POLITICS WATCH : Pacifica’s Rare Look

The small coastal town of Pacifica is making history in this year of the woman. Women will assume all five seats on the City Council.

The community, just south of San Francisco, is believed to be the first in California to have an all-female City Council. And it is the first in the nation in more than 100 years.

Barbara Carr, Vi Gotelli, Julie Lancelle and Ellen Castelli--who join incumbent Bonnie Wells--beat out 17 male contenders in the June 2 election. They describe their victory as mere coincidence and dismiss the notion that voters made a political statement.

Nevertheless, the election tapped voter sentiment for change.

Not that women are new to the scene in Pacifica government. The town’s first mayor, in 1957, was a woman, and women have had a presence on the City Council and various boards.

And its small-town politics reflect national voter disenchantment with the status quo. The town held a recall election in March in which four council members, including one woman, were ousted for their perceived arrogance. Wells survived.

The victors in the June election, including recall leader Castelli, did not stress gender in their campaigns. They addressed issues. They represent different views and backgrounds, from real estate agent to homemaker.

The City Council will be interesting to observe, as was the last known all-woman City Council--in Cottonwood Falls, Kan., in 1889. That was more than 30 years before women were allowed to vote. We’ve come a long way.