Credibility suddenly subject of forum

Noaki Schwartz

CORONA DEL MAR -- The leaders of dueling initiatives faced off on Monday

but ended up debating the trustworthiness of city officials instead of

the merits of the measures.

Greenlight proponents insisted that city officials cannot be trusted to

make decisions for voters, even hinting at the recent revelations that

Mayor John Noyes was on the run from the law for nearly a decade.

“There’s been all this talk of representative government,” said

Greenlight supporter Phil Arst. “In the words of Mayor Noyes, ‘trust your

elected officials.’ ”

Arst’s statement, expressed at Monday’s Corona del Mar Residents Assn.

forum, was in response to a comment from Noyes, who at a council meeting

earlier this year pleaded with residents to trust their elected officials

to make decisions about the city’s future.

Former councilwoman Lucille Kuhen said Arst’s comment was a “low blow.”

“It was below the belt and an unnecessary comment,” she said.

Upon later reflection, Arst said his comment about Noyes was made in

reference to something else.

The increasingly heated debate revolving around the Greenlight measure --

which proposes to give voters the final say on “major” developments --

has divided the city.

The community activists who drafted the measure say it was born in

response to an increasingly development-happy city council. City

officials countered by saying the Greenlight initiative undermines

representative government.

Greenlight supporters are now going head-to-head with the proponents of a

countermeasure, the Traffic Phasing Ordinance Preservation initiative. It

proposes to strengthen the city’s existing law, which is intended to

provide some relief from traffic. The countermeasure, if it wins over

enough voters, would render the Greenlight initiative ineffective.

The dueling groups have been battling it out at community forums and even

on the streets. Emotions have become so heated that a Greenlight

supporter was recently accused of accosting an advocate of the rival

initiative.

Monday’s forum was no different, with two community activists pitted

against two former city officials. Phil Arst and Susan Caustin

represented Greenlight and former city officials Clarence Turner and Tom

Edwards presented the Traffic Phasing Ordinance measure.

“Things are out of control,” said Caustin. “And that’s why a group of

residents came together and said ‘we need to gain control.’ ”

But countermeasure proponents insist that city officials deserve the

trust of voters.

“Somehow, Greenlight wants you to mistrust your council,” said former

mayor Clarence Turner. “I earned your trust. I worked like the devil to

get this trust. Everybody’s attacking these mythical council people.”

The debate over city officials’ integrity prompted Councilman Dennis

O’Neil -- normally a spectator at these meetings -- to make a statement.

“People in this town do respect and trust elected officials and I’m not

sure that’s totally the major issue here,” he said, adding that council

members don’t get together and “conspire about how they will ruin the

city.”

Far from gaining supporters, the debate appeared to baffle residents more

than anything else.

“I’m more confused now than I was when I came in,” said Sophie Edberg, a

longtime resident and member of the League of Women Voters.

Resident Erwin Fox agreed, adding that he didn’t trust either side.

The comment about Noyes followed a well-publicized May 25 report in the

Los Angeles Times, which detailed the mayor’s past history. Noyes

campaigned for city council on a law and order platform, but had been

wanted on criminal kidnapping charges in Idaho during the late 1970s and

early 1980s. Noyes had snatched his daughters, then 6 and 7, from the

legal custody of his ex-wife.

In an earlier written statement, Noyes said he had no choice but “to

pursue an aggressive course of action in order to protect [his]

children.”

The kidnapping charges, in effect from 1976 to 1985, were formally

dismissed in 1986.

In 1987, Noyes’ ex-wife, Ann Heltsley, sued him in federal court,

claiming that he had destroyed her relationship with her children. He was

found liable by a federal judge and Heltsley was awarded $665,000.

Noyes said in court depositions taken for the civil lawsuit that he

obtained a second Social Security card, driver’s license and bank account

issued under the name North for at least three years.