Council’s Makeup a Low-Key Issue : Politics: The city’s population is 93% Latino. When change comes to City Hall, it will probably be through evolution, not revolution.

When the candidates for City Council in one of the Southeast’s tiniest cities debated recently, the issues were decidedly urban: crime, gangs, drugs and the economic doldrums.

The 11 candidates, who are running for three at-large seats in Maywood’s election April 14, spoke passionately about solving the city’s problems, and the scattering of voters at the candidate’s forum listened politely.

Even for a city of 27,850 people, the crowd was small that night at the Maywood VFW hall. After all, the real political action was happening on the other side of the Los Angeles River where Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) was swearing in the newly elected Latino council majority in Bell Gardens.

When Anglo City Council members in that city were thrown out of office in a racially charged recall election, political leaders heralded it as an ethnic groundswell that would eventually grip the region.

Cries of “Maywood’s next!” filled the Bell Gardens auditorium.

But in Maywood, the candidates are not talking about political revolution. They are talking about political evolution.

Latinos make up 93% of Maywood’s residents, but Henry Santiago Jr., who is running for reelection, is the only Latino on the five-member council. Eight of the 11 candidates running for office are Latino, but most are wary of ethnic rhetoric.

“When I was growing up in Maywood, it was all Anglo, and the majority of the people were from the Midwest,” said candidate Michael Bueno, 26. “It was only natural that the City Council would be Anglo. But the city is changing, and it’s all part of the process for Latinos to come into power, because we live here.”

Bueno is one of nine challengers to incumbents Santiago, 31, and William A. Hamilton, 71, in the municipal election. Hamilton has been in office 18 years, and Santiago was appointed in 1987 and elected in 1988. Betty Lou Rogers, who served 12 years, decided not to run again.

Dorothy Ramirez is running with incumbents Hamilton and Santiago, appealing to voters who believe the current council has, as Hamilton puts it, “made progress and will continue to make progress” in the community.

The other challengers claim that the incumbents have lost touch with the needs of the community.

“We have a city park that is being overrun by gangs, but there is no anti-gang program here,” said candidate Robert E. Paltz, 63, who served on the City Council from 1980 to 1984. “The incumbents don’t see that. The town is changing very rapidly, and (the government) needs to change with it.”

Paltz is running with Planning Commissioner John R. Tallman and Tomas Martin on a slate emphasizing their years of civic service. “We are all running for the same basic reason: to make this city better,” Tallman said. “Our ticket just has a little more experience.”

The pre-election atmosphere in Maywood is congenial and calm, unlike the explosive confrontations in Bell Gardens. All the local candidates agree that the most pressing problem in Maywood is the increase in gang activity, especially in the two city parks.

“I am a mother of two, and I am concerned with the conditions in the parks,” said Marla Tietze, 26, who is running on a slate with Bueno and Salvador A. Contreras. “There are drugs and gangs at these places, and I am afraid to send my own children there. Where else are they supposed to play?”

Tietze, Bueno and Contreras advocate hiring more supervisors in the parks. “We need to get in there and change the appropriations,” Contreras said. “We have a $4-million budget and more of it needs to go to recreation services.”

But Ed Ahrens, parks and recreation administrator for Maywood, said the criticisms are the usual campaign rhetoric he hears every election. “We are an easy target,” Ahrens said. “There is no more crime now in the parks than there was 15 years ago. There have always been gangs. They hang out here, but that’s about it.”

Maywood Police Capt. Gil Bowman said that even though about half the crime in the city is gang-related, the crime rate has remained static for the past five years.

“Gang-related crime is not on the rise,” said Bowman, pointing to a decreasing number of gang-related felony arrests, down from 420 in 1989 to 334 last year. “We make sweeps of the parks and run them out of there as often as possible.”

Incumbent Hamilton said that while gang activity is prevalent in the city, the council’s hands are tied by budget constraints.

“We are doing everything we can do with the funds we have,” Hamilton said. “The feds have cut us off, and we can’t do much else.” He said he is satisfied with the level of supervision in Maywood Park and would have no trouble sending a child to play there.

Hamilton and his running mates say that more interaction between the Police Department and the community could help alleviate the gang activity. “We need to open the channels of communication,” Ramirez said. “The police need to get feedback from the citizens in order to do their jobs right.”

But there is an inherent problem in that communication, said challenger Nicolas R. Rosiles, because there are just three bilingual police officers on the 34-member force.

“There is a basic lack of understanding between the police and the residents,” Rosiles said. “They don’t even speak the same language.” Rosiles said the council should insist that at least half the patrol officers speak some Spanish.

Of all the candidates, Rosiles and Jose D. Ceja, both college students, are the most outspoken about racial issues. They complain that there needs to be more proportional representation in Maywood city government and are in favor of splitting the tiny city, which covers just 1.1 square miles, into five council districts.

“In the transition from Anglo to Hispanic, the power stayed on one side of town,” Ceja said. “I’d like to see equal representation throughout the city, and one council member from each section of town.”

