Forum Reveals Where Council Candidates Differ

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Candidates in city races, from left, Anne McGraw, Verna Rollinger, Steve Dicterow, Judie Mancuso, Bob Whalen and Laura Parisi.
Candidates in city races, from left, Anne McGraw, Verna Rollinger, Steve Dicterow, Judie Mancuso, Bob Whalen and Laura Parisi.

With absentee ballots arriving in mailboxes in recent days, many of the 16,576 registered voters in Laguna Beach are already making decisions about national and local races, including the City Council race between two challengers and two incumbents.

Voters could discern clear differences between the local candidates at a recent forum, beginning with starting question to outline their top priorities if elected.

First-time candidate and animal rights advocate Judie Mancuso specified preserving open space and fire prevention as her highest priority as well as managing the city’s funding for public safety, the largest portion of the city’s budget, which she said is twice as much per capita as neighboring Dana Point.

In turn, Verna Rollinger, a former council member seeking to return to office, said “residents deserve a stronger voice and a more responsive council.” She also prioritized her concerns over “inappropriate development” in neighborhoods, staff turnover at city hall and the impact of tourism in South Laguna.

Steve Dicterow, the incumbent mayor re-elected in 2012 after an absence from public office, said his priorities are public safety, the city’s unfunded pension liability, preserving property rights and retaining the town’s charm and character.

Incumbent Bob Whalen, also elected in 2012 after serving as an appointee to the planning commission, championed public safety and paying down pension liability, as well as fiscal responsibility and promoting arts.

Laura Parisi, the incumbent city treasurer, and challenger Anne McGraw also fielded questions from moderator Kristine Thalman at the Thursday, Oct. 6, forum attended by 56 people. The forum hosts, the Board of Realtors, Chamber of Commerce and Firebrand Media, publisher of the Indy, compiled the queries. Radio station KX 93.5 hosts a final on-air forum for council candidates at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24.

A bigger divergence of opinion emerged over identifying threats to the town’s sense of community.

“Forgetting that this is a primarily a residential community,” was Rollinger’s answer.

Whalen specified a threat to community character as maintaining a balance between good experiences for visitors with protecting the quality of life for residents.

“The biggest threats are what we can’t control,” said Dicterow, pointing to population growth near the city’s limits and social media attention, as well as congestion downtown from “day-trippers.”

Mancuso said corrosive influences to a small town environment come from a proliferation of sober-living homes in neighborhoods and unmanaged tourist growth, which she said occurred “under the incumbents’ watch.”

The candidates expressed rare unanimity in their dissatisfaction with the work of the Berkeley urban design consultant MIG, hired in 2014 for the controversial task of revising development policies in the downtown area.

Mancuso called the city initiative a “debacle with MIG. I’m tired of money being spent on plans by consultants.”

Dicterow conceded his “overall disappointment with MIG,” but said the consultants are making progress on revising policies. “We want to maintain the scale of downtown,” he promised.

Whalen agreed, “it hasn’t been a smooth trip.” Nevertheless, he maintained “there will be a good product that comes out of it,” pointing to how the consultant’s work in analyzing actual parking use could inform changes to parking requirements.

“Why they’re still here is a mystery to me,” said Rollinger. She contended, “we started the process backwards,” by not first seeking direction for policy changes from citizens, rather than seeking citizen reaction to the consultant’s plans.

Another controversial and long-running initiative to revise the city’s historic preservation policies also revealed a divergence of opinion between the challengers as well as between the incumbents.

Revisions are intended to bring the city’s ordinance into compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, which began applying to historic resources in 1991. The proposed rules would redefine what is considered historic properties, which could provide incentives for some owners and may restrict future development by others.

They were asked their opinion about the city’s responsibility to clearly designate the historic status of every property.

Mancuso objected to a city policy that could apply a historical designation to a property retroactively. “That’s way over the line,” she said.

Rollinger urged maintaining financial incentives to owners of historic-rated properties.

Whalen agreed, “there should be a clear classification” of historic properties available to potential buyers and realtors. He added that the issue, “will be one of more difficult to wrestle with.”

Dicterow called for a process where owners could remove their properties from the city’s historic inventory, which was compiled without their consent based on the observations of a historical consultant. “We want to preserve character,” he said. “If we want preservation, we need incentives not prohibitions.”

They were also asked their opinion of the potential impact of Nov. 8 ballot Measure LL, the proposed 2% hike in the city’s current 10% bed tax on hotel guests.

“If it doesn’t pass, it will be very hard to float a bond for undergrounding,” said Dicterow, referring to a promised effort to bury utility wiring citywide.

Mancuso said she opposed the measure. “I thought the whole premise was deceptive,” she said, citing what she described as “leading” and “fear-based questions” in a recent survey of residents to assess support for a new tax.

Rollinger, like Whalen, pointed out that hotel managers did not oppose the measure publicly. “Revenue will be put to use for residents,” Whalen said.

Asked how to ensure the economic longevity of merchants, Mancuso was emphatic. “Listen to them. No one has asked them what will help.”

Rollinger was more ambivalent. She suggested making downtown more pleasant, with cleaner sidewalks, but noted that high rents play a role in success as well.

Whalen and Dicterow both pointed out that online purchasing has changed conditions for merchants.

“I don’t think anyone has the magic bullet,” Whalen said.

“The best formula is to get out of the way,” Dicterow said.

 

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