In Manhattan Beach City Council race, Wallace offers a voice from other the other side of Sepulveda
Manhattan Beach City Council Candidate Diane Barkelew Wallace. Photo courtesy Diane Barkelew Wallace
Editors note: First in a series of profiles of candidates for Manhattan Beach City Council in the March 2017 election
Diane Barkelew Wallace is accustomed to dealing with bureaucracies. Especially ones not functioning that well.
Wallace, whose career has blended the worlds of education and policy, spent time as the director of a statewide literacy program targeted at 24 of California’s lowest-performing school districts. And though it was grounded in dealing with poverty and dysfunction, she believes these and other experiences have left her well prepared to serve a place far more advantaged, as a member of the Manhattan Beach City Council.
“Manhattan Beach would not have been one of the school districts where I ever worked,” she said with a laugh. “But the issue is the same when you are trying improving performance. As human beings we all work in organizations. There are always ways we can learn from our experiences and outcomes. I help improve those outcomes, and that skill set is really applicable to any organization.”
Wallace is one of eight candidates chasing three spots in the upcoming March election. She is a career educator, serving in the several Southern Caliofrnia school districts. (Her late father, Tom Barkelew, was a superintendent and popular substitute teacher at Mira Costa High School.) And she also serves as a professor at National University, teaching graduate education students about using and integrating data in their research.
This is not her first entrance into politics. She has previously sought elected office as a member of the California Legislature in the former 53rd Assembly District representing the South Bay. And over the past several years she has drawn her focus tighter, getting involved with Manhattan civic organizations and dutifully attending board, commission and council meetings.
Her regular attendance has not dulled her optimism for city government’s ability to improve people’s lives — “I prefer to focus on the things that work well,” she said — but she does see issues in the city needing attention.
Wallace acknowledged the way the Downtown Specific Plan consumed the city’s attention last year, but said she feels as though the residents and issues on the east side of Sepulveda Boulevard sometimes get short shrift from the city.
“More attention appears to be placed on the west side of Sepulveda,” Wallace said. “I think it would be beneficial to have a member of the city council who lives and owns a house on the east side.”
But she plans to govern for the entire town. A resident of Manhattan Village, Wallace said the experience of being surrounded by a country club, film studios and hotels has made her empathize with the way downtown residents feel deluged by events and visitors. Recently, she served on the citizen’s committee overseeing the mall enhancement project, and saw the way input from residents can curb negative impacts on quality of life. She pointed to modifications the developer agreed to that would diminish light pollution for Oak Street residents west of the highway, and the elimination of a multi-level parking structure that threatened views of those on the east.
She is a past president of the Village Homeowners Association, now serves as secretary and chair of the roofing committee. Her time in charge of the roofing issue has given her insight into the appropriate role consultants play in government projects, a hot issue at City Hall. Some residents have questioned the continued use of consultants to handle projects that arguably could be done by staff.
The key, she said, is to strategically deploy consultants in areas where their specialized expertise is of particular benefit. When it came to obtaining new roofing, association members were at a loss. (“We are not roofers, any of us,” she said.) But the association has made judicious use of a consultant who is up on a housetop multiple times a week, and has provided valuable recommendations.
“And the result is a very good roof on every building,” Wallace said.
Scott King, president of the Manhattan Village Homeowners Association, works frequently with Wallace. Over the years she has shown herself to be a dedicated steward of Village concerns, he said, recalling that she once went to the California Public Utilities Commission after a dispute arose with Southern California Edison over a modernization project, and helped secure electrical upgrades for the whole complex.
On the roofing project, which King said involves a dozen vendors and has cost about $11 million, her management skills have shone through.
“It’s a real game of dominoes,” King said. “She does an excellent job keeping everybody in line. And communicating with 400 homeowners what’s going on in their house.”