Race in Stanton Pits Past Against Present

The campaign for City Council in Stanton is as much about where the city has been as where it is going, with two incumbents claiming credit for an economic recovery and a pair of challengers contending that the town still lacks identity.

Inside the small office of the Stanton Chamber of Commerce, an audience listened recently as the two incumbents and two challengers spent an evening fielding questions during a recent candidate forum.

The incumbents, Sal Sapien, 50, and Charles M. Pace, 44, blamed the city’s near-bankruptcy in 1984 on the effects of Proposition 13, California’s property tax limitation measure. The city’s straits, caused in part by its residential tax base, lack of significant industry and shortage of space for major commercial office buildings, forced the City Council to terminate the police and fire departments. Stanton now contracts with the county for protection.

But challengers David John Shawver, 41, a high school wrestling coach, and Leonard Lujan, 36, a barber and beauty salon operator, charged that the loss of both departments, ineffective leadership and the fact that Stanton’s City Hall is temporarily housed in an elementary school have contributed to an “identity crisis” among the city’s 28,000 residents.

“Stanton suffers from a lack of identity,” Shawver said. “We have a serious lack of communication between the city, its residents, and the business community . . . and we desperately need a civic center.”

Improvements will not occur overnight, Shawver said, “but the city needs to address what direction we’re going to go in.”

“My concern is that a lot of the older residents have retired and moved to the desert,” Shawver said. “We’re getting young people with families moving into our city and they need a focus and we don’t have one.”

According to Lujan, a former Chamber of Commerce president, the city also has neglected hundreds of small-business owners, who are the backbone of the city’s business community. They have been “shunted aside,” he said, in favor of recruiting major discount stores that now anchor new shopping malls in Stanton.

“I’ve been hearing complaints from a lot of small businessmen that they feel neglected and left out,” Lujan said. “Look at the number of vacant businesses on Beach Boulevard--there’s at least 60 of them and it’s (due to) a lack of leadership and care towards the citizens. They feel very neglected and the City Council’s too busy fighting among themselves. A small community like Stanton doesn’t need these kinds of controversies.”

Pace and Sapien both acknowledged the city’s so-called identity problem, but Sapien said that “everything goes in cycles.”

“We just went through a period of effervescence,” Sapien said. “I think we can build up the identity by beautifying our city, and having a good community program. You know we did away with our old city motto, and our new motto is ‘Community Pride and Forward Vision.’

“When I was elected 4 years ago, the city was almost bankrupt. Now we have a positive revenue,” Sapien said, adding that about $380,000 is in reserve.

Pace added: “We had some problems, but I think we got lots accomplished.” He noted the addition of several stores in recent years, including the Home Club and Price Savers, discount membership stores that have invigorated the local economy. He also said Alpha Beta has proposed building Southern California’s largest super-store in Stanton.

“The new growth has improved our tax base and it’s been a combination of these things which have improved where we are. . . . We’ve had some structural problems with the city in the past, but I think I know what is needed in this town.”

The city was also forced to abandon its centrally located City Hall near Beach Boulevard and Katella Avenue when city departments outgrew the space. City officials later leased a vacant elementary school on Western Avenue, miles away from the civic center cluster.

“Let’s face it; when people say, ‘Where is City Hall?’ You have to tell them to go over on Western and turn right. Our No. 1 concern is that we need a civic center,” said Joan Thomas, Chamber of Commerce executive director.

The incumbents favor different proposals on the civic center. Sapien said he backs a large city hall, possibly seven stories tall, to include space that would be leased to private businesses. The new building, according to Sapien, could be constructed near the old police building and cultural arts center near Katella and Beach.

Pace favors the same location, but disagrees with Sapien’s plan to have the city lease floor space to help offset any construction costs. Sapien’s proposal would unfairly compete with private commercial office space, according to Pace.

Shawver said he considers the area near Beach and Katella “probably the best real estate in Orange County.”

“It should be the centerpiece of our community,” he said.

Lujan agreed, saying: “City Hall would provide a nucleus for our civic center and the community needs a permanent fixture. It would help shape our image.”

STANTON CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES

Two Stanton City Council members are trying to hold onto their seats in the face of challenges from candidates accusing them of ineffectiveness.