Three way race - one reader's criteria to choose a candidate

Editor:

I was so happy to hear that we will have a real campaign for city council. I was afraid that without a real choice, we would not have a good discussion of the issues. Now, with Verna's entry into the race along with Cheryl and Jane, we will have three talented women to compare and choose from! This is great news!

So, how to choose? I offer my own personal criteria as to what qualities would make an outstanding city council person:

• A clear and documented commitment to preserving Laguna Beach's uniqueness. I want to know what each candidate considers our assets and what they will do to preserve them.

• A lifetime history of environmental action. The ideal candidate should have a record of support for clean air, clean water and maintaining our Greenbelt safe from development.

• Support for our unique commercial infrastructure and our resident serving business. Each candidate should outline how they will work to discourage the proliferation of chains and to promote our unique retail businesses.

• Prevent mansionization. The relentless process that results in ever larger houses in our neighborhoods must be addressed once and for all. The ideal candidate will share this view.

• Support our fire, police, teachers and city staff. One good idea is require moderate income housing be built for our city employees within any new major development.

• Work to solve our parking problem. I will be looking for new ideas to reduce the impact of autos on our neighborhoods and on our quality of life.

• Oppose multi use developments. The destruction of our neighborhoods by multi use mega projects is on the increase. My vote will go to those candidates who are committed to vote against such projects.

• Appointments to city boards. The real work in our city occurs on the various boards and committees. City Council members nominate and appoint the individuals who serve on these boards. I will look closely at the people incumbents have nominated in the past and the characteristics of those to be nominated in the future.

• Conflicts of interest. In the past we have seen conflicts of interests prevent a full airing of issues. Too many votes occur with one or two council members having to recuse themselves from consideration. We need a fully functional council. I will want to see all candidates disclose all of their conflicts and how they will deal with them.

I am very excited about the next election. We have three dedicated individuals to choose from. Fellow citizens, it is now up to us. Let's do our homework and choose wisely. Laguna deserves our best effort.

Al Baez Laguna Beach