4 Challengers Find Fault With Police Department

Here in the third-safest city in America, Simi Valley’s Police Department is being hammered into one of the chief campaign issues of the 1996 City Council race.

To be sure, the four challengers voice other complaints about life in Simi Valley and promise improvements if they are elected.

The challengers say there are earthquake-damaged buildings to be razed; wheels to be greased for new businesses; and torn fences to be mended between the council and the school board.

Some talk of creating new jobs, providing better buses, revitalizing the quake-blighted Tapo Street business district and building more recreational facilities for children.

But all four would-be council members say--for wildly differing reasons--that Simi Valley’s Police Department needs improving.

Nonsense, say the campaigning incumbent council members, Bill Davis and Barbara Williamson.

The city is so well-run that there are no obvious targets in this campaign, they say, only desperate candidates who have latched onto an emotional subject that most residents hold dear.

“I’ve wracked my brain to try to think, ‘Is there an issue out there I’d have to try to defend myself on?’ ” said full-time Mayor Pro Tem Davis, 69, running again after 12 years in office. “And I haven’t found one.”

The Police Department, he said, is a nonissue.

Added Williamson, 52, a bank vice president trying for her second four-year term, “This council has done everything possible to not only beef up the police, but to give them everything they ask for in their budget.”

Williamson won office in 1992 with strong police backing.

“Do we need more police?” she asked. “We always need more police. And do we hire them when we have the opportunity? You bet. That’s why we have one of the safest cities in the U.S.”

Yet each of the four challengers insists Simi Valley could be safer and its Police Department better staffed and managed.

Michael McCaffrey, a financial planner who ran a solid third place in the 1994 council race, points to recent violence in the city. The 1994 stabbing death of middle school student Chad Hubbard by a fellow student, the 1995 slaying of Officer Michael Clark and a recent spate of gang violence are signs that more should be done, he said.

“Even though there’s so much focus on [law enforcement], these things are occurring,” said McCaffrey, 37, a former president of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce. “Are we doing as much as we can? I don’t think so.”

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Dennis Serbick, an auto service center owner, says the department should be working more on drug enforcement and community policing.

“I’ve been here 18, 20 years and I have not once had a police officer stop by and say, ‘Hi, I’m the officer in your area’ and ask whether I’ve seen any problems in the area, anything the police should look into,” said Serbick, 57.

“You have to get the Police Department to be more alert to what’s going on,” Serbick said. “If they worked with the business community, they’d learn more what’s going on.”

Candidate Glenn Woodbury said the city needs more officers--preferably two assigned to each squad car to improve safety for the officers and for the residents.

“With the potential gang problems, I’d like to see two to a car,” said Woodbury, 42, who runs a weatherstripping company. “I don’t know why they have only one per car, but I think our officers deserve the protection for themselves as they provide for their community.”

And former Simi Valley Policeman David Weiner, who was fired last September for improper conduct after more than nine years on the force, has a virtual laundry list of goals for reforming the command of the department ranks and better equipping the rank and file.

“I’m running because of the unaccountability and the management and administration level of the Police Department,” said the unemployed 34-year-old. “I want to see the officers taken care of. I want to see our crime rate go down.”

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Weiner has slammed the department brass for firing him unfairly after what he says was a woman’s false complaint that he had exposed himself to her, and accusations that he had released confidential personnel information to the district attorney’s office.

Police commanders have refused to comment on his case.

But Weiner says that lie detector tests proved he had never exposed himself, and that he was fired for going to the district attorney to blow the whistle on internal wrongdoing.

Though he also is calling for better programs for the homeless and more promotion of minorities in city jobs, Weiner says he is focusing solely on the Police Department. “I think once we have a happy Police Department, things’ll just follow from there,” he said. “If people saw what was going on inside the department, the internal fighting and the unfairness, they’d be quite angry and wanting a change.”

But while Weiner is unapologetically a one-issue candidate, his opponents have other concerns.

McCaffrey, Serbick and Woodbury all criticized council members for allowing rancor and quarrels to ruin the City Council’s relationship with the Simi Valley Unified School District board.

