ELECTIONS AGOURA HILLS CITY COUNCIL : Perceptions at Issue as Political Outsiders Take On Officials

Four political outsiders are battling the mayor and a planning commissioner for two seats on the Agoura Hills City Council in the bedroom community’s fifth general election, a race defined as much by personalities and perceptions as by issues.

The four outsiders are fueling their campaigns with charges that Mayor Louise Rishoff and Planning Commissioner Joan E. Yacovone, endorsed by a retiring councilwoman, are part of a political bloc that concentrates its attention on established neighborhoods while ignoring newer ones.

“I think the City Council is a club, a clique,” candidate Stephen Sargent said. “They are piping a special tune to the special interests that deliver the vote. It’s time for a change.”

Rishoff and Yacovone, endorsed by longtime Councilwoman Vicky Leary, disputed Sargent’s claim.

“That’s what a challenger has to say,” Rishoff said. “No challenger can come in and say everything is wonderful. They have to create some reason for voters to make a change. I feel in tune with the community. I feel like I have a real clear direction from the residents.”

But the three other challengers, all of whom are male, agreed with Sargent’s characterization of current council members, four of whom are female. The candidates for the Nov. 5 election declined to describe the race as a male-female contest, but some City Hall watchers said gender is a very real, although generally unspoken, issue.

From most perspectives, however, the race is seen as the new guard versus the old.

“We have some people who mean well, but unfortunately they are too focused and too closed-minded to be flexible,” said candidate Paul G. Mueller. “Too many times, the council neglects a lot of areas because their concerns are focused in one area of town. We need to do something that will better represent the whole community.”

Mueller is running with Lyle Michelson on a ticket backed by the Agoura-Las Virgenes Chamber of Commerce, which feuds regularly with the council members.

Barry Steinhardt is running independently.

The four challengers claim a small group of voters keeps the current council in power, forming a bloc that turns a deaf ear to neighborhood complaints except those from the traditionally powerful section of Old Agoura, the semi-rural enclave that formed the original heart of the community.

Voter turnout in the community of 20,000 has been notoriously low. Even in the bitter election of 1985, when the council’s pro-development majority was ousted by a slate of slow-growth advocates, only 36% of the city’s 8,367 registered voters cast ballots. And the number has declined steadily since. In 1989, the city’s last general election, 22% of the 10,979 registered voters turned out.

Rishoff and Yacovone denied that they are part of a local political machine.

“That is just a fabrication that is absolutely groundless,” Rishoff said. “I invite anyone to come in and look at my voting record. They will see a very balanced and evenhanded approach to this entire city.”

Low voter turnouts, Rishoff said, indicate that residents generally are satisfied with city government.

The four outsiders admit they running against tough opponents but say they are hopeful that Proposition K, a parcel tax measure in the Las Virgenes Unified School District, will attract more voters to the polls.

In the end, several of the challengers agreed, general dissatisfaction and distrust of incumbents and political insiders may help them win seats on the council. Some voters, they said, may be willing to vote for any new name on the ballot.

So far, two primary disputes have emerged in the Agoura Hills campaign: the business signs that tower above the Ventura Freeway and the day laborers who congregate in search of work at the corner of Kanan and Agoura roads.

The signs advertising mostly restaurants and gas stations--technically known as pole signs--are scheduled to come down next year as part of a 1985 ordinance to beautify the freeway corridor. They will be replaced by smaller and shorter signs that will be posted alongside the roadway. Billboards, however, will remain.

Earlier this year the City Council passed an ordinance aimed at reducing problems with day laborers by prohibiting the solicitation of work on public property. Since then, the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of immigrant rights groups have sued the city, claiming the law is unconstitutional. A city-funded phone bank was established to match employers with workers, but it has had poor results.

Here are the candidates and their views:

Lyle Michelson

Michelson, 35, is a youth services officer for the Los Angeles Police Department who has lived in Agoura Hills for four years. He became involved in local politics while fighting the construction of a shopping mall in his neighborhood. Michelson said the city needs more parks and should beef up local law enforcement.

