Decision is to change guard or keep incumbent

The Daily Pilot asked the two candidates for Newport Beach’s District 5 council seat three questions about their qualifications and city issues. Here are the questions and their responses.

1. Why should voters choose you?

2. How would you make the council more responsive to residents?

3. What steps should the city be taking to improve water quality in the harbor and at the city’s beaches?

Robert Schoonmaker:

1. One excellent reason to choose me is that I am not part of the political cartel that has controlled this city for at least the last ten years. I will represent the residents, not the development interests. I am voting yes on the General Plan update, however, I am also voting yes on Greenlight II. The reason being the update of the plan was filtered through three current council members (two were appointees), all pro-development. Since this is the case, to protect our community from any unforeseen problems with the interpretation and/or implementation of the updated plan, it would be wise to also have Greenlight II. However, the smartest thing the residents can do is to vote a clean sweep of all the political appointees off the council.

2. I would be more responsive to residents by bringing balance to the City Council. I realize that some development is necessary and may even be desirable, however, it should be controlled development. It would be my job to interpret the requirements of the general plan update and balance that against the desires of our residents. I would address our major problems in a more pro-active manner. Traffic on our streets and the John Wayne Airport (JWA) are both regional problems and should be addressed as such. Our present City Council does not see it this way and wastes time and effort on non-productive legal action against neighboring cities. Instead they should be forming an inter-city traffic authority to solve our regional traffic problem. The same is true for JWA, the present City Council wasted time and money pushing for an international airport at El Toro. I think every resident knew this was a lost cause. What they should have been doing is working with our neighboring cities investigating the possibility of moving the general aviation from JWA to the Tustin Air Station property. This would take away some flight load from JWA and cut back on the noise from corporate jets. These types of real action are what our residents expect from council members, not just signing agreements with other political entities.

3. In order to maintain and improve water quality at the harbor and beaches the city should take action to implement the goals set forth in the General Plan as follows: limiting or banning of chemicals; promote pollution prevention; and implement identification and remediation strategy for ground water contamination.

Ed Selich:

1. I am the most qualified candidate. I have the experience and education most applicable to serving on the City Council. I am educated in architecture and urban planning; I have over 25 years experience in municipal affairs in the public and private sector. I have served for 10 years on the city Planning Commission prior to my 1 1/2 years on the City Council. As a 27-year resident I know the city and the issues. I have demonstrated my leadership abilities and knowledge time and time again on the many city committees I have served on as well as the Corona del Mar Vision Plan of which I was one of its creators and a leader in its implementation.

2. The City Council needs to listen to all points of view on issues and set up its public input processes so they are fair and reasonable. They should not be set up to lead the public to one conclusion or another. All the facts should be brought forth with consequences, both positive and negative, set forth so the public can intelligently choose. An example of my leadership style is when there was a proposal to down zone Balboa Island from duplexes to single family homes as part of the General Plan. I sent a personal letter to each property owner on Balboa Island and invited them to a meeting to discuss the proposal. I presented all the facts, with the positive and negative impacts of changing it or leaving it alone. At the end of the meeting there was an overwhelming consensus to leave things alone and I represented that position to the rest of the City Council during the General Plan hearings. I have a proven record of being responsive.

3. Newport Beach is one of the leaders on water quality; the testing results show that. We have to be sure that we are spending our tax dollars wisely and that the programs we undertake have a benefit that justifies the cost and are balanced against other city priorities. I would like to see us place an emphasis on constructing physical improvements to our drainage systems to limit runoff or improve the quality of that which enters the bay and ocean. We need to work with other upstream agencies to ensure they are meeting the highest standards in controlling their runoff which eventually ends up in our bay or the ocean.