A teacher and an incumbent are running unopposed for two open seats on the Hermosa Beach City School Board. In the past, the school board has seated unopposed candidates without an election, to save money.
Incumbent Lisa Claypoole and Hermosa teacher Patti Ackerman were the only two who filed papers to appear on the Nov. 8 ballot. Longtime board member Cathy McCurdy did not run for reelection.
On the same ballot, newcomers H. S. Fangary, a prominent critic of the city’s tattoo parlors, and Steve Powers will challenge second-term Hermosa Beach City Councilman Peter Tucker and first-term Councilman Michael DiVirgilio.
David Cohn will give City Treasurer John Workman his first electoral challenge since 1999.
City Clerk Elaine Doerfling is running unopposed.
The Hermosa ballot also will feature a citizens’ tax-hike initiative that has been repudiated by its own sponsor, and a city-backed tax-hike measure that is more modest in its increases and that was placed on the ballot to compete with the citizens’ initiative. The city measure would raise license taxes on a variety of businesses, and the citizens’ initiative would impose steep license-tax increases on many nightspots.
