After seven years of serving as a commissioner for the city, David Lesser hopes to be elected to the City Council next month to continue his service.
Lesser is among four candidates running for one of two seats in the March 8 City Council election.  Â
He has spent the last six years serving on the city’s Planning Commission, which he chaired previously. In 2004, he served on the city’s Parking and Public Improvements Commission for a year.
“I like to think I’m a leader on the Planning Commission,” Lesser said. “And joining City Council would be a continuation of what I’ve been doing.”
Originally from West Los Angeles, Lesser, 50, has lived in Manhattan Beach for 16 years with his wife Elisabeth. The couple has a son, 10, and daughter, 8. Lesser has worked as a lawyer for the past 22 years, currently for a healthcare company.
Lesser takes pride in the fact that two city code amendments were approved during his tenure as a planning commissioner, one involving the mansionization of residential properties. As a member of the Mansionization Committee, Lesser said he was instrumental in dealing with a wide range of building proposals and outlining restrictions on development that were turned over to the council for approval.
 “I am not using this as a stepping stone for higher office,” Lesser said in an interview this week. “Running for City Council is all about community service. I really love being involved here.”
Lesser said the biggest issue facing the city is managing its $50 million budget “and, more importantly, public employee pensions.” With all three of the city’s labor negotiations coming up, Lesser called the negotiation of a two-tiered pension retirement system inevitable. He supports the idea of requiring public employees to contribute to retirement funds and pay more into health benefits. He also proposed a “freeze of some sort” on cost-of-living raises.
“I don’t want to target public employees,” Lesser said. “But the benefits of the current labor contracts were from a different age. We have to discuss all of these options in a collaborative way.”
Lesser also said he wants the city to be more proactive in boosting revenues from sales tax – one of the city’s two largest revenue sources – by working with the city and Chamber of Commerce to attract businesses to the Sepulveda corridor and by reviewing parking rates and hours in downtown.Â
Lesser supports a partnership with the schools that extends beyond money, saying that the city can’t afford to make similar cash contributions as in the past. He proposed performing an audit of property lease agreements between the city and the school to analyze revenue streams. He also suggested that the school district and city share supplies to cut costs.
Lesser called plans underway for the construction of a new county library in the city “a wonderful opportunity,” but said that its operational costs, which may or may not increase, need to be explored as it is uncertain whether county funds will cover them.
Lesser supports the continuation of utility undergrounding in districts that have already formed. He said, however, that the city needs to clearly define rules, stick to them and consistently post public information when new districts wish to form.
He is supportive of the city’s mission to go green, but said that it must be cautious about cost savings.
“We have to bring in the economic metric when looking at environmental policies,” he said.  Â
If elected, Lesser said he plans to donate his City Council salary to local charities.
“It’s all about community service to me,” he said. “I’ve been honored to serve this community and have always gotten great satisfaction of giving something back to the community.” ER
