ELECTIONS ’88 : ORANGE COUNTY : Running San Clemente Is a Tough Job Now but 12 Are Eager to Try

With the serious problems confronting San Clemente now, some local residents wonder why anyone at all wants to run for the two open seats open on the five-member City Council.

The primary problem confronting this seaside community of 37,500 residents involves the question of what to do now that an Orange County Superior Court judge last week week threw out the city’s pioneering slow-growth initiative.

The city had spent $200,000 to implement Measure E, passed by local voters June 7, when Judge John C. Woolley ruled in a lawsuit filed by a developer that it was unconstitutional.

Even before the judge’s ruling, the enormously complex Measure E had been such a big headache that the city had to impose a 6-month moratorium on new development last July to give city staff time to implement it.

Without Measure E, San Clemente still faces the same problem that spurred passage of the initiative in the first place: growth and development from all sides. That pressure has put a strain on city fire and police services and has contributed to congested intersections.

The city has not had the money to meet the increasing demand for services, in large part because of the $1.1 million it has spent in implementing both Measure E and, in 1986, Measure B, which capped residential growth at 500 units per year, said City Manager Jim Hendrickson. Most of that money went to fighting developers’ lawsuits against the two measures, he said.

Consequently, the city was forced to dig deep this year into its $250,000 emergency reserve--leaving only $75,000, Hendrickson said.

This is the gloomy picture facing the next City Council. Despite all these problems, though, there are 12 candidates running for the council seats being vacated by longtime incumbents William C. Mecham and Robert D. Limberg.

Also on Nov. 8, San Clemente voters will be asked whether to make the currently elective offices of city clerk and city treasurer appointed ones, and they will vote on a proposal requiring referendum approval for all development of offshore oil facilities. City Clerk Myrna Erway and City Treasurer Kenneth E. Carr are running unopposed in the election.

Here are the council candidates, in the order they appear on the ballot:

* C.L. (Curly) Snider, 53, is a businessman and 23-year resident who is running in his second consecutive council race. A strong proponent of slow growth, Snider helped spearhead passage of both Measure E and a 1986 initiative limiting residential growth to 500 units per year. Snider lost out in the 1986 campaign to fellow slow-growth supporters Thomas Lorch and Brian J. Rice. Holly Veale was also elected in that race.

Snider said he would address the city’s financial shortfall by encouraging business expansion to bring in more tax revenue. He suggested, specifically, that San Clemente become “a golf capital,” with related hotels, and that the city build an auto dealership park. Snider also advocated having a 5-year financial plan to keep San Clemente “in the black.”

“As a councilman, my stance will be to establish win-win results,” Snider said.

* Charles (Chuck) Seward, 47, is a corporate trainer and 22-year resident who is running in his first council race. While raising three sons, Seward said he and his wife have been involved in various civic organizations in the area.

Seward said he would insist upon strong fiscal practices to ensure that San Clemente prospers while at the same time allowing the city to improve police, fire and recreational services, as well as repair streets.

“I think San Clemente is like a teen-ager; he’s growing in all different directions,” Seward said. “During this growth period, we are going to be awkward. We will not always have all the answers, but if we do proper planning and homework we will make it as a city.”

* Scott Walker, 38, is an assistant manager of a local liquor store and columnist for a local paper who is running in his first City Council race. A 20-year resident of San Clemente, Walker said he wants to represent “the new generation” of residents.

To help increase tax revenue, Walker proposes that the city begin cashing in on its international surfing reputation by building a surfing museum and encouraging more surfing-related industries to relocate there.

“San Clemente should be the surfing capital of the world,” Walker said.

* George E. Key, 64, is a retired energy management consultant who moved to San Clemente 3 years ago. Although this is his first foray into local politics, he cites his 34 years of experience working with the city of Glendale’s commercial services division as a reason he is best suited to serve on the San Clemente council.

During his tenure with Glendale, Key said “we wrote ordinances and resolutions to find out how a problem should be solved.” Key said that, as a senior citizen, he is also better suited to represent the interests of the city’s senior-citizen population, and would improve their recreational facilities.

“I am senior. I am retired and I have the time,” Key said.

* Steven A. Kingston, 41, is a data manager who says his experience in working with state and local government agencies on such projects as building a highway bypass has given him the ability to work as “a team player” on the City Council.

Kingston, running in his first council race, cited as his top priorities cleaning up “blighted” areas of San Clemente’s so-called Pier Bowl, a business and tourist district around the San Clemente Pier.

