W. Hollywood Candidate Forum a Tepid Affair

It may have been a chance for West Hollywood’s five City Council candidates to square off on the issues, but not many issues--and not even all the candidates--materialized Tuesday at a forum sponsored by a senior citizens group.

Instead, about two dozen people gathered at a Plummer Park meeting room listened politely as the candidates or their stand-ins offered little more than verbal renditions of their campaign literature, with no one appearing eager to sound a discordant note.

“I don’t think anyone wanted to say anything to make waves at an event like this,” observed council member Helen Albert, who is not up for reelection but who attended as a spectator.

The low-key affair, sponsored by the West Hollywood Seniors Advisory Council, was in keeping with a campaign that has thus far failed to generate much public debate as voters prepare to fill two at-large council seats April 12.

Favorite to Retain Seat

Abbe Land, who has the backing of the powerful Coalition for Economic Survival, a tenants’ rights group, is considered by many West Hollywood political observers to be a strong favorite to recapture the seat she has held since 1986, when she won a special election to replace ousted council member Valerie Terrigno.

But Mayor Alan Viterbi’s decision not to seek reelection guarantees that the council will get at least one new member, and most of the challengers have appeared to aim for that spot while shying away from criticizing Land.

Land drew the most applause of any participant Tuesday after stressing her role as co-chair of the tenants’ coalition during the group’s struggle for what she praised as “one of the toughest rent control laws in the country.”

Challenger Paul Koretz, a former aide to Viterbi, also raised the rent control theme, as he has often done in the campaign, insisting that he is best qualified to lead the fight against those who would weaken rent control at the state level.

Ruth Williams and Steve Michael were absent due to illness, and Teresa Garay was unable to stay for the entire program, leaving Land and Koretz as the only candidates during much of a 45-minute question-and-answer session.

Opposed to New Civic Center

The closest any of the participants came to disagreement was after Paul Fredrix, an aide to Michael, brought up his candidate’s opposition to building a $25-million civic center at West Hollywood Park, something Land has voted to support.

“Steve (Michael) firmly believes it’s a mistake to destroy one of the only two parks we have to build a civic center, and, frankly, he believes the center is much larger than we need,” Fredrix said.

Citing the need to revitalize the east end of West Hollywood, Fredrix said Michael believes “it makes more sense to build a less expensive facility on the east end. . . . If you have to go all the way to the west side, to City Hall, to get your bus passes, then we aren’t helping you a lot,” he told the seniors.

Land defended her support of the planned civic center, saying the council had considered 19 potential locations before deciding on the park as “the best (location) for our needs.” She added: “One other thing, you can buy your bus passes here in Plummer Park, and also through the mail.”

Garay, who is co-chair of the Save Our Parks Alliance, a group formed in January to oppose the civic center plan, repeated her often-expressed criticism of the plan.

“It’s very important that we upgrade our parks, that we clean them up and see that they are safe. I don’t think that putting a civic center in the park is an answer,” she said.

In another campaign matter, Mayor Viterbi last week filed an overdue semiannual statement of campaign contributions for the last half of 1987 indicating that he raised more than $52,000 from more than 100 contributors in the months leading up to his decision not to seek reelection.

$10,000 Contribution Attacked

The matter became an issue two weeks ago after Williams criticized Koretz for accepting a $10,000 contribution from the mayor’s defunct campaign early last month, despite the fact that Viterbi had not disclosed the source of the funds by Feb. 1, as required by state law.

The mayor said a computer malfunction at his bank made it impossible for him to file a complete disclosure on time.

In an interview, Williams said the mayor’s campaign disclosure “contained about what was expected. . . . I still believe it reflects poorly on Paul Koretz for accepting the funds at a time when those funds had not been properly disclosed.”

Koretz has dismissed the issue as an attempt by Williams “to divert attention from her losing campaign,” and insisted that “from my campaigning door-to-door it has become evident to me that her strategy has backfired.”