Hermosa Beach residents say no to Measure B, City Council elected
City Council candidate Carolyn Petty refreshes the election results on Tuesday night. She is currently in the lead for the third open council position by two votes. Photo by Chelsea Schreiber
With 100 percent of precincts in Hermosa Beach reporting election results, first time City Council candidate Nanette Barragan has come out on top. She garnered 1,584 votes, 16.96 percent of the vote, while incumbent Jeff Duclos came in a close second with 1,501 votes, or 16.07 percent. Carolyn Petty and H.S. ‘Hany’ Fangary are separated by only two votes – with Petty currently in the lead with 1,480. However, Fangary, who currently has 1,478 votes, said he has not lost hope yet because provisional ballots are yet to be reviewed.
“Win or lose it was a win-win situation because the benefit I got from meeting so many people in Hermosa was a win,” Fangary said after results were announced at an election party late Tuesday night. “Hopefully counting the provisional’s may change the outcome and I look forward to serving if it does.”
Jeff Duclos and Nanette Barragan stand together after viewing the election results placing them in the top two council positions on Tuesday night. Photo
CPA Karen Nowicki beat 16-year former councilmember J.R. Reviczky by 802 votes with a final count of 1,925 for the recently vacated City Treasurer position. She will serve the remaining two years of the term vacated by David Cohn in May.
The hotly debated Measure B, intended to reduce downtown bar hours by one to two hours, was defeated as almost 72 percent of residents voting no.
“Most people I talked to said, ‘Hey, Hermosa Beach can be controlled with the law rather than taking away rights,’” bar owner and anti Measure B activist Ron Newman said earlier in the evening on Tuesday. “I’m confident in the voters of Hermosa Beach.”
Sitting council member Kit Bobko only received 13.32 percent of the votes while former Hermosa Beach Police Chief Greg Savelli trailed by almost 12 percent of the votes. Former council member John Bowler came in last with only 958 votes, just 10.26 percent.
“The voters have spoken tonight,” said Barragan. “Whatever I did worked.”