A lifelong interest to serve the public

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- With the new year firmly in place, Councilwoman

Connie Boardman says she is looking forward to not just 2001, but her

entire four-year term as a city leader.

Voters chose Boardman for the City Council in November, and she was

sworn in a month later with another successful candidate and a returning

incumbent, beating out 17 other hopefuls in one of the largest elections

some residents have ever seen.

“I’m very proud of her, and it is really nice to see how happy she was

on election night,” said Dick LeGrue, Boardman’s husband. “It made the

whole campaign effort worth it.”

Originally from Lynwood in Los Angeles County, Boardman was raised in

La Mirada, where the political bug bit her as a child.

“When I was 12, I got involved in a local La Mirada election,

campaigning for City Council candidates,” she said. “It was more than

just a fascination with the political process with me, it was an interest

in public service.”

Now 42, Boardman, a nine-year resident of Huntington Beach, said she

wants to represent the city by listening.

“I hope to be a council member who listens to the community and

responds to its concerns,” said Boardman, a Cal State Long Beach graduate

and a biology professor at Cerritos College. “I am also one who is

devoted to cleaning up the environmental problems in the city.”

Boardman’s environmental concerns are well-known.

For the past eight years she has been a member of the Bolsa Chica Land

Trust, working to preserve the Bolsa Chica mesa from development. She

served as president of the organization in 1993 and, until recently, was

also a board member.

Boardman has also been outspoken against the Wal-Mart store planned at

the former Crest View Elementary School on Talbert Avenue, near Beach

Boulevard, which city voters approved in March. She ran for City Council

two years ago but lost by 133 votes to Councilman Peter Green.

“She’s wonderful, knowledgeable, and I’m really thrilled she sits on

the council now,” said resident Eileen Murphy, a founding member of the

Bolsa Chica Land Trust. Boardman “is well-rounded and doesn’t stick to

just one issue in the city.”

There are some, however, who haven’t agreed with the new councilwoman

on issues in the past.

“I just hope she will be a positive force for the city,” said Tracy

Pellman, a trustee with the Ocean View School District who co-chaired the

Save Our Schools, Save Our City group that supported the Wal-Mart plan.

“I feel like she used the Wal-Mart issue to get elected and has a main

focus on Bolsa Chica. That’s important, but you have to stand for more

than just Bolsa Chica, and I hope she’ll be looking at the city’s needs

for infrastructure and money from new businesses.”

Boardman said she learned while campaigning that there are not just

one or two issues on the minds of residents, but many -- ranging from

quality of life and open space concerns to infrastructure maintenance and

repair.

“There is a need in this city for elected officials who are responsive

to people in the community . . . and the best way to represent

[residents] is through communication,” she said.