Southeast Elections : 12 Candidates Vie to Shape Whittier’s Post-Quake Future

Shaping the post-earthquake rebuilding of this city has brought out the largest slate of City Council candidates since 1972, as two incumbents and 10 challengers compete for three seats in the April 12 election.

Incumbents Myron Claxton, first elected in 1980, and Thomas K. Sawyer, appointed in 1986 and seeking his first full term, are seeking reelection. Mayor Pro Tem Sabina Schwab did not file for the race.

The challengers are Joe F. Corey, Elna Sue Johanson, Joseph Marsico, Selma H. Plotkin, Benjamin Rodriguez, Jerry Sterling, Thomas L. Theisen, David F. Todd, Rudy Valdez and Robert F. Woehrmann.

In addition to discussing the redesign of the Uptown Whittier business district, where about 30 buildings have been demolished since the Oct. 1 earthquake, council candidates have been debating the city’s role in providing social services.

Social Services Funding

Earlier this year, the City Council voted to cut social services funding from $125,000 to $100,000 despite protests from community activists that the city was not giving enough money to local agencies that help the homeless, youth groups and others. The city had received $244,000 in funding requests from those agencies.

The campaign debate also has touched on whether the city should pursue annexation of Los Angeles County land in west Whittier, a move that would give the city Redevelopment Agency control of businesses in the area but also would add the expense of providing city services to about 15,000 more residents.

Claxton, 69, who retired after 32 years as a teacher and administrator in the Whittier Union High School District, said the Uptown reconstruction is “way ahead of the timetable” of Coalinga, Calif., after its 1985 earthquake. “I feel things have moved along remarkably well,” Claxton said.

On the social services issue, Claxton voted to cut social services to the $100,000 level, but said city funding should not fall below that amount. He also favors annexation, particularly in the county area bordered by Washington Boulevard, Whittier Boulevard and the 605 Freeway. Claxton reported $5,822 in contributions and in $5,170 expenses.

Against Restoration

Sawyer, 64, a retired accountant, said restoring Uptown “is not the city’s rebuilding job . . . . We have done everything we can to help the owners rebuild.” He said new construction will force rents up, which will inevitably change the nature of the Village.

“We just can’t go back and restore the buildings because the cost is no longer going to be the same,” Sawyer said. New developments should be more responsive to the 1,000-student campus at Whittier College, he said.

The decision on annexing west Whittier should not be made until the city has more financial information about the effects of the earthquake, he said. Sales tax revenue figures from the last quarter dropped 10%. On social services, Sawyer said the city should look toward solving long-term problems instead of the “Band-Aid solution” of piecemeal funding each year.

Sawyer is the top fund-raiser in the race, reporting contributions of $8,820 and expenses of $2,075.

The best-financed of the challengers is Theisen, 47, owner of an Uptown Whittier accounting firm, who has reported contributions of $5,778 and expenses of $4,103 in his first run for public office.

Theisen said adequate parking is the most important thing to include in the rebuilding of Uptown. He said the city should wait for a recently hired consultant to complete a master plan before allowing a lot of construction to begin. In addition to Uptown, Theisen said the city needs to follow through on previously planned redevelopment where Whittier Boulevard intersects Greenleaf Avenue and Hadley Street.

The candidate, who is also the treasurer of the Uptown Assn. and a board member of the Rio Hondo Area Volunteers, is scheduled to break ground in May on a private 40,000-square foot office and retail building in the Uptown area.

Theisen, vice chairman of the Whittier Social Services Commission, said he would have opposed cutting the social services budget. “It’s almost ludicrous that we only spend $100,000 on all those services for 80,000 people,” he said.

Woehrmann, 60, president of a local ambulance company and a Whittier planning commissioner since 1983, also says it is important to wait for the consultant’s plan for Uptown before making major decisions about the area. He favors keeping the Village concept, and supported the council’s decision to cut social service funding.

Woehrmann backs the annexation of west Whittier, and said he also would resurrect the effort to extend Hadley Street to intersect with Colima Road. Colima and the 605 Freeway are the city’s only northern exits.

The city’s first planning director in the seven years after Whittier incorporated in 1955, Woehrmann also has been an assistant city manager, a YMCA board member and past president of the East Whittier Rotary Club. Woehrmann reported $3,843 in contributions and $2,006 in expenses.