As in Bell Gardens, the absentee vote in Maywood could make the difference in the April 14 election. Chief Administrative Officer Leonard R. Locher said he already has issued close to 700 absentee ballots, about 300 more than were used in the last election. Locher expects that at least 100 more will be mailed out before the deadline Monday.

Candidates Rosiles and Martin have been distributing applications, mostly to Latino voters who rarely vote, said Locher, who expects the at-home votes to be a deciding force in the election.

Whoever wins, the election is likely to change the ethnic makeup of the City Council, which has never had more than one Latino serving at a time. “But we don’t want to see a Hispanic come into office just because he is Hispanic,” Ceja said. “We all want him to be the most qualified to do a good job.”

Maywood City Council

Maywood population: 27,850

Election: April 14

On the ballot: Eleven candidates for three at-large seats

INCUMBENTS

William A. Hamilton

Age: 71

Occupation: Retired gardener

Remarks: “I think we have made progress in Maywood. We’ve done about everything we can do, with the funds we have, to alleviate gang activities. It’s an ongoing problem all over the world. The parks are fine. If I had a small child, I would have no problem sending him there. As far as being out of touch with the community, that’s rubbish. There is not a soul on the council that will not listen to what someone has to say.”

Henry Santiago Jr.

Age: 31

Occupation: High school teacher

Remarks: “I’m very proud of the accomplishments we’ve done in the city: the shopping centers, the hotel and the senior housing project. Our budget is low. We are a poor city, so the money those businesses bring in has helped tremendously. I am always on top of the community needs, and we are trying a lot of things to get rid of the bad element here. I believe the council has been very responsive to the community. We always battle for the people.”

CHALLENGERS

Michael Bueno

Age: 26

Occupation: Loan officer

Remarks: “There is a lot of neglect here. The services have gone downhill and no one is paying attention to that. The current council is alienated from the people. You never see them out on the streets or participating, so how would they know what the people need? They have a basic lack of interest in the people who live here. There are no programs for kids on drugs or in gangs. There is no supervision there in the park and no recreation. The kids are bored and they get into trouble. We need to change that.”

Jose D. Ceja

Age: 21

Occupation: Teacher’s assistant and engineering student.

Remarks: “One of the goals I have is to see Maywood divided into five council districts. In the transition of the city from Anglo to Hispanic, the power stayed on one side of town. There needs to be equal representation from the west and the east sides. Take a drive through Maywood and all you see are brown faces. Then you go to City Hall, and all those in power are white. It’s very intimidating when you go into City Hall and you feel like you’re in Orange County.”

Salvador A. Contreras

Age: 55

Occupation: Adult school teacher

Remarks: “We are running on a Hispanic slate. Because of our background, we are more in tune with the city’s problems: gangs, crime, graffiti and drug abuse. We need programs to fight these things. There is no DARE program and no Neighborhood Watch. These have to be initiated by the City Council and they have to allocate the money. We need to change the budget appropriations and give this city back to the people.”

Tomas Martin

Age: 56

Occupation: Property manager and waiter

Remarks: “I have lived in Maywood for 17 years, and we always had a quiet city. There are a lot of young people here and we do nothing for them. There are more cholos (young toughs) in the city and too much gang activity. I am concerned for the children. There is nothing for them to do, and we need to protect the future and give them more activities.”

Robert E. Paltz

Age: 63

Occupation: Retired Los Angeles Unified School District policeman

Remarks: “I think the council has gone stale with the long incumbency. They have become power-struck, instead of serving the community. We need fresh ideas. I would like to be known as the watchdog of the general fund, because these politicians we have now vote themselves a raise as often as possible.”

Dorothy Ramirez

Age: 38

Occupation: Loan service officer

Remarks: “We need to focus on making the community safe. I would want to open the channels of communication between the residents and the Police Department, so the Police Department knows the needs of the citizens. I would like to increase the number of bilingual police officers; there are only three now. We need a city where people aren’t in fear of walking out their doors because of the gang problem.”

Nicolas R. Rosiles

Age: 23

Occupation: Teacher’s assistant and business administration student

Remarks: “The City Council doesn’t represent the city. There is a basic lack of understanding between the residents and the council and its staff. The city manager talks down to us. He doesn’t speak Spanish and doesn’t care to communicate. This community is almost 95% Hispanic, and we need more bilingual representation and more bilingual police officers.”

John R. Tallman

Age: 51

Occupation: Chiropractor

Remarks: “The biggest challenge is in the area of planning. I have been a planning commissioner for 15 years and I have watched the Planning Department. I have seen a lot of discrepancies and I think they need to be more accountable. There needs to be more communication between the residents and the council. We are all running for the same reason: We are here to serve the citizens, and we need to listen to their ideas.”

Marla Tietze

Age: 26

Occupation: Housewife

Remarks: “I’ve talked to a lot of young kids in Maywood and they all say there is nothing for them to do. The parks are terrible. There are people selling drugs and drunks drinking wine out of paper bags. There is no supervision. But where else are we supposed to let our kids play? We need more activities for the residents and we need to give more money to the Recreation Department so we can keep our kids out of trouble.”