18 Candidates Seek 7 Town Council Seats in Saturday Election

Eighteen candidates face off Saturday for seven seats on the Altadena Town Council.

The hopefuls range from former Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.’s “space adviser” to an 86 year-old retired architect.

The 14-member council in this unincorporated area is an advisory board to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Members, elected by residents within their census area, serve two-year terms.

Interest in the election has heightened as the community’s county-run parks, sheriff’s station and two fire stations are threatened by cutbacks to make up a projected $1.6-billion county budget deficit.

Residents are eligible to cast ballots by producing proof of residence. Voters do not need to be registered or be U.S. citizens.

Ballots may be cast from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at six sites: Bank of America, Lake Avenue and Marcheta Street; Alpha Beta, Lake Avenue and Mendocino Street; Thrifty Drug, Altadena Drive near Lake Avenue; Patti Cakes, Allen Avenue and New York Drive; Crown Flowers, Lincoln Avenue and Altadena Drive, and the Senior Center on Mariposa Street.

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Facing perhaps the strongest challenge is incumbent Leatrice Gloria Erlander, president of the Chamber of Commerce, who represents Area 4602. Her three opponents include retiree Craig Hall, local business owner Jonathan Vos Post and electrician Saleem Samia.

Erlander, 65, a local merchant who has served on the council four years, says key issues are preventing the “mansionization” of Altadena and keeping the sheriff’s station and parks open.

Vos Post, 41, is a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist and Brown’s 1992 presidential election adviser on space policy. Now a local business owner and publisher, Vos Post said he has knocked on 1,500 doors in the area in his effort to oust Erlander.

Married and the father of one child, Vos Post said that as a council member he would fight the threatened closure of Farnsworth and Charles White county parks and be a voice on possible employment cutbacks at nearby JPL, which would hit Altadena hard.

Samia, 47, said maintaining safe neighborhoods and preventing overdevelopment would be his major issues if elected. He is active in the Friends of La Vina, a group opposed to the controversial 280-home hillside development on the site of a former tuberculosis sanitarium at the end of Lincoln Avenue.

Hall, 69, a retired city of Los Angeles transportation official, said the town council members need to act more as a unit, rather than as individuals.

He has fought the La Vina development plan and is critical of area Supervisor Mike Antonovich, charging that he has not looked after the community on such issues as the proposed park closures.

Another hotly contested seat is in Area 4612.

One-term incumbent Mary Cogswell Baum, 68, a retired school teacher, faces challengers Tom Hubbard, 57, a teacher and former staff member at All Saints Church in Pasadena, and Robert Weaver, a 57 year-old JPL engineer. All three say preventing overdevelopment in Altadena is their major concern.

“Very simple, we must keep Altadena the same as much as we can, so it does not have the problems of Pasadena,” Hubbard said.

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Council member Oscar Werner, 86, is again opposed by James Iamurri, who mounted an unsuccessful challenge two years ago for the seat in Area 4613.

“Keeping out the condos,” is one of the reasons Werner, a retired architect and 50-year Altadena resident, cites for his reelection bid. The veteran of nine years on the council has been involved in nearly every local civic organization.

“Once it’s in your system you can’t stay away from it,” Werner said.

Iamurri did not return telephone calls from the Times.

In the other races, Council Chairwoman Kathy Klomburg faces Jaqueline Fennessy in Area 4601. Incumbent Steve Lamb, a critic of Antonovich, is being challenged in Area 4603 by Tom Cartwright and Norman Lewis.

Town Treasurer Walter Martin, an environmental technician, faces Labarbara Madison for Seat 4610. And in Area 4611, William Caufield is opposed by Annette Siulagi.

The Town Council is allowed to hold its election on a Saturday because it is an advisory body and cannot enact local laws. The vote has traditionally been scheduled to coincide with the community’s Old Town Fashion Days Parade along Lake Avenue in the hope that more people will vote.