Outsiders Take Fight to City Hall : Politics: Hoping to cash in on voter dissatisfaction, the challengers are striking hard at the long-lived controversy over the $120-million Civic Center.

Hoping to cash in on voter dissatisfaction with crime, traffic, lawyers’ fees and the city’s financially troubled school system, six outsiders are challenging three incumbents in the April 14 election for the Beverly Hills City Council.

After a quiet opening phase, the race took a tart turn recently when Councilman Bernard J. Hecht, who spent the most money and won the fewest votes when the three incumbents first ran in 1988, came in for a personal attack at a League of Women Voters candidates forum.

Boos and hisses filled the air in the auditorium of the Hawthorne School two weeks ago when challenger James Fabe, 39, a dentist, contended that Hecht was incapable of conducting a public meeting.

Hecht, 69, who has built a reputation for always having something to say about anything that comes up at council meetings, is in line to take over as mayor if reelected. He brushed off Fabe’s attack as an attention-getting trick.

“If I could get up on the bima (synagogue stage) and read from the Torah, then I can read the consent calendar,” he said in an interview.

Along with Hecht, the retired owner of a trucking and warehouse business, the incumbents are Vicki Reynolds, 56, who served two terms on the school board, and Allan L. Alexander, 51, an attorney and former planning commissioner.

The challengers include Salvatore W. (Bill) Di Salvo, 64, an insurance broker; Martin Halfon, 33, a real estate agent; Dean Lavine, 20, a student; Tom Levyn, 42, an attorney, and Herm Shultz, 69, a retired furniture store owner and former president of Concern for Tenant Rights, a renter’s group. Catherine (Kay) Coleman, 57, a waitress, is also on the ballot but has dropped out of the race.

Compared with the other incumbents, Hecht had relatively little experience in city government before taking office.

But he pointed out that the challengers are all relatively new to city government, while he has had four years of on-the-job training. And he vowed to curb his windiness.

“I’m really trying to tone it down. When you ramble on and on you lose everybody,” Hecht said.

After two unsuccessful attempts, Hecht did get elected four years ago at a cost of $105,698, according to campaign records. Most of that was his own money, something about which he’s not ashamed.

“You’ve really got to do what you’ve got to do,” he said. This year, candidates agreed on a $50,000 spending limit.

Once in office, Hecht said, he played a major role in bringing civility to the once-stormy City Council. Like the other incumbents, he also takes credit for maintaining a high level of police and fire protection while increasing the city’s support for the school system to $5.1 million a year despite a drop in revenue.

But the challengers, brushing all that aside, are striking hard at the long-lived controversy over the $120-million Civic Center. This puts the incumbents in the uncomfortable position of having to justify millions of dollars in legal fees to recover the cost overruns for construction of a project that they never approved in the first place.

The Civic Center was well underway when the three took office four years ago, but challengers fault the City Council for failing to resolve the litigation without going to court. The trial, scheduled to begin May 1, could last for many months.

“We have spent $3 million of our money on the Civic Center lawsuit and there is no end in sight,” Levyn said. If the city loses, he added, the city could be required to pay the contractors’ legal fees. “Perhaps now is the time to stop compounding our mistakes.”

Many of the challengers echoed Levyn’s complaints, but Alexander, a real estate attorney, said the City Council was right to see the project finished “and then to settle or go to court.”

Alexander added, however, that it is important for city officials to learn from the mistakes made on the Civic Center. He said the city has in its possession the tiles needed to complete the decoration of the soaring archways that link the new police station and library with City Hall, but he believes the tiles should be left in their boxes for a while.

“I will not approve any funding while I’m on the City Council to install the rest of the tiles because I want it to be a symbol, to remind us of the excess and waste of spending on the Civic Center,” Alexander said. “Every time I look at the empty place where the tiles are supposed to go, I say, ‘Never again.’ ”

Reynolds, who has been mayor since last April, agreed.

“It never should have gotten to the size and cost to maintain that it has,” she said.

Responding to complaints of increased crime, Reynolds said the city still enjoys “a terrific police presence,” but she acknowledged that people want more visible patrols of streets and alleys.

The number of major crimes in the city rose significantly last year for the first time in a decade, Police Lt. Frank Salcido said. With 2,672 incidents reported--up 16% from the year before--the total for 1991 was the highest since 1985, when 2,770 major crimes were reported, he said.

Reynolds, who does not hold a job outside City Hall, jokingly said that her occupation is “do-gooder.”

A graduate of Beverly Hills High School, she helped guide the school board through the impact of the Proposition 13 revenue cuts and a California Supreme Court decision that cut the link between school funding and property taxes.

The budget squeeze that followed led to waves of staff reductions, increases in class sizes and the loss of special programs. The city has tried to soften the blows by increasing grants of money to the school district.

Despite a drop in sales tax and other city revenue, Reynolds said, support for the schools will continue.

