Debay says goodbye

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT BEACH -- At first, Councilwoman Jan Debay’s choice of Bob

Henry Park as the backdrop to her reflections on eight years on the City

Council seems a little odd.

As the elected representative for West Newport Beach, West Newport

Park or the vacant Caltrans lot, which the city hopes to turn into a

community park, would appear to be more obvious picks. The forest of

utility poles along Ocean Boulevard, which is scheduled to disappear with

undergrounding projects supported by Debay, might have been another

option.

But sitting on a bench at Bob Henry Park’s playground, Debay quickly

explained why she decided on the site, which she dedicated during her

time as mayor in August 1997.

Henry, a Newport Beach police officer, had been shot in the head by a

suicidal man near the park in 1995. His death remained “one of the very

hardest times” of Debay’s council tenure.

“You feel like you should be able to do something to help,” she said.

“But out of hard times have come good things. The park is a tribute [to

Henry]. Sometimes it takes a long time for good things to show. It seems

like the hardest times were when we were working together.”

With City Council members recently facing increased criticism from

residents for their “refusal to listen,” Debay pointed to economic good

times as the real cause for the outcry.

“The spirit of criticism only comes up when things are really good,”

she said. “During war time, everybody pulls together.”

The public’s perception of council members as adversarial politicians

is something Debay struggled with from the time she took office in 1992.

“Overnight, you go from being an ordinary citizen and taxpayer to

being a target of being called a bureaucrat and politician,” she said,

adding that local elected officials should strive to be nonpolitical

public servants rather than politicians. “You count yourself as part of a

team and then, when you’re sitting up on the council, you become a target

and you feel like saying, ‘Hey guys, I’m one of you.”’

Initially, the surgical nurse and mother of three laughed off

suggestions to run for office.

Growing up in Los Angeles, “it never even occurs to you that you could

be part of a city council,” she said.

But when the Debays moved to Newport Beach in 1979, her desire to

solve problems quickly got her involved in the community.

First came the West Newport Beach Assn., where she became president in

1983. Debay also accepted an appointment to the city’s Environmental

Quality Advisory Committee, a position she held from 1981 to 1985,

chairing the group in 1983.

Although nursing had offered Debay an opportunity to work part-time

and nights while raising her family, she decided to get a real estate

license in the mid-1980s. Her work in that field introduced her to the

city’s areas and problems in greater detail, she said, and helped to

prepare her for a position as planning commissioner, which she took on in

1987.

From her seat on the commission, the jump to the council seemed

logical.

“After five years on the planning commission, it gets in your blood,”

she said. “There’s so much information out there that isn’t available

unless you search things out.”

Pointing to dedication plaques around the city, Debay said her

proudest achievements -- such as her involvement in building the Balboa

Island fire station, the dedication of the Newport Beach Central Public

Library and the Bob Henry and Castaways Parks -- would be visible for

years to come.

“I’m a real results-oriented person, and those were good years for

real results,” she said. “One of the frustrating things of government is

to get things done, and those were good years.”

Debay said she hopes to stay involved in fighting for affordable

housing past Tuesday, when she’ll step down as acouncil member to make

room for her successor, Gary Proctor.

“Just because you get out of office, you don’t just turn off,” Debay

said.

Last month, a crowd of friends and supporters threw a party at the

Balboa Bay Club to thank Debay for her service to the city, some

expressing their regret that term limits had prevented her from running

again.

Debay, who had made city government her full-time job, said she hadn’t

decided on what to do with her newfound free time.

She briefly toyed with the idea of running for Marilyn Brewer’s seat

in the state Assembly. But because the district also includes areas in

South County, a Newport Beach candidate had no chance of winning because

of differing views on a proposed airport at the closed El Toro Marine

Corps Air Station, Debay said.

“The challenge for me will be to fill that free time with meaningful

activity,” she said, a brief glimpse of sadness appearing on her face.

“How do you find a niche when you are no longer an elected person?”

Spending more time with Terry, her husband of 43 years, and her

daughters Lisa, Lori and Lynn, as well as her grandchildren, will be one

thing.

“I may have to learn how to cook again,” she said, smiling, adding

that the couple has made takeout dinners their staple diet for the past

eight years.