Seal Beach Runoff Pits Slow Growth, Business

Bombarded for months by mailers, campaign signs, charges and countercharges, voters in the city’s Old Town district probably won’t have trouble distinguishing between the two candidates on Tuesday’s runoff election ballot.

The race pits incumbent Councilwoman Marilyn Bruce Hastings, a slow-growth advocate and critic of alcohol sales on Main Street, against teacher and realtor Jim Klisanin, who has organized the annual Main Street Christmas parade and is supported by many merchants.

Hastings, 65, and Klisanin, 59, disagree on numerous issues from development to taxes. And as the heated campaign winds down, they also differ on what the election is about.

“We are the last small beach town on the entire coast,” Hastings said this week. “What we have is absolutely the most perfect thing in the whole wide world. Our residents want to keep it that way.”

Klisanin maintains that Seal Beach can be improved, saying the election “comes down to whether people want someone who will stay with the status quo or someone new who will work hard to get things accomplished.”

Hastings came within about 20 votes of winning April’s general election outright in a three-way race against Klisanin and community activist Charles Antos.

The two candidates are fighting to represent the city’s oldest neighborhood, with its mix of 60-year-old Spanish bungalows, modern apartments and beachfront mansions. Old Town is bisected by Main Street, a tree-lined row of restaurants, specialty shops and bars that cater to locals and tourists.

The shopping area’s close proximity to homes has created friction between merchants and residents and represents a key issue in Tuesday’s election.

Hastings has championed the concerns of some Old Town residents who complain that Main Street businesses that serve alcohol often lure rowdy customers into the neighborhood at night.

Hastings has opposed bids by some liquor-serving restaurants to increase their operating hours. She has expressed general skepticism about new developments, including a proposal several years ago to build hundreds of homes on a stretch of vacant land along Seal Beach Boulevard known as Hellman Ranch.

Some merchants have called Hastings’ views “anti-business.” Klisanin stopped short of that label, but said she and the rest of the current council have weakened the city’s fiscal health by failing to strongly support Seal Beach’s business community.

The City Council has faced budget shortfalls during the past few years and was forced to lay off workers and cut some services to balance the city’s books.

Last year, Hastings and the rest of the council voted to more than double the tax that residents pay on their monthly gas, electric and telephone bills.

Hastings said the tax hike--which must be approved annually by the council--was the only way of closing a budget deficit without making severe cuts in city services, including the Police Department. “It’s better than bringing a Home Depot into town,” she said. “People understand and support what we did.”

Klisanin opposed the tax, saying the city should have looked at other ways of generating revenues. He suggested that city officials seek contributions from corporations and try to pay for some municipal projects through private donations.

If elected, Klisanin said he would work to streamline the city’s process for issuing planning and building permits, saying the current system is too slow. He also vowed to work on improving the look of Main Street by installing benches and repairing buckled sidewalks.

“I want to bring people together and accomplish things,” Klisanin said. “I feel I am a fair person who can help people get along.”

Seal Beach Runoff Election

The following two candidates will face one another Tuesday in a runoff City Council election in Seal Beach. The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Marilyn Bruce Hastings

Age: 65

Occupation: Incumbent, property owner/ businesswoman

Background: Elected to council in 1990. Longtime community activist in Long Beach.

Issues: Describes herself as a strong proponent of “controlled growth;” supports a sand-replenishment project underway on eroded beaches near the Seal Beach Pier.

Jim Klisanin

Age: 59

Occupation: Junior high school teacher, real estate agent, investor in Main Street development, volunteer in local service groups

Issues: Wants to improve the city’s business climate; supports an improvement program for Main Street that would include adding benches and lamps and repairing buckled sidewalks.