Incumbent Hastings Wins Seal Beach Old Town Runoff : Politics: She says 57.1%-42.9% victory over Klisanin validates her slow-growth platform and criticism of alcohol sales.

Incumbent Marilyn Bruce Hastings defeated teacher and realtor Jim Klisanin Tuesday by 209 votes in a runoff election for the city’s Old Town District council seat.

Hastings’ victory means that all three incumbents who sought reelection this year will return to the council. She received 839 votes to Klisanin’s 631 with all votes tallied. The percentage breakdown was 57.1% for Hastings to 43.9% for Klisanin.

Hastings, 65, attributed the win to her firm stance against overdevelopment and her criticism of alcohol sales on Main Street.

“It’s a validation of what the people really want,” Hastings said. “They want to continue being represented in a conservative, responsible, slow-growth manner.”

Hastings’ victory caps a heated four-month campaign that was marked by charges and counter-charges. Hastings came within 20 votes of winning March’s general election outright in a three-way race against Klisanin and community activist Charles Antos.

The candidates fought to represent the city’s oldest neighborhood, with its assortment of old Spanish bungalows, apartments and beachside mansions bisected by the Main Street shopping district.

The simmering tension between residents and some Main Street merchants was a major issue during the campaign.

Hastings has championed the views of some Old Town residents who claim that bars and restaurants attract noisy patrons to the neighborhood at night.

Hastings opposed bids by several restaurants to increase their operating hours, contending that Main Street already has an overconcentration of businesses that sell liquor.

Klisanin said that Hastings and other council members have been too restrictive in their views on Main Street, hurting the city’s business climate.

Klisanin opposed the council’s decision in 1993 to more than double the tax that residents pay on their monthly gas, electric and telephone bills. The council should look for other ways of balancing the city’s books, like seeking private donations to pay for some municipal projects, he said.

Hastings said raising the utility-users tax was the only way of closing a budget deficit without making massive cuts in city services.

FINAL ELECTION RETURNS

Seal Beach City Council

District 1

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Marilyn Bruce Hastings * 839 57.1 Jim Klisanin 631 42.9

* Denotes incumbent

* Elected candidate is in bold type.