Monrovia Candidates Are Study in Contrast

Many residents say they have never seen a more bizarre race for mayor. The contenders are a longtime city councilman, a restaurant owner who is spending a lot of money but keeping a low profile, and an outspoken critic of city government who says he is willing to use tanks to “batter down the drug labs” in the city.

The City Council has endorsed Robert Bartlett, who has served on the council for 14 years. He has consistently been the city’s top vote getter and is a major force behind Monrovia’s extensive redevelopment projects.

Challenging Bartlett are Andre Hindoyan and Don Trowbridge.

Hindoyan, who has owned Le Papillon restaurant since 1977, has become well known through his discount dinners. He has spent more than $4,000 less than halfway into his campaign for the April 12 election, but he did not appear at a candidates’ forum and declined, through his media consultant, to be interviewed.

Bulletproof Vest

Trowbridge, who lists his occupation as public relations consultant, wants to rid the city of drugs. “I’ve been in the Army, and I can handle machine guns and throw hand grenades” if that task should require it, he said. Trowbridge said he will begin wearing a bulletproof vest because his life will be in jeopardy when his hard-line stand on drugs becomes known.

With Hindoyan’s refusal to speak, it is unclear what issues will emerge in the campaign, although Bartlett and Trowbridge agree that the city has a drug problem that must be tackled.

Bartlett says he is the best equipped to provide answers for the city’s problems because he is the only candidate who has held public office. “The job of mayor is too important to turn over to beginners or trainees,” he said.

“The first two years on the council are the learning years,” Bartlett said, “and the others are ill prepared to do the job.”

‘Proper Leadership’

Trowbridge scoffs at the idea that the mayor needs to have prior council experience.

Bartlett, 48, was born in Monrovia and is vice president of PIE Nationwide , a Pomona-based transportation company.

“I am running because I see a number of things that still need to be done in Monrovia, and I can provide the proper leadership that the city needs,” he said.

“We need to finish redevelopment on east Huntington Drive, and East Duarte Road is a blighted area. There is a crying need for more housing for senior citizens, and that is my number-one priority.

“And the war on drugs and street dealers has to be intensified,” Bartlett said. “We need to seek outside help from volunteer groups.”

Trowbridge, 61, wants to seek outside help from law enforcement agencies ranging from the Sheriff’s Department to the FBI.

“I am asking that the City Council declare a state of emergency to eradicate drug traffic in this town,” he said. “Then we must institute measures to make sure it never comes back. If it takes tanks to batter down the drug labs, I will do whatever it takes to stop it and keep it out.”

Trowbridge, who has lived in Monrovia for six years, also said he is concerned that the city has not provided replacement housing for families forced out by redevelopment.

‘No Future for City’

“The city has not addressed the problem of providing low- and medium-cost housing so we can keep the youth of Monrovia here,” he said. “There is no future for this city unless there is a radical change in direction.”

Trowbridge said the portion of the city south of Colorado Boulevard is under-represented on city boards and commissions, “so the southern half of Monrovia has no direct representation, and the people receive shabby treatment.”

But Bartlett, who lives on Colorado Boulevard, said he represents all of Monrovia, although he added that he is sensitive to the area where he grew up, the black community south of Colorado.

Trowbridge had kind words for his opponents, saying that Hindoyan is a fine “public servant” and that “all the members of the City Council are solidly committed to Bartlett because he has done a decent job, is the most well-known and longest-serving member and the only minority member.”

Active in Chamber

In his candidacy statement, Hindoyan, 43, said he is a former high school math and science teacher and, for the past 17 years, a director of the Chamber of Commerce.

In the candidates’ first financial statement, filed March 3, Hindoyan said he had spent $301 on newspaper advertising, $600 on outside advertising, $2,345 on mailings and $1,000 to Baron de Beer, described as his media consultant. Neither Bartlett nor Trowbridge had spent any money.

“He (Hindoyan) doesn’t want to be interviewed,” said De Beer, “because he is afraid his statements may not be interpreted correctly.”

One of his strongest supporters is Tom O’Connell, president of the 200-member Gadabouts senior citizens club, one of three active seniors clubs in the city.

“He served two free dinners to seniors that were attended by 300 or 400 (people). He just gave them the dinners,” O’Connell said.

“And he has two-for-one dinners (two dinners for the price of one), and many seniors go there.”

Bartlett, who said he plans to be visible in the community, takes a dim view of Hindoyan’s campaign.

“People are frightened of a media campaign without the candidate,” he said. “Andre spent too much money too soon. People don’t want a person spending his way into the mayorship.”

Endorses Bartlett

Mayor Paul Stuart, who said he is not running for reelection because of business reasons, has endorsed Bartlett because, he said, “other than me, no one is as experienced in leading Monrovia.”

The mayoral race has overshadowed the City Council race, in which two incumbents and two challengers are on the ballot.

Bartlett has two years remaining on his council term, so if he wins, his seat will be filled by appointment or a special election. If he loses, he will retain his council seat.

Council incumbents Mary Wilcox and William Card are opposed by Lara Blakely and Patrick Hauk.

Wilcox, 64, is a 41-year resident and has served on the council for eight years. She manages the local Sizzler restaurant and serves on 20 community boards and committees, including the Community Awareness Drug Task Force. She is vice chairman of the League of California Cities community services policy committee. Her priorities include dealing with the drug problem and low-cost housing for senior citizens and young families.

Four Years on Council

Card, 35, is a lifelong resident of Monrovia who is coordinator of attendance for the Glendale Unified School District. He has served on the council for four years and lists care of the elderly and carefully planned commercial and residential development as priorities.

Blakely, 35, is a social services administrator with Foothill Family Services in Pasadena. She has lived in Monrovia for 13 years and served on the Community Services Commission for three years. This is her first try at elective office. Blakely says she is running because the city’s priorities are wrong. She lists education, air and water quality and crime as residents’ main concerns.

This will be the fourth attempt by Hauk, 27, to win a council seat. He is a part-time student and part-time bartender who is a lifelong resident of the city. Hauk says the council is not doing a bad job, but that it is time for a change. His concerns are affordable housing for senior citizens, an increase in Police Department reserves and more structured activities for youth.

City Clerk Phyllis McCarville is unopposed. City Treasurer Louis Bernabo is challenged by Louis Rab, a business manager.

Many of the candidates worry that voter turnout will be low because the election falls during the schools’ spring vacation. In the 1986 mayoral and council election, 25% of the city’s 13,000 registered voters went to the polls.