LOCAL ELECTIONS / STANTON CITY COUNCIL : Candidates Agree Crime Is Major Issue : Three incumbents are among the five competing for three seats in at-large voting. Business retention, repeal of a utility tax are also among priorities for challengers.

Ridding Beach Boulevard of prostitution, repealing a utility tax and devising a program to keep businesses from fleeing the city are among the top priorities of two challengers for seats on the Stanton City Council.

For their part, incumbents Harry Dotson and Don Martinez said they would like to instill more community pride, rid the city of crime by maintaining adequate police and fire protection and improve the overall quality of life in Stanton.

Incumbent Linda J. Pappas Diaz, the only woman on the council, who was appointed in October, 1993, to fill the seat of the resigning Joe Harris, said she would like four more years to prove her worth.

“I still have some service to give,” she said. “I want to provide quality service for the community at what we can afford.”

Three seats are open on the council, with two challengers running against the three incumbents in the at-large elections. The council seats will go to the three top vote getters. The challengers, David John Shawver, 47, a wrestling coach at a Long Beach high school, and Brian Donahue, 56, the director of instruction for the Regional Occupational Program in Whittier, said they would like to turn the city around by putting more sheriff’s deputies on the streets, although neither knew how the money would be raised.

“Crime is associated with pornography and prostitution--at least that’s my interpretation,” said Shawver, a former Stanton council member who resigned in 1992. “And I’d like to put a stop to it.”

Donahue said Beach Boulevard “needs some sprucing up. It’s been getting worse, not better, and something has to be done.”

Dotson, 68, a former planning commissioner and retired energy conservation officer seeking a second term, said, “I enjoy what I do, but I’m concerned with the crime element and maintaining police and fire protection. I want to see the community cleaned up. The neighborhoods should be upgraded. I want to do away with this negative image that Stanton has.”

For Martinez, the issues still remain the same as four years ago: provide more public safety and improve the quality of life in the city.

“When many cities were using smoke and mirrors to cut back on personnel, my position was to maintain police and fire without cutting back,” he said. “Three years in a row, the city has been extremely successful in making major reductions in crime.”

Martinez isn’t afraid to admit that he voted for the passage of the controversial utility tax, either. The city had been living beyond its means, and “we needed that tax,” he said.

Shawver and Donahue said the 6% utility tax should be repealed. The tax on water, electricity and gas was approved by the council in March, 1993, to balance a $14.5-million budget after the state withheld 20% in property taxes it usually distributes to local jurisdictions.

Both Shawver and Donahue said the tax, which is expected to raise $1.4 million, could have been avoided and alternate revenue sources could have been found.

Shawver said creating a business retention program that would reduce the costs of permits and encourage businesses to set up shop in the city might be a solution. The money generated from sales taxes, he hopes, would render the utility tax unnecessary.

Donahue said he believes that after working 30 years in public schools and dealing with budgets he could bring some financial knowledge to the council. He also described himself as a “nonpolitical kind of person . . . with no political agendas.”

“I just want to get the city moving,” he said. “All citizens should have equitable representations.”