Four commissioners were reappointed to two-year terms by Deukmejian earlier this year. They are frequently joined by several other commissioners who act as swing votes.

Glickfeld, 38, the president of a planning consulting firm, described her appointment as “a commitment to a strong environmental standpoint.”

Melvin L. Nutter, a former chairman of the commission, said Glickfeld’s greatest asset is the commission experience she has gained since April, 1986, when she was appointed as an alternate.

Cervantes, 33, a second-year law student at the University of Santa Clara School of Law, had the backing of state Sen. Henry Mello (D-Watsonville). Mello said that while Cervantes was known mostly as a Latino activist, she won the endorsement of local environmental groups concerned about the preservation of Monterey Bay.