Seal Beach Candidates Target Tax, Growth

In a city where past political controversies spurred death threats against city leaders, the campaigns to fill four City Council seats on March 24 have been pretty mild.

Sure, there’s been some mudslinging, a criminal investigation, heated barbs at council meetings and the standard Seal Beach neighborhood infighting, but--aside from the recall race in College Park East--the campaigns are more laughs than snarls.

Take the Old Town seat, where three candidates running on similar platforms all came out during a recent voters forum squarely against “the snack belt”--planned concessions at the city pier.

“The pier is our most valuable asset,” candidate Shawn R. Boyd said. “We’ve fought hard to keep it undeveloped.”

Across town in Leisure World, candidates Harry Fulton and William J. Doane are running low-key campaigns based on their records of service on the City Council and various Leisure World boards.

To Sue Corbin, an Old Town resident who regularly challenges city spending, the mild campaigns mean that real concerns are being ignored.

“People are looking for reassurance, so no one is talking about real issues,” Corbin said. “The main thing in this election is we’re fighting business interests versus residents’ interests. This is the old battle of who is going to control the town.”

That’s why she’s supporting Boyd’s “residents first” campaign. One of his opponents, Matthew Duggan, is a member of the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce, which to Corbin puts him solidly on the side of developers and businesspeople who many residents fear will choke their charming seaside town with strip malls.

Duggan ducks the developer label like the curse it is in Seal Beach.

“That’s the kiss of death here,” he said. “I’ve never developed a piece of property in my entire political career.”

No one understands that development “kiss of death” better than College Park East Councilwoman Patty Campbell, who is facing a recall vote halfway into her term.

The recall centers on Bixby Ranch Co.’s plans to develop a 40-acre chunk of land across from the Rossmoor Shopping Center on Seal Beach Boulevard. Campbell, a self-described environmentalist, set off her opponents by signing a memorandum of understanding with Bixby Ranch that allowed the developer to explore an all-commercial plan on the site in return for an assurance that the city would recover some of its costs to review the project.

Some residents took this as an outright violation of the slow-growth, environmentalist platform Campbell ran on in 1996.

“She’s taken her own agenda to City Hall,” said Arden W. “Ace” Yeam, her opponent in the recall election. “She’s never once discussed the [Bixby] project with us. . . . She went ahead and stuck her foot in the mud by signing the [memorandum of understanding], and now she’s having a hell of a time weaseling out of it because we all know what she did.”

Campbell is enraged by the attack.

“I signed the MOU. So what?” she said. “It was a reimbursement document to the city, that’s why I signed it. The city isn’t agreeing to anything.”

Campbell thinks residents were misled into signing the recall petition. A district attorney’s investigation into her complaint turned up “insufficient evidence” to make a case. Both campaigns have tried to twist that wording to their advantage.

The College Park East fray is nothing new to Seal Beach. Downtown merchants are at odds with residents over parking and tourism. College Park East residents think that too much emphasis is put on downtown, and the roughly 8,700 residents of Leisure World (about one-fourth of the city’s population) think they pay more than their fair share of taxes.

Taxes--specifically the city’s 11% utility users tax--are one of the few issues on which most residents agree. The tax brings $3.7 million into the city’s cash-strapped $12.4-million general fund. City staffers say the tax is crucial to the city budget, especially considering the aging infrastructure of sewers, storm drains, streets and alleys that already are in need of major renovations.

Residents hate it.

“It’s basically punishment for living in Seal Beach,” said Bill Orton, who dropped out of the District 3 race this month because he couldn’t afford to take time off work. “People want it lowered.”

Most of the candidates are willing to oblige--if only they knew how.

Doane’s plan includes “sacrifice. . . . I don’t know how we are going to do it, but we are going to do it.” His opponent, Fulton, came up with a similar--and equally vague--answer.

Charles J. Antos, who has been eclipsed by opponents Duggan and Boyd, is the only candidate who promised to reduce the tax within four years through aggressive grant applications and by slashing the city’s legal costs.

Marina Hill candidate Stanley G. Anderson thinks careful development could ease residents’ tax burden. Meanwhile, Duggan and Anderson’s opponent, Paul Yost, favor lobbying state lawmakers to return property taxes to the city.

But Campbell said the state is unlikely to relinquish its hold on city coffers.

“The chances of getting money back from the state are slim to none,” she said.

Going against the grain is Boyd, who supports the tax he calls “an investment in our future.” He points out that a tax cut of one percentage point means $350,000 less to a city that’s already straining under a stagnant tax base.

“It’s unfortunate that the utility tax is as high as it is, but we can’t cut it at this time,” he said. “My feeling is that if we get rid of it in the near future, we’ll disincorporate.”

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On the Ballot

Here are the nine candidates running for four City Council seats in Seal Beach:

DISTRICT 1

(Old Town and Surfside)

Charles J. Antos

Age: 52

Family: Married, two sons, six grandchildren

Education: Bachelor’s degree in social science, master’s in geography, Cal State Long Beach

Occupation: Transportation planner for Orange County

Political affiliation: Republican

Background: Worked for the city of Seal Beach for 11 years; city resident and community activist for 18 years

Issues: Says city should seek grants and cut legal and consulting fees to offset 11% utility tax; wants city to stop changing zoning for developers; thinks county should go back to the drawing board on best public use for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station

Quote: “If council members cooperate and look at the city as a whole, that would end up defusing a lot of the little groups who feel like they have the power to run the city. Unfortunately, the council listens to them.”

