Low Turnout Expected for Municipal Elections

By DOUGLAS P. SHUIT and RICHARD WINTON

April 13, 1998 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

With city clerks preparing for a new round of municipal elections in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, low turnouts are expected just about everywhere but the Santa Catalina Island city of Avalon.

At least half of Avalon’s 2,100 voters, if not more, are expected to vote.

City Clerk Shirley Davy, who knows many of the voters personally, said she would have it no other way.

“If we don’t do better than 50%, I’ll have a fit,” she said, adding that she went on the local cable channel and “bawled everyone out” when turnout dipped to 46% during a recent election.

Without state or national elections as a draw, local election officials are expecting turnouts of 10% to just over 20%.

Voters in two dozen Los Angeles County communities will go to the polls Tuesday, casting ballots on City Council seats, other municipal offices, and a range of tax and land development issues.

The longest ballot in the county is in Long Beach, where Mayor Beverly O’Neill is running for her second term and where retirements have opened up the offices of city attorney and city prosecutor. City Auditor Gary Burroughs also faces a challenge for his second full term.

In addition, Long Beach voters will cast ballots for five of the nine City Council seats and fill posts on the school and community college boards.

Mayoral elections will also be held in Lancaster, Lawndale and Avalon.

Among the tax issues are proposals to boost utility taxes in Arcadia and Hawthorne, a 10% hotel tax in Whittier, and a new parcel tax in Vernon.

There will be votes on school bonds and use of open space in a number of cities.

In Long Beach, O’Neill faces four challengers, none of whom has held elective office before.

City Hall enjoys a period of relative peace with hotel occupancy and real estate going up, the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific heading toward a June opening, and other bright spots throughout the city. That is in sharp contrast to four years ago, when O’Neill won in a runoff after a primary with 13 candidates, including two City Council members and the incumbent mayor, Ernie Kell.

“This election is a lot different than the first one,” O’Neill said.

One of her opponents is Lee Davis, the publisher of the Wrigley Bulletin newspaper. Davis has been active on the west side, organizing business and preservation groups, but she hasn’t been able to raise matching funds.

Also in the mayor’s campaign are “Ski” Demski, a perennial mayoral candidate; G. Juan Johnson, a legal advocate, and Karl A. Tiedemann, who is retired from the military.

City Prosecutor John Vander Lans is retiring after 20 years. Candidates for prosecutor include attorney and victims’ advocate Gerrie Schipske, Deputy City Atty. Tom Reeves, Assistant City Prosecutor Robert R. Recknagel, and Evan Anderson Braude, on leave as a special assistant to Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn.

As with other city races in Long Beach, there will be a runoff June 2 if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote.

In one of the city’s winner-take-all races, two candidates are running to replace retiring City Atty. John R. Calhoun. They are Robert E. Shannon, Calhoun’s chief assistant, and attorney Wayne Kistner, president of the civic group Leadership Long Beach.

Kistner questions the city’s record in defending costly lawsuits filed over downtown redevelopment, reuse of the now vacant naval base, and a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by an attorney in the prosecutor’s office. Kistner believes the suits should have been headed off much earlier or settled more favorably; Shannon contends the city got the best deals possible.

City Auditor Burroughs is being challenged by private accountant William Molnar, who successfully fought proposals to use increases in the utility tax to pay for construction of a new 911 emergency system.

In the San Gabriel Valley, Arcadia voters are being asked to increase the city utility tax from 7% to 9%. A special tax for fire services was overwhelmingly rejected in Arcadia last year. Four Arcadia City Council seats are up for grabs. Among the hottest issues is the nearly $10 million spent by the council to revitalize downtown Arcadia at the same time the council was cutting $1 million in services from the budget. One candidate calls the revitalization effort “a $10-million fiasco.”

In Sierra Madre, measure I-97-1 would remove historic designation from 29 properties, including a large estate and a famous 104-year-old wisteria vine outside another home.

Property owners say the designation made under an old city law infringes on their rights.

Monterey Park, meanwhile, has five measures on the ballot ranging from a library tax to rezoning of a portion of the Operating Industries Inc. landfill north of the Pomona Freeway for retail use.

A portion of the Operating Industries landfill contains so much hazardous waste it was listed as a federal Superfund site, but city officials say the 45 acres they want for a mall is the least polluted part of the landfill and would be cleaned up.

In the South Bay, Lawndale Mayor Harold Hoffman is being challenged by Nancy Marthens, a former councilwoman whom Hoffman defeated two years ago by an 11-vote margin.

Hawthorne voters are being asked to approve a temporary boost in the utility tax from 5% to 9%. The increase, if approved, would be in effect until June 30, 2001, when it would revert to 5%.

In November, Hawthorne voters opposed increasing the tax to 10%, a defeat that city officials blamed for a $4-million budget shortfall. As a result, officials laid off one-third of the city staff, reduced police responsiveness, closed the youth center and cut hours at the senior center.

Malibu voters will fill two City Council seats. Issues being debated are the restoration of the Malibu pier, which has been shut since 1980; proposed hotel and commercial developments; and pollution of Malibu Lagoon, Malibu Creek and area beaches.

In Culver City, voters will elect a city clerk and two City Council members. A key issue has been how to develop the city without losing its small-town feel.

Correspondents Tracy Johnson, Sue McAllister and Julia Scheeres contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Voters in 24 cities and school district in Los Angeles County will go the the polls on Tuesday. A summary of the races and issues at stake:

Arcadia

Four City Council seats and two ballot measures:

Measure A

Shall the city increase the utility users tax rate from 5% to 7% until 2002?

Measure B

Shall the city charter be amended to allow non-management library employees to be part of the city’s classified civil service?

Avalon

Mayor and two City Council seats

Beverly Hills Unified School District

One board member

Culver City

Two City Council seats and city clerk

Compton Unified School District

$107 million school bond measure

Duarte Unified School District

$44 million school bond measure

El Segundo

Two City Council seats

Hawthorne

Ballot measure: Shall the existing rate of various utility users taxes be adjusted to 9% until 2001 at which time it will revert to 5%?

Industry

One City Council seat

La Canada Flintridge

One City Council seat

Lancaster

Mayor and three City Council seats

Lawndale

Mayor, city clerk, two City Council seats and one ballot measure:

Measure A:

Shall the city and redevelopment agency be authorized to spend up to $15 million to plan and construct the Hawthorne Boulevard Project.

Long Beach

Mayor, city attorney, city auditor, city prosecutor and five City Council seats.

Long Beach Unified

Two Board of Education seats

Long Beach Community College District

Three Governing Board seats

Malibu

Two City Council seats

Montebello Unified School District

$92 million school bond measure

Monterey Park

Measure C:

Shall the city establish a special property tax for the City Library?

Measure D:

Shall the McCaslin Business Park zoning be changed from industrial to office professional?

Measure E:

Shall the city’s General Plan zoning map be changed for open space designation on public sites?

Measure F:

Shall the city’s General Plan be changed to expand a commercial zone and allow for development along North Garfield Avenue and Garvey Avenue between Atlantic Boulevard and New Avenue?

Measure G:

Shall the city’s General Plan and zoning map be changed to reclassify the northeast part of the Operating Industries Inc. landfill from industrial to commercial?

Paramount Unified School District

$35 million school bond measure:

Santa Clarita

Three City Council seats

Sierra Madre

Three City Council seats and one ballot question:

Measure I-97-1 cq

Shall the city remove all federal, state and local restrictions from 29 properties presently considered historic?

South Whittier School District

$15 school bond measure

Temple City Unified School District

$24 million School Bond measure