Outcry Against Council Reaches a New Pitch : Government: Group opposing the City Council files petitions demanding recall of all but one member.

An increasingly heated conflict between the City Council and its critics escalated this week as council opponents, chanting “enough is enough” and waving U.S. flags, filed petitions demanding the recall of all but one council member.

The Bell Gardens No-Rezoning Committee, a group of about 17 residents, property owners and business people, gathered thousands of signatures calling for Mayor Robert Cunningham and council members Letha Viles, Allen Shelby and Douglas O’Leary to step down. Recently appointed Councilwoman Rosa Hernandez has been threatened with recall but so far has not been targeted.

A total of 1,247 signatures per council member is needed to force a special election, City Clerk Leanna Keltner said. The committee, working in dawn-to-dusk shifts every day for about a month, gathered about 2,200 signatures per council member. Keltner has 30 days to certify that the signatures belong to registered voters who live in Bell Gardens. If so, the City Council in August must schedule a special election between mid-November and mid-January. Three of the four council members targeted for recall would be up for reelection next April.

“We are filing these recall petitions because the City Council members do not care about the people who live in this city,” said recall leader Mary Ann Barron, who read from a statement Tuesday in front of City Hall. “They are arrogant and insulting to residents who make inquiries. They have created an atmosphere of fear throughout our city, and we say enough is enough!”

The Bell Gardens No-Rezoning Committee was formed late last year after city officials began putting together stricter zoning laws to reduce housing density in the city. The City Council has argued that widespread rezoning of the city limiting the number of apartments and homes per lot is needed to keep population growth in check and prevent city services from being overwhelmed. The No-Rezoning Committee has said that such a rezoning plan would eventually transform the city into an exclusive community, too expensive for most of the people who now live in Bell Gardens.

No-Rezoning Committee members said they had planned to continue gathering signatures until a mid-August deadline but decided to file the recall petitions Tuesday after council members Viles, O’Leary and Shelby began a door-to-door campaign urging residents to take their names off the petition. State law allows a person to remove his or her name from a petition while it is being circulated. Once it is filed, however, no more signatures can be added or deleted. The three persuaded 26 people to withdraw their signatures before the No-Rezoning Committee filed the recall petitions, the city clerk said.

Viles, Shelby and O’Leary are being supported by the newly formed Committee to Better Our Neighborhoods, which has sent out two hard-hitting mailers blasting recall proponents as “convicted slumlords,” “criminals” and “political radicals” who want “to take control of the city.”

One mailer reads in part: “Two of the individuals behind the recall are convicted slumlords and have recently been indicted for child molestation!”

City Hall records show that some No-Rezoning Committee members have been fined for maintaining substandard property. Councilwoman Viles said that the reference to molestation involves longtime Bell Gardens residents Albert Wantuch and his son, Stanley Wantuch. Albert Wantuch last November was convicted by a jury of child molestation. Stanley Wantuch has been charged with committing a lewd act with a minor, and is now on trial in Superior Court in Norwalk.

The pair had been vocal critics of the rezoning plan, appearing at city meetings, videotaping council members and urging a recall effort. Leaders of the No-Rezoning Committee, outraged by the mailers, said the Wantuchs are not members of their group.

Viles defended the mailers, saying that, given the tactics of the No-Rezoning Committee, an aggressive approach was needed.

“They have shown no mercy to the council,” she said. “We said whatever we needed to say (in the mailers) to make our point. . . . They have been so caustic in their accusations. We felt a need to make a firm stand.”

Mayor Cunningham chose not to seek the support of the Committee to Better Our Neighborhoods, saying he had been elected without the help of a committee and would stay in office without one. He said he did not believe the No-Rezoning Committee would succeed.

“They may have the signatures, but it’s one thing to get people to sign their name and another to get them to come out and vote,” he said. Shelby and O’Leary did not return phone calls.

The furor has drawn the attention of Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (D-Monterey Park), who sent out a letter opposing the recall.

In an interview Wednesday, Martinez said he decided to send out the letter after investigating complaints he has received about the City Council. After talking to city officials, Martinez said, he concluded that the council is acting in the best interests of the city. He said he believes that the recall campaign is a “power grab” by a handful of people.

“A person should be allowed to serve his or her four years, and be judged on everything that has been done during those four years, then if the people don’t like it, they can vote the person out of office.”

However, Martinez said he was unaware of the mailers distributed by the Committee to Better Our Neighborhoods.

He said that if the committee continues to send out “hate pieces” he will withdraw his support of the targeted council members.