ELECTION / PENINSULA : More Candidates Than Issues in Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes Estates

Major issues may be scarce, but there are plenty of City Council candidates vying for election April 10 in Palos Verdes Estates and Rolling Hills.

A dozen candidates are competing for six open council seats in the two Peninsula bedroom communities, where campaigning is mostly carried out at kaffeeklatsches and other informal gatherings, and the main topics revolve around how to keep the rural ambience these cities have maintained through the years.

Three seats are open in each city. The top vote-getters in the at-large elections will win the council positions, which are unpaid.

“Most of (the residents’) concerns have to do with the quality of life,” said Palos Verdes Estates candidate Maurice Commanday in a comment that sums up both races. “. . . It is a constant vigilance.”

In the gated community of Rolling Hills, which has 680 homes, this is the first council race in eight years. Since 1982, the incumbents have filed for reelection, drawn no challengers and automatically been returned to office.

This year, however, three incumbents face an equal number of challengers, all of whom say it is time for change, mainly for change’s sake.

“In the last eight years, no one has even thrown their hat in the ring,” said candidate Frank Hill. “So I think in the interest of serving the democratic way, there should be a choice.”

In Palos Verdes Estates, two incumbents, James Kinney and Edward Ritscher decided not to run again. That left Councilwoman Ruth Gralow, who has served on the council since 1984, competing in a field of five political newcomers.

Voters also will decide whether to keep paying a parcel tax to maintain the city’s roads and parks. The tax, known as Proposition B, was first approved by voters in 1980 and has been renewed twice. It expires again this year.

If approved, Proposition B will cost each property owner $88 in 1991. The amount would increase gradually over a four-year period to a maximum of $102. The proposition needs a two-thirds vote to pass.

The council race is low-key.

In talking about her accomplishments, Gralow said she is extremely proud of the ordinance the council passed three years ago that limited the size of new homes based on the size of the lot.

“I feel strongly we need to keep someone with experience on board to make sure we try to continue with programs we have been working on . . . which are basically to preserve the qualities we moved here for,” she said.

Commanday, a retired businessman, said he would work to make sure that the city’s various codes are enforced effectively--something he says doesn’t always happen now.

Commanday urged the creation of a public safety committee that would be involved in earthquake preparedness. He said the city should review its present plan to have Los Angeles County officials maintain storm drains the city is building. The city might save money by eliminating the county from the picture, he said.

Rosemary Humphrey, a Redondo Beach school administrator on leave from her job, said the city needs to explore long-term revenue sources. Besides its share of property taxes collected by the county, the city largely relies on income from a utility tax and two parcel taxes--including Proposition B--to pay its bills.

Humphrey said the council needs to confront the revenue issue now because the utility tax expires in 1993 and the parcel taxes create fiscal uncertainty since they must be renewed by the voters every four years.

Ann Leatherbury, who organized the city’s 50th anniversary celebration last year and has served on the Recreation Committee since 1984, said she, too, wants to find a long-term revenue source for the city. She also wants more recreational opportunities, such as bikeways, created for residents.

“I decided to run because at this point in my life I have the time and would really like to give something back to the community,” Leatherbury said.

Michael Moody, an insurance broker and risk management consultant, said he wants to “keep the smooth affairs of the city continuing.”

Moody said he would like to review city ordinances to ensure that homeowners’ concerns are adequately addressed. For example, he said, the city has no view ordinance, although many residents complain that their views are being threatened as the city’s landscaping matures.

Alva Yano, a physics professor at Cal State Long Beach, said he ran at the urging of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Democratic Club, and his stumping has been minimal. “It is not something I am really going out of my way to do,” he said.

Yano said the city’s most important challenge is to find long-term revenue sources. He suggested that the city investigate issuing general obligation bonds. The city also must address the problem of traffic congestion, he said.

“I would think we would have to have traffic lights at Malaga Cove, if nothing else to free up the traffic cop who stands there every morning,” Yano said. Presently the city has no traffic lights.

In Rolling Hills, the incumbents seeking another term are Ginny Leeuwenburgh and Jody Murdock, both seeking a third term, and 14-year council veteran Gordana Swanson, who was first elected in 1976 to an unexpired term.

All three councilwomen said the present council has been fiscally responsible and responsive to residents’ concerns.

“We are a very small city, and the beauty of a small city is you really have your hand on the pulse of the community,” Swanson said. “There are not many things that can go by if you are an active council member.”

Leeuwenburgh characterized the present council as “goal oriented” and pointed to an ordinance passed last year that gives city planners the authority to review development proposals and suggest changes. Essentially, the law gives the city a negotiating tool with property owners who want to overbuild their lots.

“In some cases residents want to completely fill any available land with improvements,” Leeuwenburgh said. “. . .People are coming in with (plans for) garages that are anywhere from four to nine stalls. They aren’t getting them.”

The incumbents are being challenged by Hill, a retired Los Angeles firefighter, community volunteer Ann Carley and management consultant Martin Rosenzweig. Although none attacked the incumbents, each said it is time for new faces on the council.

“My campaign slogan is, ‘This year there is a choice,’ ” Rosenzweig said.

Carley said the council should schedule more neighborhood meetings with residents to get input on issues. During her campaign, she said, some of her neighbors have told her that the present council decides issues without finding out how residents feel.

Hill said that while “there isn’t an awful lot to talk about,” one issue he would explore is whether individual homeowners could recycle their own grass and garden clippings.