Two days into the official campaign for the Hermosa Beach City Council race, five candidates — three familiar faces on the dais and two newcomers — pulled papers from the city clerk’s office, signalling their intent to run for the two council seats that will be open in November.
The three hopefuls with council experience are Peter Tucker, who has served on the council since 2003 and served as mayor this past year; Jeff Duclos, a former councilman who narrowly lost in the 2013 election; and Howard Fishman, who served on the council with Duclos from 2009 through 2013. The two newcomers are Justin Massey, an attorney who was active in the “No on O” effort to uphold Hermosa’s oil drilling ban, and Trent Larson, an unknown on the political scene in Hermosa who penned pro-oil letters in the Beach Reporter.
They all pulled papers from the city clerk’s office on the first two days of the nominating period on July 13 and July 14, and, as of the end of the week, were still the only candidates to have pulled papers. The nominating period ends August 7.
The two council seats are becoming available as terms end for Tucker and Michael DiVirgilio. The councilpersons elected to those seats at the November 3 election will serve through 2019. A third seat will also become available when Mayor Nanette Barragan retires from the council later this month to focus on her congressional campaign for the 44th District seat. The council can either appoint her replacement within 60 days or allow residents to vote on the seat in an election, which would be held in the second week of April next year, at the earliest, said City Clerk Elaine Doerfling. Barragan’s replacement would serve through the end of her term, in 2017.
Tucker said he’s running for his fourth term in order to continue working on a number of projects that are already underway, including an overhaul of the PCH-Aviation Blvd. corridor, the development of a new Skechers design center and the two big hotel projects planned for downtown Hermosa.
“There’s a lot of pivotal things coming,” Tucker said. “I’d like to be here to make sure we don’t get sidetracked from what people really want.”
Duclos, who is a journalism instructor at California State University Northridge and a public relations professional, served on the council from 2009 through 2013. He narrowly lost his reelection bid in 2013, when Councilman Hany Fangary claimed the third and final remaining seat by a seven vote margin. Duclos said in a 2013 Easy Reader story that the 2013 campaign would be his last, although he changed his mind after seeing a need for change on the dais and at the urging of other residents, he said. On the council, Duclos helped found the PCH/Aviation Improvement Committee and spearheaded environmental and health projects, including the ban on smoking in public and the ban on styrofoam boxes at eateries.
Fishman, a retired risk manager for the city of Manhattan Beach, was also involved in the public smoking ban and was a proponent of “project hush,” a public safety measure to rein in rowdiness in Pier Plaza, while on the council. He was initially elected to the council in 2005, but chose to care of his ill wife instead of serving that term. He was then reelected in 2009. (Fishman pulled his papers too close to deadline to be contacted).
Massey is an environmental lawyer at Miller, Axline & Sawyer. He said in an interview he hopes to help the city make wise investments with relatively short payback periods that would help free up money that could be used for the city’s numerous unfunded capital improvement projects.
Larson moved to Hermosa in 2003 and said on his campaign website that he’s a business executive. According to the website, he’s running because “city hall needs strong leadership.” On the council, he would try to “promote fiscal policies that help local businesses and “attract new businesses that will expand our tax base.”
Larson’s pro-business bent was on display during the oil election.
“Amber, clear and foamy liquid gold cascades over rocks in ounces and pints all over Hermosa’s lush gardens. The stuff of legend worthy of our admiration and support. A gusher of booze oil flows in the heart of the city. The noble drinker is our salvation, for it is he who will save Hermosa,” he wrote in a letter published by the Beach Reporter in April.
Larson was not available for comment.
Elections will also be held on November 3 for city treasurer and city clerk.