Squabbles broke out between the panels this year over development of district-owned land near City Hall, construction of a long-promised Wood Ranch elementary school to ease overcrowding in the city’s west end, and legislation tossing the burden of paying school crossing guards back to the schools.

The incumbents agree that this must change.

“I personally would hope that we can get all of these things resolved and get back to where the park district runs the parks, the school district runs the schools and the city runs the city,” Davis said.

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Davis says he wants another term in office to finish projects he helped to begin, such as the construction of a $13-million police station, the extension of the business corridor along Cochran Street and the construction of a senior citizens’ housing complex in Wood Ranch.

“People don’t realize that you work on some of these projects for five years before they become a reality,” he said.

Williamson said she wants to continue her work on the Community Gang Task force, and perhaps establish a community boxing club to divert kids from the lure of gang life.

She also hopes the council can help bring a long-dreamed-of Simi Valley mall closer to reality, and that plans will be executed to revitalize the blighted Tapo Street business corridor.

But Woodbury said Williamson and other city officials are not working fast enough to rebuild Tapo Street--particularly the empty Pic ‘N’ Save site and the fire-gutted shell of the former Sears outlet store.

“It’s one of those situations where there just seems to be a lot of bureaucratic red tape,” he said. “If I was a resident in that area or owned a business there, I’d be scratching my head. Why does it take so long to take care of a problem like this?”

Serbick agrees.

“This should be a priority because they’re unsafe,” he said. “I’d tear the thing down and assess the property owner.”

Actually, that could happen soon, Williamson said. The owners of the Sears Outlet building have until Oct. 5 to tell the city of specific plans to clear the site or build a new business there.

Woodbury and Serbick also criticized city officials for not streamlining and improving the permit process for new businesses, which they say slows commerce and can actually hurt business. Serbick has complained that the city allowed him to open his shop in a restrictive industrial zone, after having told him that his building was in a more business-friendly commercial zone.

“I think that there’s always room for improvement,” Williamson admitted. But she countered that streamlining also shortcuts the system of public hearings and city reviews that ensures businesses fit into their neighborhoods.

“I don’t think I want to see a one-stop permit process, because I don’t want to see things fall through the cracks,” she said. “I think people like the way this town is growing and coming together.”

McCaffrey called on the council to do more to lure large employers and better-paying jobs to Simi Valley, and establish additional recreation centers for children.

“The concern I have among the existing City Council members is that their vision of what the council is there to do is the same it’s been for the last 10 or 15 years,” he said.

But Davis maintains that Simi Valley already works hard to woo new businesses, such as the massive Price-Costco warehouse store that opened earlier this year.

City officials have commissioned a promotional video--to be premiered at Monday night’s council meeting. They have gone on business convention junkets to tout Simi Valley. And they offer big incentives to businesses that do settle here, he said.

“We have a formula for how much money we can put up front for them for every job they bring per square foot,” he said. “These things are already being done.”

This year, one incumbent has the luxury of sitting back and watching the whole dogfight from afar: Mayor Greg Stratton.

Stratton is running in the mayor’s race for a sixth term--and a chance to add two more years in office to the ones he has already served since he first became a councilman in 1979--with no one running against him.

“I certainly enjoy it,” said Stratton, 50, who manages a division of Litton Guidance and Control Systems that develops tactical software for military aircraft.

“It allows me to have the opportunity to continue to focus my energy on the issues facing the city, instead of spending time and energy on a campaign,” he said. “From that perspective, the citizens are actually getting more than their money’s worth.”

As for the rising battle over the two occupied council seats, Stratton said he sees no real issues.

“Obviously, it’s the opponents that make the issues,” he said. “We try to make sure that most of the people are happy, and if you can accomplish that, then that’s the way you stay in office. The lack of real issues, I think, demonstrates the fact that the council must be doing a good job.”

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Simi Valley Council

Bill Davis

Age: 69

Occupation: Full-time City Council member, retired from Lincoln-Mercury

Education: High school diploma

Background: Davis is seeking reelection to a third term after sitting on the City Council for 12 years. He serves on 20 governmental boards, including the Ventura County Transportation Commission, East County Solid Waste Task Force and Metrolink board of directors.

