Local Elections: The April 12 Showdown : Placid S. Pasadena Contest Is a Departure From Form

“Everyone keeps wondering when the bombshell is going to drop,” said one city official, commenting on the uncharacteristic serenity of the election season in this politically fractious city.

But with the four candidates running for two vacant City Council seats in the April 12 election, the emphasis in the campaign has been largely on “harmony.”

“Being in the business world, I’ve learned one thing,” says candidate Frank Novarro in a typical statement. “You can always agree to disagree, but you’ve got to move forward and get the work done. Things haven’t been as harmonious as they could be.”

It’s apparently a new way of thinking. The City Council has been mostly unharmonious for the past four years, serving as the focus for factional feuding on such issues as a proposed utility tax, the location of the city’s new civic center and restrictions on high-rise commercial buildings and mini-malls.

But both Councilman Robert Wagner, an avowed fiscal conservative who has stood at the center of council turmoil for four years, and Councilman Lee Prentiss, Wagner’s chief antagonist on the council, withdrew from the race in January after serving single four-year terms.

Wagner plans to spend most of his time helping to raise funds for the bicentennial of his alma mater, Georgetown University in Washington, and Prentiss said he was following his “original intent” in seeking only one term.

Their withdrawal has produced a campaign in which the candidates have sidestepped opportunities for personal attacks. Three of the four--Joseph Crosby, Evelyn Fierro and Novarro--have jumped on the harmony bandwagon. Donald Williams, 29, a mail-room manager and former travel agent who is the least known of the four, has said: “I have no problem with different viewpoints being on the council.”

Crosby, Fierro and Novarro support a council-initiated referendum calling for a 4% utility tax, which will also be on the April 12 ballot. A previous utility tax proposal was defeated in November, but Crosby said the city must maintain essential services in the face of projected deficits even larger than this year’s shortfall of $172,000.

“I want to see services provided for the residents of our community at a level of quality to which I feel they’re all entitled,” said Crosby, 68, a retired manufacturer and longtime South Pasadena resident who still serves as a director of First American Bank.

Lack of Funds

After the November election, in which 55% of voters sided against the tax, lack of funds forced the city to cut back on tree trimming and street sweeping.

Supporters of the new measure think that a “sunset clause,” clearing the tax from the books either in two years or as soon as the measure raises $1.2 million, will give it new appeal.

Williams, providing a rare note of controversy in the campaign, opposes the measure, saying the voters have already expressed themselves on the subject. “It’s a little too soon to be asking people to vote on what’s essentially a very similar measure,” he said.

Novarro and Crosby favor attracting revenue-producing businesses as the long-range solution for the city’s fiscal problems.

“I believe in bringing quality businesses to our properties which are already commercially zoned,” said Novarro, 66, a retired contractor and director of First American Bank who has served on the city Planning Commission for nine years. “That would enhance our tax base so we could become more self-supporting.”

Fierro advocates “enhancing our current business district,” but Williams urges more budgetary cutbacks.

Oppose Freeway Route

“I don’t think the city should be run as a big business but as a small business,” Williams said. “Large businesses have cost overruns. Small businesses watch every penny.”

All four candidates have weighed in against building the long-planned “Meridian route,” which would complete the Long Beach Freeway by extending it for 6.2 miles through El Sereno and South Pasadena.

Williams and Fierro favor leaving the freeway as it is now, ending at Valley Boulevard in Alhambra.

“I’d rather scratch everything and promote other forms of rapid transit,” said Fierro, 39, a television news writer and producer who narrowly missed being elected in 1986. “That’s the way of the future. We don’t need any more freeways.”

Crosby and Novarro, on the other hand, favor completing the freeway via another, more westerly route.