“The first time I ran for the office the question most often asked was whether I supported funding for the schools, and that hasn’t changed,” she said.

Although any protest vote is likely to be splintered, several challengers said they hoped to receive help from a variety of support groups, such as Shultz’s renters, Di Salvo’s allies in a residents group called the Municipal League, Fabe’s neighbors in the southeast quadrant of the city, and Halfon’s and Lavine’s network of friends dating back to high school.

Shultz, whose addresses to the City Council on renters’ issues have been aired frequently on cable television, said the appearances have paid off in high name recognition when he campaigns door-to-door.

Careful to identify himself at the televised candidate forum as not only a renter but also a former homeowner and apartment owner in the city, he echoed Ronald Reagan’s campaign query of 12 years ago, asking, “Is the city of Beverly Hills better off today than it was four years ago?”

“There was no anticipation of bad economic times, no anticipation of the drought, until after they began,” Shultz said.

He also appealed to residents disgruntled about higher water bills and about the city’s slow pace in deciding whether to use speed bumps to control traffic in neighborhoods.

Di Salvo, who has attended virtually every City Council meeting for the past four years as an observer for the Municipal League, is campaigning on the theme that the city is “bleeding” from the loss of office tenants and storekeepers to lower-rent facilities elsewhere, along with the departure of students to private schools.

“The people on the City Council, the school board and the Chamber (of Commerce) have their heads in the sand,” he said. “The world is passing us by. We can’t spend like we did 10 years ago, and we can’t plan like 10 years ago, and they don’t understand that.”

He said the city should urge students to stay at Beverly Hills High School while inviting young couples to take advantage of the depressed real estate market to move in and bring more children to increase the budget of the school system.

“What we have now is a diminishing spiral, and we’ll never be able to make ends meet,” he said.

Fabe, who moved from West Hollywood in 1988, served on that city’s transportation commission for three years. The experience will help him get off to a running start as a councilman, he said.

Spurred into politics by traffic and parking problems in the southeast area, Fabe charged that his neighborhood is shortchanged at City Hall because none of the incumbents live there.

“We have 40% of the population and we’re totally disenfranchised,” he said.

He criticized city officials for failing to collect enough business tax, and said that the municipal payroll should be cut by 10% to help pay off the bonds that financed construction of the Civic Center.

Halfon, who is on a first-name basis with the busboys at Nate-N-Al, the city’s most famous deli, from years of hanging out on Saturday mornings, said he misses the days when Beverly Hills was a small town where it seemed like everybody knew each other.

Things have gone downhill since then, said Halfon, an apartment owner and real estate agent, citing the common themes of crime, traffic and problems in the school system.

“I’ve lived in this town for 28 years and I’m not really satisfied staying uninvolved,” he said. “This town is out of control. We’re going in the wrong direction.”

As a successful businessman, he said, “running for a seat on the City Council will enable me to give back.”

Lavine, a student at Santa Monica College, made an unabashed appeal for the youth vote, criticizing police for breaking up street hockey games at local elementary schools.

“Beverly Hills has always been run by the older age group that wants to keep the city like it was in 1965,” he said. “I want to let them know there’s another age group out there. We’re here. We exist.”

Candidates for Beverly Hills City Council

Allan Alexander

Background: 51; incumbent running for second term; attorney; served five years as planning commissioner

Why are you running?

It has been a stimulating and rewarding experience for me to serve on the Planning Commission and the City Council. Hopefully I have brought a thoughtful and non-political dimension to city government.

Should the city settle its Civic Center litigation or go to trial?

If the city and the contractor can arrive at a mutually agreeable figure, then obviously we will have a settlement. In the event we cannot, then we must be prepared to litigate the case--and we are.

Should the electorate be asked to vote on major spending projects?

Special discretionary expenditures of many millions of dollars definitely should be taken to a vote.

Should the city continue to rely on Metropolitan Water District?

I definitely prefer Beverly Hills having an independent source of water supply so that we are no longer 100% dependent upon the MWD. What is good for the MWD may not be in the best interests of Beverly Hills.

Bill Di Salvo

Background: 64; insurance broker; on board of directors of Municipal League, a residents group

Why are you running?

Because I’m tired of watching our city slowly regressing and our schools dying.

Should the city settle its Civic Center litigation or go to trial?

If our extremely highly paid lawyers cannot demonstrate a valid basis for trial (i.e. net money gain to Beverly Hills), I would settle fast.

Should the electorate be asked to vote on major spending projects?

I believe we would not be in the mess we are in if the voters had been told the whole story and been asked to vote for the Civic Center.

Should the city continue to rely on Metropolitan Water District?

The city must rely to a great extend on MWD. However, we should have our own reservoir capacity increased and start using “gray” (waste) water instead of letting it go down to the sea.

