LOCAL ELECTIONS BEVERLY HILLS CITY COUNCIL : Civic Center Cost Is a Phantom Issue in Polite Campaigning

With only days remaining before the Beverly Hills city election, challenger Trisha Roth issued her campaign poster, an acid-rock-inspired graphic denouncing the evils of alcohol.

City Councilman Max Salter turned over nearly $20,000 in contributions to the city’s schools, short of his goal of $70,000 outlined in a campaign promise.

And fellow incumbent Robert K. Tanenbaum trudged door to door on Bedford Drive, speaking of his achievements at City Hall.

Such is the scene these days in Beverly Hills, where the council race is so polite that no one is hammering away at the city’s biggest and most embarrassing headache--multimillion-dollar cost overruns on Beverly Hills’ lavish Civic Center.

In an election that was almost canceled for lack of interest, the nearly $100-million price tag of the Civic Center has emerged as the phantom issue--with the project nearly completed, everyone seems aware there is no turning back.

The Civic Center--a renovated City Hall, parking structure, fire station, police station and library--was originally estimated to cost $36 million and became a subject of dispute when the contractor quit for two months, claiming the city wouldn’t pay its bills.

Salter, who contends that what amounts to a financial crisis in Beverly Hills would be good fortune in another city, tells residents that the Civic Center issue has been overblown.

Now serving as mayor, Salter told guests at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast Thursday that the city is as prosperous as its reputation, with a portfolio worth $128 million as of Feb. 28.

“I want to tell you about the crisis of the city,” he fumed. “Every city in the country would like to be in the condition that Beverly Hills is in. And that’s the honest-to-God truth. It’s absurd.”

Salter spent about $100,000 getting elected when he first ran for office four years ago. He hoped to raise a similar amount this year and give most of it to charity, together with a matching grant of his own.

But he said this week that the response has been disappointing. So far he has turned over checks totaling about $19,000 to the Beverly Hills Educational Foundation.

“Win, lose or draw . . . Janet (his wife) and I personally are going to give (at least) $50,000 to the foundation,” he said.

He said the state of the schools is more troubling to Beverly Hills residents than the cost of the Civic Center, especially because the Beverly Hills Unified School District is largely supported by state funds.

“There’s your crisis,” he said. “When you have to lay off teachers . . . when you’re talking about taking a school district that was one of the best in the country and reducing it, then you have problems.”

The election, moved up from April 10 to Tuesday so as not to conflict with Passover, was about to be canceled when Roth declared her candidacy. The incumbents welcomed her challenge.

“When you don’t have an election there’s a latent feeling of resentment toward the elected officers, and that’s just not healthy,” Tanenbaum said.

A pediatrician and political novice, Roth turned to local politics after making a name for herself as a foe of alcohol, drugs and AIDS.

The incumbents she is challenging are entrenched in Beverly Hills and are formidable opponents: Salter is a garment industry tycoon whose chain of Beno’s stores covers much of the state; Tanenbaum is an attorney, novelist and screenwriter.

Roth has chosen not to play the Civic Center issue to the hilt during most of her campaign--although her husband on Friday did place a full-page ad in a local paper reading, “Vote for Trisha Roth. $100 Million for the Civic Center So Far.”

Some observers question whether Roth’s concerns match those of the community.

“She’s focused her attention on this alcohol bit, which is a magnificent effort and will serve the community, but it doesn’t run the show at the City Council,” said Herm Shultz, president of Concern for Tenants Rights of Beverly Hills, a renters’ group.

“To the extent that she (Roth) forced the election, she’s done a service, but to the extent that she’s made it interesting, she hasn’t,” said Rudy Cole, a public relations consultant who managed Salter’s campaign in 1986 but has kept out of this year’s race.

He said that his organization endorsed Tanenbaum and Salter but that Roth got almost as many votes as Salter in the 17-member board’s secret election.

Roth said that if elected she will seek an investigation of the Civic Center cost, more money for schools, a regional traffic plan, formation of a substance-abuse task force and other goals.

Public discontent may indeed boost her chances in Tuesday’s election. “This is one election where not being an incumbent is an advantage,” Roth said. “As the price of the Civic Center goes up, my stock goes up.”

Indeed, the Municipal League sent out a mailing last week declaring Beverly Hills to be “a city in crisis.”

Without endorsing anyone, the citizen group’s board of directors called for an independent audit of the Civic Center project and asked, “Who is minding the store?”

For his part, Tanenbaum agrees with Salter that the schools’ budget crisis is a prominent issue in Beverly Hills. He has heard this from residents in his door-to-door walks through the city’s residential neighborhoods. People are also concerned about public safety and the Civic Center, which he has denounced as a Taj Mahal.

“It’s been a worthwhile exercise,” Tanenbaum said of the campaign. “It’s like a marathon. You work as hard as you can so no one can outwork you. You have no regrets.”

Both Tanenbaum and Salter took the opportunity this season to remind voters of their achievements in office. They said those include securing more money for schools and building new public parking garages.

With total campaign spending by all three candidates at remarkably low levels, the contest has been quieter and more civil than any Beverly Hills contest in recent years. None of the candidates had spent more than $6,000 as of early March.