3 Council Seats, 2 School Boards Generating Debate

GLENDALE —  Candidates focused on hillside development, rundown schools, city services and the Burbank Airport controversy as the race for Glendale city offices entered its final weekend.

The city election Tuesday features candidates for City Council, board of education, city clerk, city treasurer and the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees.

Ten council candidates, including three incumbents, made it through weeks of intensive canvassing, knocking on doors and speaking at forums.

At a forum at the Chevy Chase Country Club on Thursday, most showed no sign of letting up. Challengers were critical, while incumbents spoke of accomplishments and stressed continuity.

“I think I’ve provided leadership,” Mayor Sheldon S. Baker, running for reelection to a four-year term, said in an interview. “I think the city continues to be one of the finest cities in this nation.”

The three council seats up for grabs are held by Baker and fellow incumbent candidates Mary Ann Plumley and Richard “Rick” Reyes.

The challengers are Kat Bayati, a traffic safety engineer; John K. Beach, a retired computer supervisor; Virginia “Ginger” Bremberg, a former council member; Gus Gomez, a deputy attorney general; Michael Joseph Smith, a business owner; David Wallis, a businessman, broadcaster and engineer, and David Weaver, a federal civil engineer.

The winners will join council members Eileen Givens and Larry Zarian, whose terms run until 1999.

Among the issues pressed regularly by challengers and some other residents is control of development, especially on the city’s hillsides. A 1993 ordinance restricts hillside building, but many city residents worry that two proposed projects, known as Oakmont V and Polygon II, will still devastate hills and create traffic problems with far too many homes.

City officials were embarrassed recently when an independent investigator hired by the city found that favoritism and incompetence by city employees allowed a prominent developer to build a mansion on El Tovar Drive that is 5,750 square feet larger than the maximum allowed by city-approved plans.

A looming $5-million city budget shortfall projected for the city’s 1997-98 financial year has also been a key issue. Expenditures are estimated at more than $89 million while expected revenues are closer to $84 million, a gap that may require reduced services or raised taxes to close.

The council also is wrapped up in the ongoing battle over the proposed Burbank Airport passenger terminal expansion. The airport’s governing board, made up of three appointed commissioners each from Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, has been locked in a stalemate with Burbank city officials. City Council members this week said they may consider replacing the existing three commissioners when their terms expire in May.

The school board race, which will determine who joins the board as the district prepares for a $186-million school bond issue vote on June 3, features five candidates running for three seats.

Incumbent Jeanne K. Bentley, board president, is trying to keep her position for another four-year term. At least two new board members are guaranteed since incumbents Jane Whitaker and Lynda Rocamora are retiring.

Also running are Louise Foote, a teacher; Dennis Rihn, an attorney; Chuck Sambar, an educator and writer, and Henry “Hank” Scheetz, a telecommunications engineer.

All the candidates support the school bond issue, which would cost property owners about $50 a year for every $100,000 of assessed valuation. Candidates see repairing or rebuilding schools, and in turn reducing class sizes, as important to the city.

“Absolutely, that is my No. 1 priority,” Bentley said. “It’s really important to our schools and to our city.”

Rihn said that in addition to supporting the bond proposal, one of his goals would be to generate more excitement for schooling.

“I would make music and art a higher priority,” he said.

Running unopposed Tuesday are City Clerk Aileen B. Boyle and City Treasurer Elizabeth W. “Betty” Evans.

In the only race that includes voters from nearby unincorporated areas, six candidates are vying for three seats on the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees.

Besides two incumbents, Mary Hamilton and Kenneth N. Sweetnam, the race includes Valerie Byer, a lawyer; Ed Cameron, a civil engineer; Al Clemens, a retired bank executive, and Victor King, an educator and attorney.