City Council Race Begins In...Rancho Palos Verdes

The City Council race has also begun in earnest and it has been going on for longer than many might think.

I know of four qualified candidates who are running to win one of the three seats up for election in November.

Ms. Susan Brooks

Mr. Ken Dyda

Mr. Dave Emenhiser

Mr. Jim Knight.

The candidates above are listed alphabetically and not according to anything else. You should easily find a link to their election Web sites and other links on the left side of this blog.

I will add other candidates as I learn of them and you can be absolutely sure I will opine on each and every candidate and all of the issues I feel are important in this election and for the new council makeup beginning with their first meeting in December.

To begin with and as most of you should surely know, I am NOT a conservative in my State, national, and world views and that I am very pleased this election is not specifically party affiliated. This means that I could vote for someone who I know is a member of the Republican Party and since that affiliation will not be listed by their name, that is fine with me.

At this early stage I have several early thoughts about what this current council has done over the years, including the almost two years where Mayor Pro Tem Misetich and Councilman Brian Campbell have served.

Overall and for me, these last eight years have been the most important years in our city's history. I have and will continue to give credit to the men who served over these past years including the late Councilman Peter Gardiner and former Mayor Larry Clark.

All of these fine members or these councils have given more positive results to our residents and provided a more fiscally sound and more secure Rancho Palos Verdes than many others would have provided for our residents.

There were more than a few very rough times during these last eight years and all of the members of those councils earned their stripes dealing with major issues, increased taxes and fees, and dealing with large developments and even a U.S. Supreme Court case.

While I will never agree with everything done over the last eight years, if anyone tries to suggest that the members of these councils over the last eight years did not put our residents first, they will be sorely incorrect and establish a level of ignorance for themselves they should not be proud of.

Now a special comment about Anthony and Brian.

These two (currently) newest members of our council were elected numbers one and two in the voting by a very wide margin and they both were qualified to run and serve.

And serve they both have. Anthony and Brian came to the council during a very active time dealing with a host of very important issues and they both dove in and worked tirelessly for our residents.

I did not vote for either of them and I did write some negative comments about Anthony and his support for the first go around with Ponte Vista. I am absolutely sure Anthony, as Mayor, will work as hard as he already has done to deal with over development in our communities in these last two years.

There are time I agree with Anthony's and Brian's positions but this latest wage increase for workers is not one of them. We can agree to disagree when necessary.

What I do not wish to see or learn is that anyone from anywhere consider either Mayor Pro Tem Misetich and Councilman Campbell being 'new', inexperienced, or anything else negative in comparison to anyone else who has served on our city's council as a member or even as our Mayor.

Anthony and Brian set into their seats during storms of issues in our city. They learned quickly and the two of them have faced more than any other two 'new' members during their first two years than any others who have ever served on our council. Each are able and very qualified to be the 'veterans' they will become, even if former council members and even former Mayors take seats this December.

It would be a negative for me to see or hear any criticism of the leadership Anthony and Brian have shown, other than the positions they have taken I don't agree with.

I'd like all readers to learn on their own about the four candidates I have mentioned. I was not active in R.P.V. issues when Ken Dyda and Susan Brooks served and I really got involved with issues only in 2005. I need to learn more about Ken and Susan and Jim and Dave, as we all should.

My current 'political' position about the next council makeup is that I consider Anthony and Brian to be more than enough of a conservative wing on our council.

I know many residents will continue to feel our current council was far to the left of their wishes, but our city has grown in so many ways and become more secure financially and in other ways because of Mayor Long, Councilmen Wolowicz and Stern, even though I don't think Stephan is a 'raging liberal' by any means.

I'd like to see a balance in the new council makeup. I don't wish to see our council move away from some of the successes garnered by thoughtful work done by the retiring three working with Anthony and Brian.

We have issues in Rancho Palos Verdes and the next post will have me pondering some of them and seeking clear views from the candidates.