Garden Grove Ca Elections

Seven candidates are running for three seats on the board of the Garden Grove Unified School District. Incumbent Joyce T. Johnson is not seeking another term.

It was the day after a grueling, if victorious campaign for a Garden Grove City Council seat. But Van Thai Tran, 36, was back on the street Wednesday--thanking everyone who helped make him the city's first Vietnamese American elected official. Tran--who is the second Vietnamese American in Orange County to win election after Westminster Councilman Tony Lam--hopped on Vietnamese language air waves to thank the community for its vote.

The cultural barrier keeping Vietnamese Americans politically insular may be crumbling, experts say, now that four such candidates--a record number--are seeking city council seats at one time in Orange County fall elections. Even if they don't win, the decision by this many former Vietnamese immigrants to seek public office reflects growing confidence and maturity in a community forged by wartime and political exiles, the experts say.

A Vietnamese American took an early lead in the Garden Grove City Council race Tuesday night, signaling a possible first for the city. "The Asian American community is a sizable and active community and it wants to be active in the democratic process," said Van Tran, a planning commissioner, who led eight candidates according to early returns. In nearby Westminster, however, a record three Vietnamese Americans seeking seats on the council were trailing in early balloting.

Deep budget cuts have left the city with insufficient numbers of police officers and firefighters, several City Council candidates said at a forum this week. Tony Ingegneri, one of 12 candidates seeking two council seats in Tuesday's election, said more police are needed to keep up with gangs and graffiti. Candidate Ho Chung said crime is growing fast and more officers are needed. He said he fears that the riots that occurred in Los Angeles last spring "could happen here in Orange County."

A tax proposal to raise as much as $3.1 million for police and fire services would never pass and therefore will not be on the November ballot, the City Council ruled this week. On a 3-2 vote, the council decided Wednesday night to make spending cuts in fiscal 1996-97 rather than ask voters to approve a new tax. The city has yet to approve a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 and is facing a shortfall of more than $6 million. Finance officials have cut $4.

Four city council members, upset about the wording of Councilman Bob Dinsen's proposal to change the city's water billing system, said this week they will take their concerns to court. Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater, with councilmen Ho Chung, Tony Ingegneri and Mark Leyes, directed the city staff at Tuesday's City Council meeting to ask a Superior Court judge whether Dinsen's election guide statement about the 1996 March ballot initiative is factual.

The initiative to repeal a 1991 water rate increase will not appear on the March, 1996, ballot. Instead, it has been moved to November, 1996, so that city officials will have more time to file the required paperwork. "It takes 60 to 90 days to get an ordinance on the ballot," said Councilman Bob Dinsen, who turned the initiative over to the city on Oct. 26.

Volunteers have gathered 7,200 signatures from Garden Grove residents to place on the March, 1996, ballot an ordinance that would repeal a $30-a-year water rate increase, Councilman Bob Dinsen said. Dinsen and his supporters say that the increase, in effect since 1991, should have had voter approval. They cite a 1921 lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and the recent state Supreme Court affirmation of Proposition 62, which requires voter approval of general and special taxes.

Applications will be available beginning July 18 for residents interested in running for mayor and two open seats in the City Council in the Nov. 8 election. The deadline for filing is Aug. 12, unless an incumbent does not file, City Clerk Carolyn Morris said. If that occurs, the filing deadline will be extended to Aug. 17 but only for that seats in which an incumbent does not file, she said. Candidates must be city residents and registered voters to run, Morris said.

The cultural barrier keeping Vietnamese Americans politically insular may be crumbling, experts say, now that four such candidates--a record number--are seeking city council seats at one time in Orange County fall elections. Even if they don't win, the decision by this many former Vietnamese immigrants to seek public office reflects growing confidence and maturity in a community forged by wartime and political exiles, the experts say.

For the second time this year, voters will be asked to decide if the city should raise the tax hotels must charge customers. In March, about 60% of city voters rejected a proposal to raise the hotel occupancy tax from 10% to 13% in March. With a 3-2 vote, the City Council recently decided to put a proposal on the November ballot to raise the tax to 12%. They've also changed the name of the tax, calling it the hotel visitor's tax.

In March, voters in Garden Grove will consider raising the city's transient occupancy tax from 10% to 13%, a change that city officials hope will bring in several million dollars annually to the city's general fund over the next 10 years. And, as expected, it's a change that former Councilman "Taxfighter" Bob Dinsen opposes.

With the future of Garden Grove's parks hanging in the balance, property owners here will vote soon on whether they will continue to pay for the upkeep and maintenance of the city's 13 parks. At issue is more than $700,000 contributed yearly by property owners in lighting and landscaping assessments. The funds are used to pay for park maintenance and would be shifted into a separate park maintenance district if owners vote to continue the average $15 yearly assessment.

Seven candidates are running for three seats on the board of the Garden Grove Unified School District. Incumbent Joyce T. Johnson is not seeking another term.

Police said Tuesday that they plan to investigate as a hate crime a swastika painted on a campaign sign of City Councilman Ho Chung early this week and step up patrols in the area. "We're taking what happened very seriously and have zero tolerance with this incident," Police Chief Stan Knee said. Chung said he discovered the black swastika on a 4-foot-by-8-foot campaign sign at Lampson Avenue and Gilbert Street early Monday. "What did I do wrong?" a shaken Chung said of the graffiti.

Councilman Bruce A. Broadwater sat stoically during last week's City Council meeting as speaker after speaker demanded that he resign. Mayoral candidate Al Snook led the call for Broadwater's resignation over an incident this week in which one of Broadwater's children was accused of taking down Snook's campaign signs near the Broadwater home on Brookhaven Park. Police are investigating the incident.

When Garden Grove voters had a chance this week to choose between two possibilities for a water billing system, they picked neither. On Tuesday's ballot were two alternatives for how residents are charged for water consumption. One, proposed by City Councilman Bob Dinsen, would have ensured that all users, whether large or small, would pay the same price per gallon. A rival measure, backed by Mayor Bruce A. Broadwater and three other council members, proposed leaving the system as it is.

The city's overall financial health, its ability to pay for police services and the possible privatizing of its Fire Department and water operation are the major issues among the four mayoral candidates and eight City Council hopefuls in Garden Grove. Each of the candidates promotes attracting new business to the city as a way of stemming the budget crisis and solving the city's public safety needs.

A tax proposal to raise as much as $3.1 million for police and fire services would never pass and therefore will not be on the November ballot, the City Council ruled this week. On a 3-2 vote, the council decided Wednesday night to make spending cuts in fiscal 1996-97 rather than ask voters to approve a new tax. The city has yet to approve a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 and is facing a shortfall of more than $6 million. Finance officials have cut $4.