Five candidates competing for two Hermosa Beach City Council slots in the Nov. 3 election squared off in the first of three debates Tuesday night at council chambers.
The debate, sponsored by the Hermosa Beach Neighborhood Association, found the candidates frequently finding broad agreement, and no speaker used alloted answer-time to directly critique an opponent. Instead, the five candidates — Ken Hartley, Jeff Duclos, Trent Larson, Peter Tucker and Justin Massey — mostly used the night to explain their policies and approaches.
The first segment of the debate focused on long-term strategic plans for the downtown area. Tucker, who is currently serving on the council and is running for re-election, responded to a question about varying proposals for new parking with skepticism about construction of new lots, using the moment to define his campaign’s focus on existing residents rather than the visitors new development might attract.
“I’ve lived here my entire life, and parking has always been a problem,” Tucker said. “The more we build, the more they come, the more impact there is on city services.”
Duclos also took a broad view on development issues. He noted that downtown provided far less than a majority of the city’s sales tax revenue — the statistic that drew the most audible crowd reaction of any offered that evening — and questioned the city’s continued focus on downtown development.
“We’ve been improving downtown for 25 years, while mostly ignoring other areas,” Duclos said.
The candidates, in discussing development, also alluded to Measure H, a proposal to raise the city’s transient occupancy (hotel bed) tax.
Larson pointed out that, when it came to some of the major projects planned for the downtown area, such as the Strand and Pier hotel, revenues from a transient occupancy tax could help fill city coffers. Such projects could have spillover benefits, including promoting a more “family-friendly environment” than is currently found on the pier.
“Hotels will bring in a lot of the day-time traffic that we are looking for,” he said.
Larson was confident that Hermosans could deal with concerns about the projects’ impacts through vigilance at municipal meetings, and regulations like height limits and space set-asides.
Massey expressed guarded optimism about planned hotel projects, noting several times that increased revenues from Measure H would go directly to the city rather than be shared with the county or state.
At the same time, Massey laid out significant concerns about threats to Hermosa’s small-town identity, and suggested that the city consider Manhattan Beach’s recent moratorium on zoning alterations in the downtown area.
“I do not support new incentives to replace the 60-to-100-year-old buildings in our downtown,” he said. “We get a D+ as city [for historic preservation] from the Los Angeles Conservancy.”
Hartley agreed that any development needed to keep the town’s eclectic charm in mind.
“Any new structures that come down there should look and feel like Hermosa,” he said.
Hartley also sounded an optimistic note on the city’s approach to alcohol-related crime, the second major theme of the night. As moderator Alan Benson recited various comparisons of crime rates, Hartley noted that the relationship between statistics and enforcement can be complicated.
“Things have improved,” he said. “Often times, when you increase enforcement, numbers are actually going to go up.”
This assertion provided one of the few moments of direct disagreement in the debate.
“This idea that it’s getting better, I think it’s an illusion,” Duclos said. “The nature and number of crimes is shocking, and far too often it’s young women who are the victims. We can’t look at downtown revitalization without looking at this.”
Tucker also found a link between development and crime, indicating that a “mob mentality” took hold of visitors drawn to Hermosa Beach’s occasionally wild nightlife.
“We need to change the culture,” he said. “We want to attract places that will create a family atmosphere.” ER
