Greenlighters missed Koll expansion vote

Paul Clinton

Two candidates endorsed by Greenlight failed to case their ballots

during the November 2001 election that served as first test of the

city’s controlled-growth law, county voting records show.

Richard Taylor and Madelene Arakelian did not vote during the

city’s special election on Measure G, the Koll Center’s expansion bid

that was turned down by voters. A year earlier, Newport Beach voters

passed Measure S, the Greenlight measure that requires large

development projects to pass muster at the ballot box.

A review of the voting records of all 11 City Council candidates

showed that the other Greenlight candidates, Allan Beek and Richard

Nichols, both cast ballots in the Koll special election.

Voting records only show whether a person voted, not how.

Greenlight spokesman Phil Arst said the group is still backing

Taylor and Arakelian.

“I think it’s making a mountain out of a molehill,” Arst said.

“These candidates are absolutely true Greenlight candidates.”

When contacted, Taylor said he could not vote in the Koll election

because he was caring for an ill wife and three children.

“My daughter had just been born,” Taylor said. “It was just hard

enough to get those kids out of the house each day.”

Taylor is running to unseat Councilman Gary Adams in District 4,

which includes the Upper Newport Bay, Westcliff and Dover Shores.

Arakelian said she didn’t cast a ballot against the Koll Center

because she was registered to vote in Laguna Hills at the time.

Arakelian owns homes in that area and on Balboa Peninsula. She

re-registered at her East Ocean Boulevard home in July.

“I can’t remember that election,” Arakelian said. “It’s not

because I’m not a Greenlight supporter or avid fanatic.”

Arakelian is running for the District 1 seat, which includes the

peninsula, currently held by Mayor Tod Ridgeway, who is seeking

reelection. Marianne Zippi is also running for that seat.

Taylor, who campaigned avidly for an El Toro airport, also failed

to vote in the March 5 election on Measure W, which rezones the

former Marine base for a park. The measure, which passed on a 67%

margin, served as the most recent proving ground for an airport at

the base.

The approval of the measure, coupled with the Navy’s announcement

that the land would be auctioned off to the highest bidder, has all

but ended any chance an airport will ever be built at the base.

Taylor is also a board member of the Airport Working Group, the

Newport Beach activist committee that has lobbied for an airport at

the base for about two decades.

On Tuesday, Taylor said he didn’t remember voting in the Measure W

election.

“I’m going to take a look at my records and see where I was that

day,” Taylor said. “I was probably out running around doing some

last-minute politicking.”

On Wednesday, Taylor retracted that comment, saying “I know I

voted.”

Taylor, records show, also skipped the Measure A school bond

election in June of 2001.

Taylor’s track record raised concerns among other candidates. Both

Adams and Ridgeway said Taylor’s pattern of failing to vote should

raise red flags with voters.

“When you don’t vote, how can you participate in the process,”

Ridgeway asked. “It’s disingenuous to me to advocate a view and not

vote.”

Ridgeway and Adams voted in both of the elections, records show.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment and politics. He may be

reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.