4 to Run for Bryant’s Vacant Seat on Council

Four candidates--a man with a controversial plan to help the homeless, a planning commissioner, the leader of a downtown business group and a Latina community volunteer--have filed to run for the City Council seat vacated by the recall of C.L. (Clay) Bryant.

The candidates filed papers before the close of nominations Thursday.

Running in the Sept. 18 election are George Bosy, 37, who houses the homeless at his Four Aces Motel and who wants to provide mobile homes for them at the site also; Boyd Bredenkamp, 49, who owns a doughnut shop and is in his sixth year on the Planning Commission; Bob Dahms, 33, a businessman who heads the Central Business District, and Nancy Lopez, 52, a housewife and community volunteer.

The winner will succeed Bryant in representing District 3, which takes in the southeast quadrant of the city. Candidates must live within the district, but all of the city’s 39,283 registered voters will be eligible to cast ballots in the special election.

The winner will complete Bryant’s term, which expires in 1993.

Bosy is a newcomer to the city who has stirred controversy with his efforts to enlist the city’s cooperation in a plan to shelter the homeless in mobile homes. He and his business partner, Mike Damico, have sought permission to house the homeless in mobile homes at their motel and to acquire other sites in the city for clusters of mobile homes for the homeless.

As councilman, Bryant championed Bosy’s plan, and Bosy said he continues to admire the former councilman even though Bryant was recalled from office June 5 by a 2-to-1 margin.

Bosy said that he might not have agreed with Bryant on everything but that “he was the most dedicated man this city has ever seen.”

Bredenkamp, who has been in business in Pomona 16 years, was among the leaders of the effort to recall Bryant and has picked up the backing of many of those who were active in the recall movement.

Bredenkamp said he decided to run because “I’m tired of watching what’s happening to our government.”

Lopez, who is founder and president of the Hispanic Youth Task Force Committee, said she is basing her campaign on her longstanding opposition to Bryant. “I had the guts to run against him last year,” she said, adding that now that Bryant is out of office, others are coming forward to seek the seat.

Dahms, who has lived in Pomona for a dozen years, leads a business group that represents 400 businesses in downtown Pomona. He is running on a platform that calls for ending the city’s political in-fighting and finding new sources of revenue to pay for more police, better schools and safer streets. “The political war must be replaced by a war on crime, drugs and gangs,” he said.