Marina del Rey : Lawyer Heads Harbor Panel

Century City attorney Herbert J. Strickstein has been elected chairman of Los Angeles County’s Small Craft Harbor Commission, an advisory body that makes recommendations to the County Board of Supervisors on management of Marina del Rey.

Strickstein has been a vocal critic of foreign investment in the county-owned marina and an outspoken opponent of converting low-rise marina apartment buildings to condominiums. He replaces William Pagen, who on Monday was elected vice chairman.

On Tuesday, the supervisors confirmed the appointment of insurance company executive Joe Crail to replace Beverly Hills real estate broker Mark L. Nathanson on the commission.

Crail, president of Western Mutual Insurance Co., was nominated by Supervisor Mike Antonovich after Antonovich’s first choice, former Commissioner David Boran, was ruled ineligible because he does not live in Los Angeles County.

Nathanson was on the five-member commission for seven years before telling Antonovich last month that he no longer wished to serve. He remains on the California Coastal Commission. Nathanson is a target of a federal political corruption investigation in Sacramento. The Los Angeles County district attorney is also investigating Nathanson’s business dealings around Marina del Rey and his activities as a member of the state and county commissions. Through his lawyer, Nathanson has denied wrongdoing.

Antonovich’s nomination of Boran, who was replaced on the commission last year by Supervisor Gloria Molina, hit a snag last week when it was learned that Boran lives in Huntington Beach in Orange County. Although Boran had lived in Orange County for much of his 18 years on the panel, no one realized that this violated a county ordinance that requires harbor commissioners to live within the county, Antonovich spokesman Dawson Oppenheimer said.