At a Manhattan Beach City Council meeting last year, the city was considering an ordinance that would restrict “targeted picketing.” The measure came to council after a Sand Section residence was surrounded by protesters last March after its owner allegedly tried to evict a low-income family from their home in San Bernardino. The proposed ordinance would have mandated protesters stay a certain distance away from residences.
The council appeared inclined to approve the ordinance until Councilmember Mark Burton weighed in. The council ultimately voted to reject the proposed law, 3-2, after Burton warned that it could ensnare the city in costly litigation.
“Hear me now: the first arrest under this law will result in a federal court lawsuit,” Burton said.
The episode was telling for a number of reasons. It highlighted Burton’s familiarity with challenges facing city governments. It showed his willingness to challenge city staff. (City Attorney Quinn Barrow had assured council members that the proposed law complied with the First Amendment.) And it revealed his focus on long-term fiscal stability.
Burton is one of eight candidates chasing three City Council slots in the March 7 election. The incumbent is seeking his second and final term.
About this time four years ago, Burton was recovering from an operation to repair a torn achilles tendon. He saw a notice in The Beach Reporter indicating the opening of the filing period for the City Council race. He had recently retired after serving more than 30 years in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office, eventually rising to senior assistant City Attorney.
“I had a wealth of knowledge, and I wanted to do some good for the city I lived in. I wanted to change the culture,” he said.
At the City Attorney’s office, he handled 120 jury trials, and was the head negotiator for Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department in the Consent Decree that imposed reforms on the department in the wake of the Rampart scandal. And while, in the case of the targeted picketing ordinance, the experience made him cautious about the threat of federal civil rights litigation, he says it has also given him an appreciation for law enforcement.
“Why is Manhattan Beach such a great community? There are all these things, but at bottom it’s because we’re safe,” Burton said.
Public safety is his top priority. He points to accomplishments while in office, such as increasing foot patrols and installation of license plate-reading security cameras. Looking to the future, he sees improving channels of communication between residents and the police department as critical.
“Our community is so respectful. Sometimes, they won’t call the police out of sheer politeness,” he said.
Burton’s campaign manager Lynne Gross, a neighborhood watch block captain, said she supports Burton in part because of his commitment to public safety. But she also points to his style of governance.
“We need to make sure we have integrity on city council, and he has certainly shown that in the four years he has been there,” Gross said. “He does an enormous amount of research on issues. He talks to people, he reads the reports, and is extremely well prepared when he comes into meetings.”
Gross met Burton about two years ago, when she was president of the board overseeing the Roundhouse Aquarium. Since then, Gross said, she has come to appreciate the fact that Burton is attuned to the long-term financial stability of the city.
“He is always supporting the idea that we should be fiscally conservative, not spending more than we’re taking in. He’s thinking about pension and infrastructure costs down the line,” she said.
Fiscal responsibility is the other key issue on which Burton is running. And while he is often the first member of the council to complement city staff during meetings, he said that personnel costs, which consume about 70 percent of the city’s budget, represent the greatest threat to long-term financial stability.
The complicated structure of municipal employee compensation agreements means that it can be difficult to engage on the issue with the public, who tend to hold city staff — especially public safety employees — in high esteem. Furthermore, Manhattan’s relatively small size means that city council members work intimately staff members. Addressing employee compensation will be “a hard conversation” that will ultimately be dependent on both communicating with, and listening to the city’s residents.
“I like to think, if the residents had all the information I had, how would they feel?” Burton said.
