From Dogs to Drilling --It’s All Debatable : Politics: In two forums, contenders for City Council in the Hermosa Beach race take the stand to declare how they stand.

Two Hermosa Beach organizations, the Chamber of Commerce and the grass-roots Watchdog political group, sponsored back-to-back debates for council candidates this week, with the two incumbents and five challengers discussing issues ranging from unleashed dogs to downzoning to oil drilling.

The first debate, on Wednesday, was sponsored by Watchdog, a group formed earlier this year after the City Council announced that the leash law would be enforced along the Santa Fe Railroad right of way once the city acquires ownership. More than 80 residents attended that forum.

The Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters sponsored the second debate Thursday, drawing a crowd of about 80.

Despite rumors circulating before the debates that one of them may have been scheduled to upstage the other, both came off smoothly. Representatives of both groups said the timing appeared to be unintentional.

Mary Anne Boyle, secretary of Watchdog, said the group reserved the Clark Stadium community building for mid-October with the understanding that a chamber debate would not be held until the end of the month. The timing of the debates “should not be construed as any sort of competition,” she said.

Wes Bush, executive vice president of the chamber, said that although the chamber set up its debate first, he did not think Watchdog intended to cause problems.

Three of the five council seats are up for grabs. Two incumbents, Mayor June Williams and Councilwoman Etta Simpson, are running for second terms. Councilman Jim Rosenberger is not running for reelection.

The five challengers are Les Barry, Robert Benz, Robert Essertier, Kathleen Midstokke, and Albert G. Wiemans.

Voters also face competing ballot measures on two issues--the fate of the Biltmore hotel site and whether dogs should be allowed off their leashes on the Santa Fe Railroad right of way.

The dog issue is represented on the ballot by a Watchdog-sponsored initiative to allow dogs to be off their leashes and by a city-sponsored proposal to require them to be leashed.

After the Watchdog proposal qualified for the ballot, the City Council voted 3 to 2 in June to add its own ballot measure, which would designate the 20-acre strip a parkland and would specifically ban unleashed dogs.

During the forums, however, some candidates said the dog issue is not as crucial as others facing the city, including housing density, a parking shortage, the aging sewer system and measures to improve the downtown business district.

Williams, who voted in June to ban unleashed dogs from the right of way, voiced reservations Wednesday about attending a politically sponsored forum, saying in her introductory remarks that her presence “does not mean I support the views of the political group sponsoring this forum.”

In both debates, candidates gave brief introductory descriptions of their backgrounds and discussed their positions on the issues. The introductory session was followed by written questions from the audience, read by moderator Lance Whitman. Candidates also fielded questions from a panel of reporters at Thursday’s debate.

Here are some views expressed by the candidates:

*Barry, 66, a free-lance journalist and a vocal opponent of oil drilling in the city, argued that it would be detrimental to the environment and said the city would be restricted in how it could spend oil revenues because the site is on tidelands property. He said some residents voted for oil drilling in 1984 in the erroneous belief that if they did not, the city would not have enough money to buy the right of way and condominiums would be built on the property. Barry also criticized the city for signing a lease with MacPherson Oil before seeing an environmental impact report. On the Biltmore issue, Barry suggested the city consider alternative uses for the site, including building a surfing hall of fame there.

*Benz, 30, an engineer and the host of a local cable television show, described himself as a pro-oil candidate whose engineering background would be useful in mitigating the impact of oil drilling in the city. Benz said the city should encourage businesses to remain in the city, to maintain sales tax revenues and offset an estimated $20 million cost of repairing the city’s sewer system.

* Essertier, 40, a computer software entrepreneur who has lived in Hermosa Beach for 15 years, said he favors oil drilling, despite personal reservations, because the city can use oil revenues for needed city services and repair of the infrastructure. Essertier said the dog-leash measure is not an issue because it is on the ballot and will be decided by the voters.

* Midstokke, 39, was elected Hermosa Beach city clerk in 1984. Midstokke said she would work toward the city’s acquiring excess school property for open space and to put a measure on the ballot defining how open space can be used. Midstokke called city fiscal policies lax. She cited a cost overrun of $145,000 for an environmental impact report on the right of way that she said should have been paid for by the developer, and the loss of $10,000 in improperly charged movie permit fees over the last two years.

* Wiemans, 48, an attorney, criticized the present council as unresponsive to residents. He advocated overhauling the entire City Council and reducing the size of some city departments. Wiemans opposes the council’s decisions to lower densities throughout the city, arguing that because downzoning makes some properties legally nonconforming, it limits property owners’ rights and decreases property values. Though he is personally opposed to oil drilling, Wiemans said, he would support it because the voters approved it in a 1984 election.

* Councilwoman Simpson, 67, describing herself as an analytical council member who has taken strong stands to decrease density, said she is concerned about the environmental impact of oil drilling in the city. Simpson said she has saved the city $21,500 in salary and insurance costs during her tenure by serving for a salary of $1 a year.

* Mayor Williams, 61, said that in a second term, she would continue her efforts to decrease density and congestion. Williams said that when she took office four years ago, city budget projections were bleak. A balanced budget was projected this year, she said, but the city needs to increase revenue to keep up with inflation. She also said the city needs to begin environmental reviews of large developments.

At Wednesday’s forum, representatives of the four ballot measures--two on each issue--also addressed the crowd of about 100.

Community activist Parker Herriott, who spearheaded a ballot initiative to convert the Biltmore site into a park, urged voters to support that initiative.

Councilman Chuck Sheldon spoke in favor of both city-sponsored measures.

He called the measure to approve use of the Biltmore site as a mix of commercial, residential and open space “an excellent compromise ballot measure.”

Sheldon also said that dogs need to be leashed, citing a recent incident in which he said a 10-year-old Hermosa Valley School student was attacked but not seriously hurt by a leashed pit bull on the right of way.