*

Shawn R. Boyd

Age: 29

Family: Married, two children

Education: Studied fire science at a community college; state-certified firefighter

Occupation: Business owner

Political affiliation: Republican

Background: Member of Seal Beach Volunteer Fire Department; avid surfer; Seal Beach resident for 14 years; serves on city’s Civil Service Board

Issues: Says utility tax is “an investment in our future” and a necessary evil; thinks city should move cautiously on development; wants Los Angeles County to pay for San Gabriel River pollution that washes up in Seal Beach; undecided about El Toro

Quote: “I grew up surfing at Seal Beach. I want to see my children enjoy the same things I did, and we could really lose that with the wrong City Council here.”

*

Matthew Duggan

Age: 38

Family: Unmarried

Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychology, Notre Dame; doctorate in clinical psychology, University of Buffalo

Occupation: Own psychology practice in Long Beach

Political affiliation: Declines to state

Background: Lived in Seal Beach for nine years; member of Los Alamitos Board of Education since 1994; member of Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce

Issues: Wants to form a citizens task force with “carte blanche” access to City Hall to tackle city problems; wants state to return property tax money to offset utility tax; supports slow-growth approach to development; undecided about El Toro

Quote: “I’m concerned about keeping Old Town and Seal Beach the quaint community that it is. To do that, we have to improve the budget.”

DISTRICT 3

(Marina Hill, part of Old Town)

Stanley G. Anderson

Age: 54

Family: Married, three children

Education: Attended community college

Occupation: Restaurant owner

Political affiliation: Republican

Background: Born and raised in Seal Beach; former president of Seal Beach Business Assn.; active in Little League baseball and other sports since 1966

Issues: Favors cautious development; wants to improve city sales tax base and help offset utility tax; supports commercial airport at El Toro

Quote: “We need to find responsible ways to bring in revenue. Until we have that, our hands are tied.”

*

Paul Yost

Age: 38

Family: Married, two children

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Stanford University; medical degree, Baylor College of Medicine

Occupation: Pediatric anesthesiologist

Political affiliation: Democrat

Background: Moved to Seal Beach six years ago; serves on Planning Commission; crusaded against high-voltage power lines in his neighborhood

Issues: Favors developments such as the Hellman golf course-residence project; wants state to return property taxes to offset utility tax; plans to lobby Los Angeles County to clean up San Gabriel River; undecided on El Toro

Quote: “We’re the trash dumping ground for every town inland of here, and we have to pay to clean it up. It’s time for that to end.”

DISTRICT 4

(College Park East recall election)

Patty Campbell

Age: 56

Family: Married, three children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in accounting, Pace University; master’s in business, Cal State Long Beach

Occupation: Property manager; incumbent councilwoman

Political affiliation: Republican

Background: Seal Beach resident for 28 years; elected to City Council in 1996; worked on Planning Commission for three years; lifetime Girl Scout member

Issues: Opposes any development requiring city to change zoning rules; thinks utility tax is high but necessary; supports commercial airport at El Toro

Quote: “The wrong type development will change the look and feel of our community forever.”

*

Arden W. “Ace” Yeam

Age: 71

Family: Married, two children, two granddaughters

Education: Attended University of Maryland

Occupation: Retired logistic manager for Toyota

Political affiliation: Republican

Background: Retired U.S. Marine Corps officer; named Seal Beach Man of the Year in 1994 for volunteer activities; Seal Beach resident for 30 years

Issues: Supports limited residential development to help offset utility tax; supports commercial airport at El Toro

Quote: Downtown residents don’t care about “anything north of Pacific Coast Highway, and that’s been the attitude in the city for years. That has got to change.”

DISTRICT 5

(Leisure World)

William J. Doane

Age: 76

Family: Married

Education: Attended community college

Occupation: Retired data processing manager

Political affiliation: Democrat

Background: Has lived in Seal Beach for 19 years; served five years as Leisure World representative on City Council; resigned after 1996 election because he felt he would be “ineffective” with new council; served on Leisure World’s Golden Rain Board

Issues: Says utility tax is too high and that “sacrifice” and new business will reduce it; supports commercial airport at El Toro

Quote: “Our city has a very unfriendly reputation when it comes to businesses. Boy, do I want to correct that.”

*

Harry Fulton

Age: 75

Family: Married, two children

Education: Graduated from business college in Sioux City, Iowa

Occupation: Retired business manager; incumbent councilman

Political affiliation: Independent

Background: Has lived in Seal Beach for 11 years; appointed as Doane’s replacement on the City Council in 1996; president of Mutual 7 and the President’s Council at Leisure World

Issues: Supports limited development such as the Hellman project; says cost-cutting at City Hall could reduce the utility tax; favors commercial airport at El Toro

Quote: “District 5 is self-supporting. We don’t require much help from the city. In fact, we give much more than we get.”

Source: Individual candidates; Researched by PHIL DAVIS / For The Times