In Avalon Election : Vehicle Limits Win, Public Housing Loses

City Councilman Hugh T. (Bud) Smith won a resounding victory Tuesday to become the first directly elected mayor of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, but another incumbent and a former councilman failed in their bids for new terms.

Voters endorsed continuing restrictions on the number of cars on city streets and approved new limits on other vehicles, but they defeated--by 11 votes--a measure that would have allowed the Avalon Community Improvement Agency to build moderate-income housing.

In the mayoral race, Smith defeated Councilman Harlow (Hal) Host by a margin of more than 2 to 1, but Host is in the middle of a four-year term and will remain on the council.

The council will have two new members, however. Paul R. Puma, 61, and John T. Phillips, 41, ousted incumbent Councilman George Scott, 57, who had continuously served on the council since 1972, and prevented W. F. (Oley) Olsen, a council member from 1982 to 1986, from regaining a council seat.

Harry Stiritz, 51, an Avalon accountant who previously served as Avalon’s treasurer for 12 years, won a new term, defeating Sherry Edwards. Treasurer Rachelle Sampson did not seek reelection.

City Clerk Shirley Davy, who has served since 1964, was unopposed.

In advisory ballot measures, voters approved continuing regulation of the size and number of cars, which is currently limited to 800. Voters also endorsed the idea of limiting the size and number of golf carts, motorcycles and mopeds on the island.

“A resounding 76% of the voters want vehicle control,” said Smith. “This is almost a mandate. I want to try to develop our present ordinance to the point where it is more successful.”

Puma, who resigned as chairman of the Vehicle Review Board after being elected to the council, said the vote could mean “fewer automobiles in the main part of town, encouraging people to use golf carts, bicycles and mopeds, and implementing a public transportation system.”

The housing measure was promoted as a way of providing homes for the hundreds of seasonal workers needed by the island’s tourism industry. Opponents questioned how the improvement agency, which is similar to a redevelopment agency, would finance such projects.