Adding police top priority for Coerper

When Gil Coerper takes the mayor’s gavel Dec. 4, one of his first priorities will be beefing up police patrols downtown.

“I am concerned about having too many bars downtown,” Coerper said, adding that after 10 p.m., “It’s like a new mask is drawn over Huntington Beach downtown.”

Too many bars downtown naturally means there also will be too many drunks there, he said.

“Is this the type of tourism that Huntington Beach wants to bring to downtown?” he asked.

The Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn. endorsed Coerper, a former police officer, in the election. The group spent almost $13,000 for election mailers supporting Coerper.

“With more boutique shops coming up in the Strand, the Hyatt and Pacific City, we will have more people coming in,” he said. “We have to have more officers to handle the security.”

Coerper, who will take over for Mayor Dave Sullivan, said he feels honored to graduate from mayor pro tem. “It’s the greatest thing that any individual in my position could hope for,” he said.

Coerper’s hands-on style is well-respected in City Hall.

“He’s extremely responsive when someone calls with a problem,” Sullivan said.

Coerper sidestepped questions about improving traffic safety after a year that saw a rash of fatal accidents. Likewise, he did not want to comment on the Ashley MacDonald case, the police-involved fatal shooting of a teenager that has drawn a great deal of heat in the community.

“Let the judicial system work out all the details,” he said.

But he has been vocal about pushing for a gun range in the city, saying it will save the city about $250,000 in expenses. The city rents facilities to train officers.

“It’ll be a state-of-the-art range, and we can get grants for it,” he said.

Sullivan agrees that the range is a good idea, especially since neighboring cities like Fountain Valley could rent the place to train their officers.

“It’s always nice to have extra police,” Sullivan said. “Whether they are driving in or out of the city, the public gets more protection.”

Coerper promises “learning and working hard” in his first mayoral stint. But it will be that much easier because the city is already well managed, he said.

Still, he wants to make sure the downtown looks immaculate, and he will keep an eye on development of the Strand and Pacific City hotels, boutique stores and the Poseidon desalination plant.

“Twenty or 30 or 40 years later, when we have used up all the water, the plant will help make sure that Huntington Beach has the capability to make water,” Coerper said.

Coerper took a political beating after he voted for the Poseidon project, but he managed to ride out the storm. Sullivan believes that’s because Coerper “does his best to take care of people’s concerns.”