LOCAL ELECTIONS / BEVERLY HILLS CITY COUNCIL : Incumbents Win but Roth Makes Strong Showing

Incumbents Robert K. Tanenbaum and Max Salter won reelection to the Beverly Hills City Council, but challenger Trisha Roth made a surprisingly strong showing with a campaign that focused on drug and alcohol abuse as much as it did on cost overruns for construction of the city’s Civic Center.

The election was almost canceled for lack of a challenger for the two contested seats, but Roth filed on the Feb. 1 deadline to run and picked up more than 20% of the votes after questions surfaced about the high cost of the Civic Center, which is expected to total $100 million--nearly three times the original estimate.

Tanenbaum set the pace with 2,886 votes, or 42.7%. Salter captured 2,407 votes, 35.6%. Roth finished third with 1,465 votes, 21.7%.

The turnout of 21.3% of eligible voters was relatively low, officials said, when compared with the 37% turnout for council elections two years ago.

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, contending that the city wouldn’t pay its bills.

The early retirement of City Manager Edward S. Kreins, who was blamed for keeping the City Council ignorant of delays and excessive costs on the project, added to the atmosphere of discontent.

Tanenbaum, 47, is a senior partner in a downtown Los Angeles law firm and author of several books and screenplays based on his experience as a prosecutor in New York City.

He was first elected to the City Council four years ago, when he campaigned against the grand scale of the Civic Center project. He won the most votes in that election, but once in office was unable to rally the support of other council members behind a proposal to reduce the size of the project.

Salter, 70, built the statewide chain of Beno’s clothing stores from a small military surplus outlet in San Luis Obispo that he bought upon being discharged from the Navy after World War II.

He voted to go ahead with the Civic Center project when he first took office in 1986, but he recently has taken the lead in negotiations to reduce its cost.

Both incumbents claimed credit during their campaigns for the increase in city support for the Beverly Hills Unified School District over the last four years, from just over $1 million to nearly $5 million a year.

They also took credit for the construction of new parking lots in the city’s commercial district.

Tanenbaum waged the most energetic campaign, knocking on doors in all parts of town in his effort to pile up as many votes as possible, while Salter promised to donate most of his campaign contributions to the Beverly Hills Education Foundation.

Salter, currently serving as mayor, vowed to match the contributions with a donation of his own of at least $50,000.

Although challenger Roth, 44, called for an accounting of the Civic Center cost overruns, she did not concentrate exclusively on that issue during the campaign, choosing instead to press her fight against alcohol and drug abuse.

She also called for establishment of a women’s commission and said the city should commit itself to a recycling program.

Had Roth not filed as a candidate, the election would have been canceled and Tanenbaum and Salter would have been reelected automatically.

The election date was moved up a week from the legally mandated date of April 10 in order to avoid conflicting with Passover, which begins next Monday.

BEVERLY HILLS VOTE

18 of 18 Precincts

CITY COUNCIL

Two vacancies

Candidate Vote % Trisha Roth 1,465 21.7 Max Salter* 2,407 35.6 Robert K. Tanenbaum* 2,886 42.7

*Incumbent

Winners in bold