EDITORIAL:

There will be change on the City Council this fall, but not necessarily for the better.

Mayor Dave Sullivan, who has served three terms on the council including two stints as mayor, decided earlier this month that he won’t seek a fourth term at City Hall. His decision opens up the field of council hopefuls vying for one of four seats. Those candidates include incumbents Gil Coerper, Cathy Green and Jill Hardy as well as Joe Carchio, Flossie Horgan, Joe Shaw and Norm Westwell. With Sullivan off the ticket, there will be at least one new face on the council taking the mayor’s place.

That place will not be an easy one to fill. Sullivan, who has managed to be among the city’s most popular and most attached leaders, has also been among its most dedicated, consistent and straightforward. He wasn’t afraid to take on the city’s public employees in an effort to keep city spending under control, and he hasn’t been afraid to take on developers in the interest of environmental protection. As of late, he has been championing plans to shut down Main Street to traffic and turn it into a pedestrian mall — an idea that has been too long in the planning and not nearly enough put into practice in at least a trial format — and is a backer of plans to build a new senior center in Central Park.

Sullivan’s vision largely has been right on when it comes to what is the best for the city. It certainly never has been compromised, clouded or indecisive.

Sullivan said he chose not to run again for a plain and simple reason, one in keeping with his time in civic service: “There’s no other reason other than I have been doing this for a long time, and I take it very seriously. I want the freedom to do other things.”

Since he was elected to his first term in 1992, Sullivan has been serving this city with the type of dedication all city leaders should have. If Sullivan wants “the freedom to do other things,” certainly no one in Huntington Beach can begrudge him that time. He has given the city more than it could ask.

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QUESTION OF THE WEEK

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