Council candidates cover issues

Deirdre Newman

Eleven City Council hopefuls stayed cool under pressure while

answering tough audience questions Wednesday night -- despite the

oppressively warm room -- during the first candidates forum.

The forum, hosted by the Mesa Verde homeowners association

featured all the candidates running for the three open council seats

in November, except Terry Shaw, an accounting manager who was part of

the effort to get the 1901 Newport Blvd. project reduced.

The event was a chance for residents to get a sense of who the

lesser-known candidates are and to hear the incumbents explain some

of their previous decisions. The candidates didn’t have time to

expound on issues in detail but offered snippets of their positions

in response to questions from the audience and each other.

That was enough to get a feel for the individual personalities in

the crowded field.

“I think they spoke on controversial issues that we need to make

sure they take a tough stand on to protect our quality of life, like

airports and department stores in neighborhoods,” Mesa Verde

homeowner Karen Bellerose-Hudgins said. “I’m pleased overall. We have

some quality people [running].”

The 11 candidates at the forum were incumbent Mike Scheafer, who

was appointed last year, when former Mayor Karen Robinson left to

become an Orange County Superior Court judge; incumbent Chris Steel;

Planning Commission members Bruce Garlich, Katrina Foley, and Eric

Bever; former Mayor Linda Dixon; Parks and Recreation Commissioner

Mirna Burciaga; and residents Sam Clark, Karl Ahlf, Michael Clifford

and Richard Carroll.

Audience members submitted questions, and moderators Darnel

Wyrick, president of the association, and vice-president Charlene

Ashendorf directed about 40 of them to the candidates, giving two a

chance to respond to each question. One of those questions regarded

the general plan.

Dixon said she thought it was time to reexamine the plan.

“I think the vision of Costa Mesa has changed,” Dixon said. “There

are concerns about density and traffic ... and urbanization.”

Garlich said he thought certain areas might warrant new scrutiny

in terms of the density allowed.

In response to a question about placing utility lines underground,

which has already happened in some parts of the city, Carroll said

issues like that could be resolved in a five-year vision plan for the

city. City leaders must talk about and plan for the future, said

Carroll, a real estate agent.

“It’s like a marriage. We need to talk and need a counselor to

show us out of the woods,” Caroll said.

Clifford, a small-business manager, talked about the city’s

budget, saying he had already downloaded it on his home computer and

was studying it to see what the city’s financial priorities should

be.

After the candidates fielded questions from the audience, they got

a chance to ask each other questions.

If he keeps his seat on the dais in November, Steel said he will

reiterate his desire for the city to send a strongly-worded letter in

both English and Spanish to residents, spelling out the city’s

fireworks policy and the repercussions of violating it. If the

council doesn’t go along with that, then he said he would try to ban

the sale of all fireworks. Many in the audience said it was obvious

which candidates had done their homework on the issues.

“Only a few of the candidates seemed to have familiarity with the

issues and did not oversimplify them,” said Eleanor Egan, a Westside

activist.

This is the third year the homeowners association has hosted a

candidates forum, and it will continue to do so in the future, Wyrick

said.