Issues: Davis says there are no real issues in the 1996 council race. But he wants to remain in office to continue work on such programs as the extension of Cochran Street and expansion of the business corridor along it; the rebuilding of Tapo Street’s quake-damaged stores; and the construction of the new police headquarters.

Michael McCaffrey

Age: 37

Occupation: Financial planner

Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science, Cal State Northridge

Background: McCaffrey ran for council in 1994, finishing in third place with 17% of the vote after winners Paul Miller and Sandi Webb. He served as president of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce and member of the city’s Neighborhood Council No. 1.

Issues: McCaffrey advocates pushing harder to bring large employers and more jobs to the city. He also says the City Council should work harmoniously with the Simi Valley Unified School District board, which has had rancorous relations with the city in the past year. And he wants the city to set up more recreation centers for children.

Dennis Serbick

Age: 57

Occupation: Auto service center owner

Education: High school diploma, college courses in business administration and police sciences

Background: Serbick was a police officer in Phoenix, Ariz., for eight years before migrating to California. He has worked in Simi Valley for nearly 20 years and lived here since 1985. He ran against Davis and Williamson in 1992, coming in eighth in a field of 13 candidates, with 7% of the vote.

Issues: Serbick wants Simi Valley’s patrol officers to make more face-to-face contacts and establish better relations with people. He also criticizes the City Council for not working harder to repair or remove earthquake-damaged buildings, and for referring citizen complaints to city staff too often instead of handling problems personally.

Greg Stratton

Age: 50

Occupation: Division manager, military software development

Education: Bachelor’s degree in physics from UCLA, master’s in business administration from Cal Lutheran University.

Background: Stratton is running unopposed for his sixth term as Simi Valley’s mayor, and ninth term as a member of the City Council. The last difficult election challenge he faced was in 1992, when three other mayoral candidates combined failed to earn more than 37% of the vote.

Issues: Stratton is a 28-year resident of the city, and is satisfied with the way he and fellow council members are running it--so satisfied that he defies other council candidates to come up with real issues. He is proudest of Vision 2020, an evaluation of Simi Valley life that he launched to draft a blueprint for the city’s future.

David Jeffrey Weiner

Age: 34

Occupation: Unemployed, former Simi Valley police officer

Education: High school graduate, has studied administration of justice at Moorpark College.

Background: Weiner served three years as a San Gabriel policeman and 9 1/2 years on Simi Valley’s force before he was fired last September amid allegations of improper behavior and releasing confidential information. City and police officials won’t discuss his departure, but Weiner has since filed legal claims alleging he was wrongfully ousted.

Issues: Weiner is focusing his campaign on goals for improving the police force, from reforming the department’s upper management to buying more powerful guns and establishing a satellite police station in Wood Ranch. He also has called for improved bus service and more promotion of minorities in city jobs.

Barbara Williamson

Age: 52

Occupation: Bank vice president

Education: Two years of community college; marketing certificate from USC.

Background: A sitting councilwoman, Williamson serves on more than a dozen governmental committees and civic groups. She was first elected four years ago, partly on the strength of a pro-law enforcement campaign and heavy support from police groups.

Issues: A member of the Community Gang Task Force, she wants the city to do more to stop gang violence and divert at-risk youth to other pursuits--perhaps by setting up a boxing club. Williamson also is working with Tapo Street merchants to revitalize the quake-damaged business district. She supported using block grant funds to pay baseball stars to lecture kids about drugs.

Glenn Woodbury

Age: 42

Occupation: Owner of a weatherstripping business

Education: Associate’s degree with honors in industrial management from Golden West College.

Background: Woodbury filed a 1990 whistle-blower lawsuit alleging that his employer, Simi Valley defense contractor Natel Engineering Co. Inc., falsified tests on fighter jet parts. Natel’s owner pleaded guilty in 1993 to fraud charges. In 1994, Woodbury took fourth place in a close race for the Simi Valley school board.

Issues: He wants to help the city streamline the permitting process for new businesses and offer small businesses the same tax breaks and fee discounts offered to big businesses. He also wants to mend fences between the City Council and the school board. And he wants to speed up Tapo Street revitalization plans.