Carson officials are counting on aggressive development efforts and new leadership from an upcoming municipal election to help shake the stigma left by a political corruption scandal.
"We have a bright future," said Councilwoman Julie Ruiz Raber. "We don't want to forget what has happened, but we must move forward."
The city is pushing a plan to make a 157-acre former landfill home to a team that the National Football League hopes to bring to the Los Angeles area by the 2008 season. Failing that, officials are proposing a new retail and entertainment complex for the site.
Community and business leaders are also looking to a municipal election in March to finally break a logjam over board and commission appointments that has developed on the City Council over the last nine months. Three of five council seats are at stake in the election.
Though some local activists and officials remain skeptical about how much to expect from a newly configured council in the near future, the optimism of others comes in part from several events that indicate the city may indeed be ready to move forward, some officials said.
On Dec. 20, former Mayor Daryl Sweeney, who stepped down in July 2003, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for his role in a bribery scandal involving millions of dollars in municipal contracts.
Also in December, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge voided an $850,000 housing grant that a developer secured by paying a bribe to Sweeney's predecessor. Pete Fajardo was sentenced to 15 months in prison last fall for soliciting more than $100,000 in bribes while on the council.
And in November, the city achieved one major objective: filling a longtime vacant fifth seat on a fractious council.
Councilman Harold C. Williams joined the panel Dec. 8 after his victory in a special election. The vacancy he filled was created when Mayor Jim Dear left his council post after being elected to replace Sweeney in a special election in March.
Filling that fifth seat was seen as key to circumventing an impasse over board and commission appointments that had divided the council. Officials expect the council to find it easier to form a quorum and avoid delays in city business caused by absences or stalemates.