On pole signs: “It’s not the correct time to take down the pole signs. The billboards can come down, but the city needs the tax base from those pole signs. The businesses at this time cannot afford to lose those pole signs.”

On day laborers: “You cannot justify outlawing legal citizens looking for work. The phone bank was a disaster because the city did not have any support behind it. I think the ideal thing would be a site for day laborers to gather, either manned by city employees or volunteers. We can’t just keep overlooking this issue.”

Paul G. Mueller

Mueller, 39, owns an auto parts store and is president of the Agoura-Las Virgenes Chamber of Commerce, which has clashed repeatedly with the City Council. He ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 1989. Mueller said the city needs to address traffic problems and provide zoning or other incentives to attract churches and community groups.

On pole signs: “The city’s flexibility on this has been zero. We’d like to see the power poles and billboards come down. Some of the pole signs could be upgraded. But the reason those businesses invested all that extra money in the first place was because a lot of their business drives by on the freeway. When you add up the potential losses for the first year, it comes to about $10 million.”

On day laborers: “The City Council should have enforced existing laws before the laborers became a problem. Then the ACLU would not have sued anybody. We can’t tell them we just don’t want them here. The only sensible thing in my mind is to find a site and tie a phone line into this thing.”

Louise Rishoff

Rishoff, 49, is a private attorney elected to the council in 1987. She said her experience on the council qualifies her to serve another four years, when the City Council must tackle complicated projects such as complying with a tough state-mandated program aimed at reducing cities’ garbage.

On pole signs: “That had a seven-year amortization period to give businesses a good long time, but they just sat on their hands and did nothing. The signs are going to come down. If the businesses work with us to get their logo signs up, there should be little or no impact.”

On day laborers: “The phone bank is still in place, but the employers have continued to resist it. We are just going to have to work with the construction industry to drive them to the phone bank. A hiring site is not acceptable to me. We have no place in the city limits that could handle the hundreds of workers who would gather from all over the southern half of the state.”

Stephen Sargent

Sargent, 29, is a graduate student at Cal Lutheran University who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 1987. Sargent said he supported environmental causes before it was fashionable to do so and criticized the city’s plans for commercial development at the base of Ladyface Mountain.

On pole signs: “That’s one of the few things I agree with the city on. I am against the pole signs. Businesses have had plenty of time. We are the gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains. If we begin with the pole signs and then remove the billboards, we can have a beautiful corridor.”

On day laborers: “I think the City Council has made a serious mistake. I think we have passed an unconstitutional law that will cost us a fortune to defend. My suggestions have been to use local successes as examples. We could set up a hiring hall or a site or use a lottery system to keep things orderly.”

Barry Steinhardt

Steinhardt, 34, is a financial planning consultant who has made two previous unsuccessful bids for council. Steinhardt criticized the City Council’s fiscal judgment and suggested that the city attorney be made a permanent staff position instead of being contracted out, as it is now.

On pole signs: “I don’t think anybody likes pole signs or billboards. They are ugly. But I think we need to put this to a citywide vote, to let the community decide the fate of the pole signs.”

On day laborers: “I see the day laborer issue as something that needs to be decided in the courts. It is a constitutional issue. Our city has been negligent in its communication with the day laborers, and that’s what brought on the current lawsuit. We have existing laws that need to be enforced. Businesses in Agoura Hills need to have a business permit. My idea is to have permits for day laborers.”

Joan E. Yacovone

Yacovone, 53, has been on the city Planning Commission since it was created in 1984. She helped formulate the city’s General Plan and was on the subcommittee that drafted an ordinance to protect oak trees from development.

On pole signs: “It’s time for the pole signs to come down. The city has tried to work with the businesses, but those efforts have been undermined by some of the businesses. Hopefully, they will come around. I think we can mitigate any losses through logo signs.”

On day laborers: “This really is a regional problem. Too bad things came to a head in Agoura Hills. The laborers are not people who live here, and it does not belong as a city problem.”