James Fabe

Background: 39; dentist; served 3 years on West Hollywood’s Transportation Commission

Why are you running?

Forty percent of our population lives southeast of City Hall, yet no council members live there. Such problems as hotel development and traffic directly adjacent to residential areas are being ignored by the city.

Should the city settle its Civic Center litigation or go to trial?

I think we should settle as soon as possible to end the 400% cost overrun. If we do not settle we will only prolong the issue and end up spending even more money.

Should the electorate be asked to vote on major spending projects?

The people should decide issues that may cause them a great tax burden.

Should the city continue to rely on Metropolitan Water District?

We should work with the MWD to move into the future of supplemental sea-based system.

Martin Halfon

Background: 33; real estate agent

Why are you running?

We can simply no longer return to our city’s most important elective offices incumbents who share a large measure of responsibility for the mistakes we have made.

Should the city settle its Civic Center litigation or go to trial?

I think we should try to cut our losses, as litigation is truly the most costly legal action one can take. I do not believe that the city or its residents can or will benefit from a long legal process.

Should the electorate be asked to vote on major spending projects?

Yes, I do believe that we should bring to a vote projects that require major spending in our city.

Should the city continue to rely on Metropolitan Water District?

Each time a development takes place within this city, millions of gallons of water are pumped from the site and dumped into the sewers. We must stop wasting good water that is available to this city.

Bernie Hecht

Background: 69; incumbent running for second term; retired businessman; organized communitywide CPR training

Why are you running?

There is a need to run our city as a business. I have that proven experience. There is a need for quiet leadership and I am prepared to continue to provide that calm leadership.

Should the city settle its Civic Center litigation or go to trial?

Because we are so well-prepared to go to trial, we are in a very strong position to achieve a fair negotiated settlement.

Should the electorate be asked to vote on major spending projects?

It is the public’s money and they must have a voice in major expenditures.

Should the city continue to rely on Metropolitan Water District?

We should tap into our ground water supplies if it is economically feasible. Ground water will only give us a supplemental supply for some of our water needs.

Dean Lavine

Background: 20; a student at Santa Monica College.

Why are you running?

I want to represent the people and let the city know that there is a new generation of residents that needs to be acknowledged. I want to develop the future.

Should the city settle its Civic Center litigation or go to trial?

I want to put our Civic Center debacle behind us. If that means settle the case, then settle it. This is taking up too much council time and it is a continuing black mark on our history.

Should the electorate be asked to vote on major spending projects?

The people have every right to approve or disapprove of a major spending project. Our City Council has proven with the Civic Center that they could not represent the people’s wishes.

Should the city continue to rely on Metropolitan Water District?

How far down do we need to go to escape pollutants? What about salt-water intrusion? Until these questions are answered, we can’t say whether to continue to rely on the MWD.

Tom Levyn

Background: 42; attorney; on boards of Beverly Hills Education Foundation and Beverly Hills local access TV station

Why are you running?

Because there is a gap between the well-intentioned council members and their performance. The City Council has not been as accountable, responsive and open as it should be.

Should the city settle its Civic Center litigation or go to trial?

The failure to control the management of the litigation may have compromised the city’s ability to recover that which it is seeking.

Should the electorate be asked to vote on major spending projects?

The council is considering millions of dollars in financing for water and waste treatment projects. But we have been left in the dark on why such projects should be financed through certificates of participation, which do not require a vote of the people.

Should the city continue to rely on Metropolitan Water District?

The city’s ground water for the most part requires treatment. But with this treated water we can gain some independence in times of drought and hardship.

Vicki Reynolds

Background: 56; incumbent running for second term; served two terms on board of Beverly Hills Unified School District

Why are you running?

I feel my contributions have made a difference and I wish to continue programs I have begun.

Should the city settle its Civic Center litigation or go to trial?

The city is preparing to go to trial to win its case. If an economically responsible settlement becomes possible, the suit should be settled.

Should the electorate be asked to vote on major spending projects?

On projects of major proportion, like the Civic Center, the citizens should have a say about how their tax dollars are spent.

Should the city continue to rely on Metropolitan Water District?

Only after an engineering study to determine costs and feasibility will we know if we can reactivate our own water wells. I hope this study will be favorable.

Herm Shultz

Background: 69; retired businessman; former president of Concern for Tenants Rights

Why are you running?

I’m concerned about the fiscal mismanagement of the incumbent candidates, about the failure to act instead of reacting.

Should the city settle its Civic Center litigation or go to trial?

The legal pendulum is ticking and our Civic Center debt deepens. In the name of justice to our taxpayers, settle now.

Should the electorate be asked to vote on major spending projects?

The citizens of this community must be the watchdogs of the future and oversee major expenditures.

Should the city continue to rely on Metropolitan Water District?

Many years ago the local water resources were declared totally inefficient. Where’s our business acumen? Let’s make the best deal we can with the water-rich MWD.