Kingston said that “a well-run city will restore financial viability to the community.”

* Hal Joseph, 56, is a planning and real estate consultant who now serves as chairman of the city’s Planning Commission. Joseph, who has not run for the council before, says his 30-plus years of work in urban planning makes him best suited to fill the experience gap left by incumbents Mecham and Limberg, who have a combined 16 years of council tenure.

Joseph noted that the remaining three incumbents, elected in 1986, have only two years of council experience each.

Joseph said he supports fiscally sound, managed growth, and believes in updating the city’s general plan every year, instead of every 5 years as is the current practice.

“I have a vision for the city and I believe in the city’s future,” Joseph said.

* Scott Diehl, 38, is a local veterinarian and former San Clemente councilman and mayor who is trying to reclaim the council seat he held from 1982 to 1986, when he was ousted in San Clemente’s slow-growth uprising.

Diehl, who admits he has been fighting a “pro-growth” label which he says his opponents have tagged on him, said he would like to immediately redress the problem of inadequate emergency services.

Diehl said San Clemente has only one paramedic unit available to respond to emergencies in an ever-growing city. Noting that 375 of San Clemente’s 2,500 fire calls occurred at the same time last year, Diehl said the city is forced to rely on backup from nearby San Juan Capistrano.

Diehl added that he is not “pro-growth.”

* Nancy Padberg, 50, is a licensed clinical social worker and 7-year city resident who, like Snider, was a leader in the recent slow-growth campaigns. She was also president of a local homeowner association which, she said, worked with five major builders and the city to “develop a pride-of-ownership neighborhood.” Padberg said quality growth should be the community’s goal.

Padberg, running in her first council race, added that as former vice president of the local PTA, and a current member of five service organizations, she has the leadership experience to deal with San Clemente’s problems.

“I am a proven leader with the ability to critically analyze problems and the fortitude to see them through resolution,” Padberg said.

* E. Dorothy Prohaska, 44, is a high school teacher and local high school graduate who returned to live in San Clemente 13 years ago after leaving the area to pursue her education and career. This is her first City Council race.

Prohaska, who has three generations of family living in San Clemente, cites her many years of living in the city as a reason she has special insight into how the council should be run.

“This is my home. I’m one of San Clemente’s own,” Prohaska said. “I’m running because it’s time to say: no more. It’s time to find a new view. San Clemente needs a common-sense kind of leadership.”

* Simon G. Zervos, 62, is a retired Navy captain who moved to San Clemente only July 28 but quickly decided the community needed his leadership skills. Zervos, who has not run for council before, moved from Los Angeles County, where he was appointed by the county’s Board of Supervisors to serve on two commissions.

Zervos is running a one-issue campaign: He advocates that the city build a $50-million marina, financed with revenue bonds, to pump new economic life into the area. Zervos proposed that the marina have a capacity of 2,000 boats and that a resort hotel be built along with it.

That same marina idea came up in 1985, but never got off the ground because of concern over high costs and strong opposition from local surfers. Zervos maintains that surfers should not become unduly alarmed; the marina would occupy only a quarter-mile of the shoreline. And, he said, residents would not have to pay any higher taxes because the marina would be supported by revenue bonds.

* Robert C. Rusin, 50, is a security guard and former salesman who has run for San Clemente’s council every election since 1978--and has lost every time.

Rusin campaigns to bring more tourism to San Clemente. He said he suggested a way that San Clemente could do that 4 years ago, by adopting the slogan: “San Clemente History By The Sea.” But he said the local Chamber of Commerce did not support him in that concept.

“I’m an idea man,” Rusin said. “One of the last things you have to worry about being stolen in San Clemente is a good idea.”

* Candy Haggard, 37, is head librarian of the San Clemente Library and has lived in San Clemente for about 15 years. Haggard said she gained valuable economic experience by becoming manager of the San Clemente Library in 1978, the same year as California’s tax-slashing Proposition 13 was passed.

Despite the dearth of tax funds at the time, Haggard said she managed to put together financing for a new library.

“I see a problem and I solve it,” Haggard said. “I care about preserving our quality of life; our hometown atmosphere.”

SAN CLEMENTE CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

San Clemente voters will decide Nov. 8 which of 12 candidates will fill the two open seats on the five-member City Council Scott Diehl Candy Haggard Hal Joseph George E. Key Steven A. Kingston Nancy Padberg E. Dorothy Prohaska Robert C. Rusin Charles Seward C. L. (Curly) Snider Scott Walker Simon G. Zervos