Pasadena Ca Elections

What Pasadena voters decide Tuesday could drive the pedal to the metal on the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension or send it skidding into a political SigAlert. They will cast ballots on two competing ballot measures that will determine whether Pasadena opposes the $1.4-billion project that would slice through its leafy west side as well as South Pasadena and El Sereno.

After the most bitter and wide-open campaign in Compton's history, voters will decide today whether to give controversial Mayor Omar Bradley a third four-year term. Threats of violence have marked the race. City Clerk Charles Davis, who supervises the election, said Monday he has asked the Los Angles County Sheriff's Department to be on alert for any problems. Davis said his office has received reports that some campaigns may field security workers outside the polls.

In Claremont, the normally genteel school board election is rife with talk about neo-Nazis, as two candidates try to explain their past associations with white supremacists. In Pasadena, five candidates are vying for one open school board seat, as talk of secession emerges in Altadena and a major financial executive cuts off needed gifts to the district.

Public opinion in two city elections could have a broader impact on transportation and energy issues throughout the Los Angeles region as voters in South Gate said no to construction of a power plant and Pasadenans said yes to completion of the Long Beach Freeway.

For six months, experts and advocates have been arguing publicly about whether Pasadena needs a special tax to bolster its library system. On Tuesday, the voters will get their say when they consider Proposition 1, the only issue on the special municipal election ballot. As conceived by the City Council, the measure--which would draw an extra $20 a year from each house, $13 from each apartment and $147 from each non-residential parcel--would provide $1.

The slow-growth movement, which has hopes of sweeping California like a Proposition 13 prairie fire, was given some painful political lessons in Tuesday's election. One was that a well-financed, well-planned advertising campaign, pointing out ambiguities and possible weaknesses of complex slow-growth citizen initiatives, can defeat them. That was demonstrated by the rejection Tuesday of such measures in Orange County and Pasadena.

Challenger Fred Rotenberg's marginal victory in the Pasadena Municipal Court race blew to pieces the theory that nice guys always finish last. A self-described "affable" attorney, Rotenberg won the unprecedented support of Judge Elvira Mitchell's colleagues and ousted the only judicial incumbent to lose a seat in Tuesday's election. A 10-year veteran who once ran unopposed, Mitchell could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Public opinion in two city elections could have a broader impact on transportation and energy issues throughout the Los Angeles region as voters in South Gate said no to construction of a power plant and Pasadenans said yes to completion of the Long Beach Freeway.

Watching the Pasadena judicial campaign is like spending a rainy day at the racetrack: With all the mud flying around it's hard to tell exactly who's in the lead. After 11 years as a Pasadena Municipal Court judge, Elvira Mitchell is facing a tough reelection campaign against Pasadena attorney Fred Rotenberg. She is being called "incompetent," "inconsistent" and "insufferable." And that's just from her co-workers. Conspicuously less is being said about Mitchell's challenger, Rotenberg.

The battle to save the historic Huntington Sheraton Hotel from destruction came to an end Tuesday as Pasadena voters gave their overwhelming support to a plan to demolish the main building and replace it with a modern hotel. After more than a year of debate, voters cleared the way for developer Lary Mielke to go forward with his $38-million project by approving a controversial zoning change. With all 26 precincts reporting, the vote was 7,032 to 5,088.

Assemblywoman Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) soundly defeated former Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park) Tuesday in the bitterly fought race to fill a vacant state Senate seat in the San Gabriel Valley. Because Romero got more than half of the total vote cast Tuesday, she won the seat outright without having to go to a general election.

What Pasadena voters decide Tuesday could drive the pedal to the metal on the proposed Long Beach Freeway extension or send it skidding into a political SigAlert. They will cast ballots on two competing ballot measures that will determine whether Pasadena opposes the $1.4-billion project that would slice through its leafy west side as well as South Pasadena and El Sereno.

A proposal to expand the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from five members to nine was defeated in Tuesday's election. And in a 15-candidate race, L.A. County Assessor Rick Auerbach held a strong lead. A nationally watched effort to stymie the living wage movement lost resoundingly in Santa Monica. In another key Santa Monica race, tough campaign finance limits on local politicians were headed for approval.

Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena have become California's most fiercely contested political battleground this year, strategists say, with candidates for Congress and the Legislature raising more than $10 million. Feeding the flood of cash are the districts' pivotal roles in power struggles in Sacramento and Washington. State and national party leaders have said they will spend whatever it takes to capture the swing districts where the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys meet.

Just when it seemed that local leaders were putting the pedal to the metal in determining the fate of the Long Beach Freeway extension, they locked their brakes and skidded into a political SigAlert. Pasadena City Council members could not make up their minds Monday night whether to allow voters to decide the city's position on the project. Now the measure is one more jam in the gridlock that has mired the project since the 1960s.

A week after withdrawing political support for the project, the Pasadena City Council has tentatively approved a plan to let voters decide what the city's position should be on the construction of the Long Beach Freeway extension. Council members late Monday night voted 5 to 2 to direct the city attorney to draft a Nov. 7 ballot measure on the proposed roadway, which would plug a 6.2-mile gap bridging the Foothill and San Bernardino freeways.

And then there were two. With all the votes counted in this week's primary election, Pasadena Mayor Chris Holden edged out a councilwoman Friday for the right to face top vote-getter and former Mayor Bill Bogaard in an April mayoral runoff. After city officials counted a final 1,818 absentee and provisional ballots from Tuesday's election, Holden ended up with 25.2% of the vote, compared with Councilwoman Ann-Marie Villicana's 24.4%--a 178-vote margin. Bogaard ended up with 43.

Assemblywoman Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) soundly defeated former Assemblyman Martin Gallegos (D-Baldwin Park) Tuesday in the bitterly fought race to fill a vacant state Senate seat in the San Gabriel Valley. Because Romero got more than half of the total vote cast Tuesday, she won the seat outright without having to go to a general election.

With two-thirds of the ballots counted in Tuesday's election to fill a vacant seat on the Pasadena school board, Alex P. Aghajanian was leading with 54.6% of the vote compared to 45.4% for Rene Amy. If the trend stands, it would be a reversal of the November primary, where Amy, a father of two and the district's most vocal critic, received 28% of the vote while Aghajanian, a father of three and an attorney, barely made the runoff.

With a chorus of civic voices calling for an overhaul of Pasadena's beleaguered public schools, voters today will elect a new school board member who many believe can help set the tone for reform. Rene Amy, a 40-year-old father of two and the Pasadena Unified School District's most vocal critic, is facing off against Alex P. Aghajanian, a 43-year-old father of three and attorney who graduated from Pasadena's schools.