ELECTIONS WHITTIER CITY COUNCIL : Quake’s Effects Hit Politics as Candidates Make It Issue

Shock waves from the earthquake that jolted this quiet, conservative city in 1987 are still being felt by the 10 candidates running for council seats in next Tuesday’s election.

Most of the candidates said that the Administration has botched the job of rebuilding the city, and is unresponsive to residents. They are competing for two seats on the five-member council.

Gene Chandler, 66, who is seeking his third term, is the only incumbent running for reelection. Mayor Victor Lopez, on the council 12 years, is retiring. The other candidates are Bob Henderson, an insurance broker who was a councilman from 1976 to 1984; Helen McKenna Rahder, 38, a teacher and local activist who rose to local prominence during a fight to save the Whittier Theater; Fred Bergerson, 48, a political science professor at Whittier College; David Todd, 50, a savings and loan executive; Francois Pellissier, a real estate appraiser and member of the Whittier Planning Commission; Thomas Barnes, a private investigator; Vicky Kroes, 39, a repairwoman; Donald Hawkins, an electrician, and Joseph Marsico, a Whittier resident who is making his sixth attempt at a council seat.

In a city where elections generally pass unnoticed, this campaign has been the hottest in recent memory because some candidates say its outcome will determine whether Whittier will remain the quaint town with Quaker roots, or become just another Los Angeles suburb with too many gas stations and strip malls.

Candidates have presented their criticism and plans for Whittier during at least five different debates, signs proliferate throughout the city, some candidates are broadcasting commercials on the local cable television stations, and nearly all are taking potshots at the current City Council. Most candidates have limited spending to $5,000, though, according to campaign expenditure statements, Henderson has spent about $15,000 on mailers, signs and newspaper ads and commercials in his bid to be reelected.

Though all 10 candidates said they want to preserve Whittier’s character, they disagree on how it should be done. A lopsided division among the candidates has emerged: eight candidates who champion slow-growth, more historic preservation, and the preservation of the La Puente Hills, and two candidates who want careful development to bring more goods and services into Whittier without compromising the small-town atmosphere.

Todd, who is viewed by some of the slow-growth candidates as a member of the Establishment, said that despite differences between the two camps, the goals are the same.

“How we achieve those goals is the issue,” he said. “Everyone agrees we need to have quality, attractive development. Nobody questions that we need to have more owner-occupied homes. Everyone wants to figure out a way to allow apartment buildings to exist compatibly in neighborhoods with single-family homes. But do we continue to change cautiously and carefully or do we go through with a meat ax?” Whittier residents, Todd said, want a cautious change.

“This community has met change with progress, but progress on an evolutionary basis, not a revolutionary basis,” he said. “We don’t make sharp left and right turns in direction.”

But other candidates said residents are disgusted with the city’s policies, evolutionary or not. They said the policies are outdated, and based on the philosophy that the development means business and all business is good. The problem, some candidates said, is that not all business is good when it creates increased density, traffic and pollution. These candidates said it is time for the council to sit down and do some long-range planning for Whittier.

“This is a special town, but it cannot be isolated from the outside world,” said candidate Bergerson. “The earthquake forced the city to face reality. If it chooses to ignore it, then this wonderful groove can become a rut.”

Henderson said if the council continues in the same direction, Whittier’s charm will be lost.

“We are losing the ideals that make Whittier unique,” he said. “People came here because they were reminded of the Midwest. We are now losing that special touch. There has been a proliferation of apartments and strip malls, and the council has been unable to find a way to decide where its priorities are. “

Part of the problem, said the camp of eight candidates, is that the council refuses to listen to the residents it is supposed to represent. Instead, it indulges in its own whims without a word of explanation to residents, they said.

The council’s passage of an ordinance banning assault weapons last year, and its more recent refusal to consider buying and renovating the historic Whittier Theater are most often pointed to as examples of what candidates said is the council’s arrogant attitude that it knows better than the residents.

“When a lot of people get together for one cause, and they pack the chambers, fill the hallways, down the stairs, and the council ignores what they are saying, something has to be done,” Kroes said.

Pellissier points to another example. His family has lived in Whittier for generations and he wants council meetings broadcast on cable television. The council has steadfastly refused to allow the local cable station to tape meetings. Pellissier said if the meetings were broadcast, the council would realize their activities were being watched and would be more accountable.

Most of the other candidates support the idea. Councilman Chandler does not. He said that if meetings were broadcast council members would be more likely to grandstand than do their work.

Marsico, 48, a 30-year resident of Whittier, also complains that the council has failed to help residents get around Whittier by building a fixed-route trolley system. Marsico said he has tried to get the council to approve such a system for 13 years, and only recently has the council agreed to look at his proposal.

The largest issues of the campaign, however, have centered on development and the problems it could bring.

The most contentious issue centers on what many candidates said is Whittier’s chief attraction: Puente Hills with its thousands of acres of canyons that abound with wildlife. Candidates are constantly asked by residents if they favor a planned extension of Hadley Street across the hills to Colima Road. Though the plan has been on the books for at least 25 years to alleviate commuter traffic on residential roads, it has not become any more popular.

In the early ‘80s a plan by the council to develop the area was defeated after then-councilman Henderson and a grass-roots organization began a protest. A special election was called and the council’s proposed ordinance defeated by a margin of 70%. Today only two of the candidates wholeheartedly support the extension: Chandler and Todd. Both said it is necessary to ease traffic on residential roads such as Mar Vista.

Candidates Pellissier and Bergerson said the road should be put through only after an environmental impact report has been made. Then Pellissier said only the route that would cause the least damage to the environment should be adopted. The others are dead set against any development of the hills.

The other big development issue is what slow-growth candidates call reckless development. All candidates said Whittier residents take great pride in Whittier’s distinctive characteristics such as the Whittier Village with its brick streets, vintage street lighting and small stores with colorful awnings. Since the earthquake, the economy of the Uptown area, including the Village, has suffered.

Shop owners in the area were encouraged by the city to rebuild as soon as possible, and many were offered loans at an interest rate of only 4%. Building owners consequently overbuilt, and there is about a 30% vacancy rate among retail shops today.

The slow-growth candidates said that given the high number of empty shops, the city should not be encouraging any more retail development. As an example, they point to a redevelopment project north of Whittier Boulevard that will result in thousands of square feet of commercial development.

The Urbatec redevelopment project at Whittier Boulevard and Hadley Street, a 16-acre project, will bring in a Market Basket grocery store and a Sav-on drugstore, among other restaurants and retail outlets. The project, which was approved in the mid-80s, will take up a triangle piece of land bordered by Whittier Boulevard, Hadley Avenue and a portion of Magnolia. Magnolia would be closed to through traffic to build the center.

With the exception of Chandler and Todd, most candidates have labeled the commercial project a classic example of bad development, though they acknowledge the area is run down. Pellissier called the project “total stupidity” and, like most of the others, criticized the city for paying millions of dollars for a 16-acre shopping area that he said will employ half as many people as the area now employs.

But Todd and Chandler said that Urbatec cannot be compared to the small retail stores, many of which specialize in certain products. Urbatec, on the other hand, which will feature a grocery store and large chain drugstore, among other retail stores and restaurants, will offer services and products not offered in the smaller stores.