Comments Sought

Valdez, 63, retired school superintendent of the South Whittier district and owner of an Uptown bookstore, said the city should try to maintain its small-town feel in rebuilding after the earthquake. He also said growth should keep pace with parking and street improvements and called for more public comment at City Hall through more efficient committees and commissions.

A former mayor and councilman in Norwalk for four years, Valdez also has been school superintendent of two other California school districts, member of the Uptown Assn., member of the Whittier Historical Society and chairman of the board of the American Red Cross Rio Hondo chapter. Valdez reported $1,645 in contributions and $1,262 in expenses.

Todd, 48, vice president of Quaker City Federal Savings & Loan Assn. in Whittier, said in rebuilding after the earthquake the city should seek developers to construct smaller projects as well as the multiblock projects the city has been pursuing. Todd said the private sector should pay for social services because the city cannot afford it in light of cuts in federal revenue sharing money and declines in sales tax revenue caused by the earthquake.

A past president and board member of the Uptown Assn., Todd has been in the savings and loan business for 27 years. He has been a Chamber of Commerce committee chairman and member of the Whittier Host Lions Club. Todd reported contributions of $3,026 and expenses of $1,053.

Corey, 54, owner of a property management company, said Whittier needs to recruit more business development, both in and out of the Uptown area. He wants to add landscaped dividers to the city’s major thoroughfares and favors further study on the annexation issue.

The immediate past president of the Whittier Area Chamber of Commerce, Corey also has been director of the YMCA, director of the Uptown Assn. and chairman of the Whittier Sister City Committee. Corey reported contributions of $1,690 and expenses of $450.

At 39, Rodriguez is the youngest candidate and is using that as a selling point. “The people that are there now are 30 years older than I am,” Rodriguez said. “They are tired. They don’t have enough energy . . . to hustle and work hard.”

A part-time carpentry instructor at Rio Hondo College, Rodriguez also is a PTA member and has coached Little League baseball in Whittier. He was a carpenter and job superintendent for 10 years.

Favors Annexation

Rodriguez, a field investigator for Labor-Management Cooperation Committee Inc., favors annexation of west Whittier and says the city can afford to double its funding for local social service agencies. Rodriguez has reported contributions of $1,300 and expenses of $4,879.

Plotkin, 63, a real estate saleswoman, said she wants to see a department store and more high-quality shops in the Uptown. “People just don’t shop in our community because they can’t find what they want,” she said.

Noting that Whittier is a college town, with Whittier College and Rio Hondo College in the area, Plotkin said the city should be more responsive to younger people by soliciting businesses they would frequent, such as movies and restaurants. Plotkin said the city services such as police and street repair should come before funding of social services, although she said the city should give whatever it could to social service agencies.

Active in the state Republican Party, Plotkin has served on the party’s State Central Committee for 16 years and chaired the 50th District Republican Central Committee. She is a member of the Whittier Historical Society and the Whittier Centennial Committee. Plotkin has reported $3,425 in contributions and $1,675 in expenses.

Johanson, 69, a private teacher of people with learning disorders, said the rebuilding of Uptown should have been under way by now. “The Village could die while we’re standing still,” she said. She favors annexation of west Whittier so that people who live in the area can have a voice in city government, and said the city should continue paying for some, but not all, social services.

A long-time member of the Whittier Historical Society, Johanson also has served on the board of the American Assn. of University Women and the state board of the League of Women Voters. Johanson, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 1978, reported contributions of $3,140 and expenses of $2,098.

Sterling, 46, a retired factory worker, said the city should enact a rent control ordinance that would freeze rents and establish maximum percentage increases. Sterling said he would solicit more entertainment-type businesses for the Uptown to attract college students to the area. He reported spending less than $1,000 in the race.

Marsico, 46, who is unemployed, says there is “transportation boredom” in Whittier and wants to add a trackless trolley system to the city. For years, Marsico has unsuccessfully tried to persuade the city to adopt the trolley system, and his public attacks on city officials have gotten him ejected from City Council meetings a few times. This is Marsico’s sixth run for City Council. He reported spending less than $1,000 in the race.

City Council members are paid about $6,700 a year, including council meetings and redevelopment agency meetings.