Long Looks for Support, Trust from Residents as Measure C Vote Approaches

As Mayor Tom Long called for residents’ trust in city officials leading to a March vote on Rancho Palos Verdes' proposed charter, some still called the document dangerous at a Wednesday night forum at Point Vicente Interpretive Center.

Long and Planning Commission Vice Chairman Bill Gerstner came to Point Vicente to educate residents on Measure C, the city’s proposed two-page charter that will come to a vote March 8 during a special municipal election.

Long addressed questions brought up by concerned residents including some that have been at the forefront of the Measure C debate such as the vote’s timing, amount of resident input and a fear of too much power in city council’s hands.

“The ‘No’ campaign hypothesized terrible things the council might do,” Long said. “The city isn’t something apart from us, it’s just a few volunteers like me.”

He tried to ease concerns brought up by who view the charter as a possible power grab by councilmembers.

“The most interesting thing about opposition is when they say, ‘stop the power grab,’” Long said. “Three of us (on council) are termed out … it might have occurred to us to do a power grab earlier.

“It is a power grab by us as the residents of Rancho Palos Verdes from Sacramento,” he said. “That’s the power grab that I urge you to support.”

But some residents were still concerned about the control councilmembers would have under the proposed charter.

“It’s really dangerous,” said Ginger Clark, a Los Serenos de Point Vicente docent.

Clark feels the measure was rushed on the March ballot and would like to see more residents asked to input on the charter in addition to moving the vote to November, to avoid “an election that’s traditionally unattended.”

Long said waiting to put the measure on ballots would cost the city more money and with city council elections in November, a vote on the charter would “just add confusion.”

“Was resident input sought? Yes it was,” Long said. “Resident input doubled the length of the charter.”

The point of Wednesday night’s presentation was to clarify and educate, said Renée Cartwright, president of Los Serenos de Point Vicente docent organization.

“I hope this is to … encourage you to vote, not how to vote,” she said.

While Cartwright is still “on the fence” about the measure, its potential cost savings for the city are pushing her to the ‘yes’ side.

“The more I hear, I’m leaning toward the ‘yes’ side,” she said. “I think it makes sense for our community.”

The charter’s length of two pages will not hurt the city, Gerstner said, explaining “concepts expressed briefly” would be more helpful than a long charter.

“It’s not perfect, it’s not going to be perfect,” he said. “I do think we’ve addressed the most salient issues of what the community needs and provided the most adequate protections.”