ELECTION ’90 : Something New for San Gabriel: a Tranquil City Council Campaign

The stunning fact of the current City Council election campaign is the absence of any obvious rancor in a community once synonymous with down-and-dirty politics.

So far, not even a public candidates’ forum has been scheduled before the April 10 balloting in which incumbents Ted R. Anderson and Sabino M. Cici and challenger Dominic S. Polimeni are vying for two seats.

Tranquility, however, is a recent phenomenon. In 1987, the electorate, upset by population growth that was changing the look of the city of 34,000, imposed a moratorium on residential and commercial construction.

In April, 1988, a slow-growth slate swept three council members and the city treasurer from office. A fourth council member resigned soon afterward.

Then came a vitriolic and successful recall of one of the newly elected council members, Frank Blaszcak. After being thrown out of office by a nine-vote margin in May, he sued those who campaigned against him for libel and slander. The suit is pending.

The five-member council has imposed a building moratorium to limit growth and has taken steps to curb the density of residential housing and commercial development. In addition, the council recently approved an ordinance prohibiting construction of bulky, two-story houses that would dominate small lots.

Although the three council candidates say growth and development remain issues, each stresses maintaining orderliness with the city’s governmental affairs.

“We’re back on the path of being positive again. It’s the makeup of the City Council that’s doing it,” said Cici, a 12-year councilman who owns and operates a local locksmith shop.

“My issue is experience,” the 50-year-old Cici said. “I’m the only council member with more than two years on the council.”

Anderson also cites his experience. “People have indicated to me that I was one of the stabilizing forces on the council,” he said. “I have a mission I still want to accomplish.”

Anderson, who was campaign manager for the slow-growth slate that won in 1988 and was appointed to replace the councilwoman who resigned, is an administrator for the Los Angeles office of the National Council on Aging. He is in his 60s but won’t disclose his age, saying it is irrelevant.

In his first run for office, Polimeni casts himself as not beholden to any particular political group. Polimeni, a seven-year member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, says he has been active in community affairs for the nearly 20 years he has lived here. Since 1975, the 49-year-old Polimeni has been administrator of Alhambra Municipal Court.

He would apply the same kind of energy to the council post, he says, that he has in his administrative job, where he has overseen establishment of a new courthouse child-care facility, a joint effort between the city of Alhambra and Los Angeles County.