ELECTIONS LOMITA : It’s a Real Contest for Council After a Decade of Shoo-Ins

In 1988, Lomita did not even bother to call a City Council election; there were just two candidates to fill two seats.

The 1986 council contest also had just two candidates for two vacancies.

The lone, bold challenger in 1984 was soundly defeated as voters overwhelmingly reelected the two incumbents.

But this year, when 16-year council veteran Hal Hall announced in February that he would not seek reelection, he bequeathed a genuine contest to Lomita voters.

With two incumbents and four challengers vying for three seats in the at-large election next Tuesday, this year’s contest is downright spirited when compared to the somnolent affairs Lomita voters have grown used to.

“I am really glad to see this is a contested election,” said Councilman Robert Hargrave, who is running for his third term. “I have been getting a lot of calls and questions from people, and that is healthy.”

Despite the choice, observers and candidates alike say the firmly entrenched Hargrave and one-term incumbent Peter J. Rossick are odds-on favorites to return to City Hall.

“I don’t think people are unhappy with the way we have performed at all. I think people who in the past declined to run against an incumbent simply see Hal Hall’s seat as a real opportunity,” Rossick said in an interview this week.

Among the challengers, three are political newcomers in Lomita: Clifford Bertrand, 63, a retired Redondo Beach fire captain; Beverly Hart, 57, an administrator at Marymount College, and retired construction manager Lawson Pedigo, 54. The fourth challenger, San Pedro News Pilot advertising executive Chuck Taylor, 53, has served over 14 years on the city Planning and Traffic commissions.

All of the candidates for the four-year terms are longtime Lomita residents.

Although all candidates have talked about issues ranging from traffic congestion to mini-mall development, the most passionate arguments from the challengers--who see Rossick and Hargrave as almost unbeatable--have focused criticism on a city tradition of electing candidates who have worked their way up through city panels and commissions.

In particular, newcomers Hart and Pedigo have aimed much of their criticism at Taylor.

“I think it is time to let somebody in who didn’t just inherit the seat,” Hart said in an interview last week. “It has been a good old boys’ network.”

Hart also emphasized that no woman has been elected to the Lomita council.

“I would not want anyone to vote for me just because I am a woman. But Lomita is out of step with the times. If we elected a woman, it would put Lomita into the 20th Century just as we are ready to leave it,” Hart said.

Pedigo, who has peppered the town with highly visible campaign posters, called the council a club for insiders and said he supports a two-term limit for council members.

“I say eight years is enough. The good old boy business is petering out. I think the people deserve an election, a real choice for a change,” he said.

But both incumbents and Taylor argue that the Lomita tradition of electing candidates who have worked in the trenches of city commissions assures that council members are well-versed in the ways of the city. Taylor has the tacit endorsement of Rossick, Hargrave and Hall, who signed the candidate’s nomination papers.

“The one thing I have over the other candidates is my time in training in city government,” said Taylor, who served nine years on the Traffic Commission and is now in his fifth year on the Planning Commission. “I think the term ‘good old boy network’ is just being used by the other candidates. I think the council has been responsible to the electorate, and that is what counts.”

Rossick and Hargrave said the tradition also ensures that council members will work well together, and said they would work best with Taylor.

“It is not written in stone that you must serve on a commission to be elected to council,” said Rossick, “but that gives us a chance to see how people perform. The last thing I want to see is a lot of infighting . . . you never get anything done that way.”

All candidates say Lomita needs a newsletter or better cable television coverage of council meetings to keep citizens informed, but they quibble over who should get credit with first pressing the idea.

Pedigo and Hart in particular say the council has not made sufficient efforts in the last year to notify citizens of pending hearings on development and zoning issues.

“Now you are hearing incumbents say communication is one of their primary goals. They never said that before this election, they just found that issue lately. Welcome to politics,” Hart said.

Both incumbents and Taylor say that the city has long considered issuing a council newsletter to voters but that the cost of such a publication would have been a burden on the city budget. They say meeting notices are posted at several locations in the city.

“People perceive the notion that the council is trying to withhold information, but my belief is that staff was remiss” in how it notified residents about pending city business, Hargrave said. “We are looking into a newsletter, possibly using the water bill as a vehicle.”

Taylor agreed, saying: “If someone really wants to find out what is going on in Lomita, they can find out.”

The proliferation of mini-malls along Pacific Coast Highway has become a key issue. Lomita has seen a blossoming of the small retail clusters since the City Council rezoned a stretch of the highway to encourage retail development.

“These mini-malls seem to have a bad connotation. But I have yet to get anyone to say what a viable alternative is,” Hargrave said. “One of the reasons to rezone the area was to put a stop to all the transient motels and beer bars.”

Rossick agrees: “Frankly, if we had not gone through certain zone changes, then Lomita would have been wall-to-wall mini-malls. I am opposed to too many of them, and I look to further restrict zoning (to slow mini-mall growth) if I am elected.”

For some of the challengers, the upsurge in mini-malls is a symptom of a larger problem.

“They just sprouted up like mushrooms after rain. People get the feeling that there was little planning involved,” Hart said.

Spending by all six candidates has been low. Rossick said he has spent about $1,500; Hargrave, $1,000; Hart, $500; Pedigo, $1,400, and Taylor, $1,200.

Bertrand, who said he will be out of the country from May to September, has spent only the $25 filing fee in his campaign, leading the other candidates to charge that he is not a serious candidate. Bertrand insisted that he is a viable choice despite his plan to go to Europe to referee softball games for the U.S. Army.

“If I am elected, I want the voters to know I will say goodby. I am going on vacation. There is nothing that says if I miss three meetings I can’t come back and do a good job,” he said.

A no-tax city with only 21,000 residents, Lomita has long been known as a “small town” enclave in the heart of the bustling South Bay, and all the candidates pledge to keep it that way.

“Lomita is a wonderful place to live--the best-kept secret in Los Angeles. We are providing all the services we need in a fiscally responsible way,” Hargrave said. “I’m sure we will be able to keep it that way.”