LOCAL ELECTIONS / SANTA ANA CITY COUNCIL : Crime, Crowding, Mayoral Post Spice Crowded Race

In their bid for votes this year, the 11 candidates seeking City Council seats are focusing on crime, overcrowding, jobs and leadership and two men are battling for the mayoral post.

Regardless of whom the voters elect to address those concerns, the election will guarantee two new faces, as longtime council members Patricia A. McGuigan and Daniel E. Griset leave office.

The election also promises a political fight to the end over the mayoral post as Councilman John Acosta attempts to wrest the seat from incumbent Daniel H. Young, who has served on the council since 1983. Acosta, Young’s longtime nemesis on the council, has served there for 11 years, clashing often with the mayor and his allies who form a majority voting bloc.

Voters will elect City Council members to seats in wards 1, 3 and 5 in the Nov. 3 election.

Businessman Henry Le, attorney Glenn Mondo and business consultant Ted R. Moreno will compete for the Ward 1 seat, which will be left vacant by McGuigan who has been on the council for 11 years.

In Ward 3, acoustical engineer and former Councilman Gordon Bricken, transportation director Lisa Mills, college diversity specialist Fran M. Williams and contractor John Michael Patterson will vie for the seat left open by Acosta.

In Ward 5, businessman Thomas E. Lutz, title service representative Sean H. Mill, businessman Zeke Hernandez and retired businessman and former Councilman Harry K. Yamamoto will fight for the seat vacated by Griset who has been on the council for 13 years.

Mondo, Mills and Lutz are all part of Young’s unofficial ticket, and the mayor’s campaign mailer encourages residents to vote for them. But other candidates have said election of the entire slate would create political tunnel-vision on the council.

Candidates offered a wide range of approaches for dealing with the city’s ills. Le, Young, Mill, Lutz, Yamamoto, Mondo and Young said they favor providing more police officers to fight crime, while others, including Acosta and Williams, emphasized after-school recreation and educational programs to keep youngsters out of trouble.

Bricken said that he had no “magic answers” to the city’s crime and gang problems but that the council needs to regain its integrity and end bickering among its members if solutions are to be found.

Moreno blamed the sluggish local economy for many of the city’s problems and said he favors streamlining the business permit process to encourage new companies to move in, a view shared by Mills and Hernandez.

Hernandez said he would like the city to be an “equal partner” with the school district in educating students and would like to see redevelopment funds used to rebuild schools and pay teachers.

Patterson could not be reached for comment.

Whether to offer the job of trash collection to competitive bidders has come up frequently at candidate forums as an issue of growing importance. Several underdogs in the race who oppose Young’s slate point to the campaign contributions from trash company representatives as an example of how big business appears to influence the council majority headed by the mayor.

For Acosta and Young, one of the most important issues is the mutual charge that each is unable to act in the city’s best interests. Young has accused Acosta of racially inflammatory statements and suggested that he has used his office for personal gain, charges the councilman denies. Acosta has said the mayor substitutes political pressure for leadership and is beholden to his contributors, charges the mayor denies.

Voters will also decide whether to enact three campaign reform charter amendments proposed by Acosta. They include:

* Measure S, which would prohibit the mayor or council members from voting on matters affecting anyone who has donated $250 or more to them within the previous 12 months.

* Measure T, which would prohibit the mayor or any council member from serving as a treasurer to a political campaign committee.

* Measure U, which would limit campaign contributions to $1,000 per source during each election cycle and limit mayor and City Council candidates to a single campaign committee and single bank account for city elections.