Man with lots of plans makes one final city hurrah

Alicia Robinson

With more than 34 years as an engineer under his belt, City Council

candidate Bruce Garlich has taken an appropriately scientific

approach to his election campaign.

A visit to his home office revealed a city map taped to his closet

door with the precincts outlined with colored markers. He’s focusing

his efforts on precincts with historically high voter turnouts, he

said.

Now retired, Garlich worked as an aerospace engineer for McDonnell

Douglas for nearly 35 years. The job brought him to Costa Mesa in

1967. Garlich was a nomad early, while his father was in the U.S. Air

National Guard.

“All those years of moving around, I never really had what felt

like a home,” he said. “I never lived any place longer than six years

before I moved to Costa Mesa, so it’s my hometown.”

After almost four years on the Planning Commission and two years

as its chairman, Garlich said he’d like to join the council to

continue his service.

He isn’t interested in higher office.

“[I’m running] to give back to the community as an active retiree

who’s found a hometown after all these years that did so much for me

and my kids,” he said. “This is my last hurrah, and I’m excited about

it.”

When he started on the Planning Commission, Garlich wasn’t

familiar with the intricacies of the planning process.

“I’ve enjoyed the process that involves a little analytical work,

a lot of interpersonal work and a process that involves doing

something for the city,” he said.

In his career, he dealt with government contracts worth nearly $3

billion, which made him “almost kind of lose track of real money,” he

said, but working with a $200,000 budget as president of his

homeowners association brought him back to Earth.

Now that he’s retired, Garlich said he plays a little golf, but he

needs more intellectual pursuits to keep him occupied. So he

completed the city’s citizen police and fire academies and other

emergency-preparedness training.

He’d like to see the council promote sensible growth and address

the city’s need for more police and library facilities, but overall,

Costa Mesa is a great place to live, he said.

In addition to its climate, the city’s best quality is its

eclecticism, Garlich said.

“For want of a better term, it’s the anti-Irvine city,” he said.

“Planned communities turn out [looking] like cookie cutters.”