Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Councilman Acosta Won’t Run for Mayor

City Councilman John Acosta has dropped his plans to run for mayor in November and will instead try to hold his council seat against a field that will include another incumbent, Wilson B. Hart.

Acosta said Friday that he decided to stay out of the mayoral race--the city’s first--because “there is a good candidate out there already, Vern Evans, and there’s no need for us bumping heads.”

Evans is a former mayor who served on the council for 10 years. He took out papers earlier in the week for the mayoral race.

Current Mayor Dan Young also plans to enter the race, and Gordon Bricken, another former mayor and council member, has taken out nomination papers for mayor and for a council seat.

The recent redistricting of the city placed Acosta and Hart, who are bitter political rivals, in Ward No. 3, which is at the north end of the city.

Santa Ana council members are nominated by ward but are elected citywide.

Also taking out nomination papers for the Ward 3 race were Joan Wilkinson, a former member and president of the Santa Ana Unified School District board, and George Hanna, a leader of the Santa Ana Merged Society of Neighbors, a group critical of the current council.

Another potential candidate, Robert Thomas Jr., took out papers for the Ward 3 race Thursday.

Candidates have until Aug. 12 to file for the council races. Acosta had said he would wait until Aug. 11 to announce his plans but changed his mind because the field was already becoming crowded. “So many people were pulling out papers today, I thought I should too,” he said.