Council hopefuls go head to head
Noaki Schwartz
NEWPORT BEACH -- City Council hopefuls Bob Wynn and John Heffernan
announced they are definitely candidates, despite acknowledgments that
they could split the vote if they both run against incumbent Tom Thomson.
Wynn, a former city manager, and Heffernan, a local attorney, have
talked about the possibility that they could lose because they could
divide votes.
Despite this, the two say they are determined to run. Thomson’s
district includes Harbor View, Spyglass Hill and Jasmine Creek.
“If two challengers run, it will be more difficult to beat an
incumbent,” Wynn said. “Then again, a vote split got Phil Sansone
elected.”
Wynn and Heffernan have decided to go for it because they have
differing opinions on the city’s hottest topic -- the dueling traffic
measures that will appear on the November ballot.
While Wynn is a strong supporter of the Traffic Phasing initiative,
Heffernan has said he has problems with it and the competing Greenlight
measure.
The Greenlight initiative proposes to give residents the final say on
potential developments that would create more than 100 peak-hour car
trips, more than 100 homes or more than 40,000 square feet of floor area
over what the city’s general plan allows.
The Traffic Phasing initiative proposes to cement the city’s traffic
law into the city charter. The traffic ordinance is a city regulation
designed to ensure that developers whose projects generate added traffic
contribute to the cost of improving intersections. Also, if voters
approve both initiatives, it would nullify the Greenlight measure if it
receives more votes.
“The TPI doesn’t go far enough and is just a reaction to Greenlight,”
Heffernan said. “I endorse what [Greenlight] has to say, but I’m not at
this point saying I will vote for it.”
Heffernan said the Greenlight measure is not tough enough, it could
prompt too many special elections and it takes power from city
government.
Wynn, on the other hand, is one of the authors of the Traffic Phasing
initiative.
“When the Greenlight ballot qualified, I made a decision that ballot
box planning is not our form of government,” Wynn said. “Our form of
government already has a provision for a referendum. You could recall a
councilman or referendum a proposition.”
Instead of simply opposing Greenlight, Wynn said he tried to come up
with a better alternative. The Traffic Phasing initiative, he said, takes
the heart of the traffic law and places it in the city’s constitution.
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