Candidate Looks to Make Council 'More Welcoming'

With the Nov. 8 elections fast approaching, eight candidates are vying for three open seats on the .

Candidates are Eric Alegria, small business owner and teacher; Susan Brooks, former Rancho Palos Verdes mayor; Ken Dyda, former Rancho Palos Verdes mayor; Dave Emenhiser, current Rancho Palos Verdes planning commissioner; Dora de la Rosa, current PVPUSD Board of Education president; Jim Knight, current Rancho Palos Verdes planning commissioner; Jerry Duhovic, current vice chair of the RPV Finance Advisory Committee; and Cynthia Smith.

Palos Verdes Patch asked candidates to talk about their campaigns, in addition to what each would bring to the council if elected.

Previously:

Here is how Emenhiser responded to a Patch questionnaire about his campaign:

Palos Verdes Patch: If elected, what would be your top priorities in the city?

Dave Emenhiser: Fixing San Ramon Canyon: The current council and staff have done a very good job of from the State of California for nearly $10 million, about half of the needed amount. I'd first approach other governments for the rest of the money, like L.A. City (it's their residents who live below 25th street who are in the greatest danger) and L.A. County (much of the runoff water in the canyon drains from a county park).

Pensions: As the former chair of RPV’s Finance Advisory Committee, I know that the city staff pension and compensation issues will have to be addressed again by the incoming council. We have the benefit of long serving and competent city staff, but we need to guard against staff compensation creeping ever upward and eating into those funds needed for infrastructure and road repairs. A performance audit preformed by an independent firm could provide information useful the new council.

Maintaining roads and surface streets: We need to recommit to maintaining our roads and surface streets. While some of our major streets like Palos Verdes Drive East and South are slated for attention this year, I believe we need to re-examine all of our streets and reschedule paving where needed.           

PV Patch: What makes you best suited for a spot on the council?

Emenhiser: I'm best suited because of my background, experience, independence and responsiveness. Our family came to Rancho Palos Verdes because of its unique beauty, its open space and the quality of life. My wife Miki is the CEO of Junior Blind of America. My two sons graduated from PV schools, one from and the other from , they graduated from college and are accomplished adults. I'm an executive with Verizon Wireless, hold a Doctorate in Adult and Human Resource Development and have written three books on organizational and community leadership. Click here for more on Emenhiser's background.

PV Patch: What are the biggest issues facing Rancho Palos Verdes?

Emenhiser: Some voters want stop signs or speed bumps in their neighborhoods, others are concerned about trash, and others are concerned about trees and their views. Most want to limit development, preserve our open space and they hold our PV schools in high esteem. Along the way, I've helped one wheelchair-bound resident get a curb cut near the bus stop scheduled, and I’ve helped a few others with advice on the permit process and view ordinances. But, the most frequent response to my question about their concerns is something like "No, I can't think of any issues. We are really happy living here in RPV." In spite of all of the anti-City Hall rhetoric of this campaign season, the average voter is glad they live in RPV and appreciates the importance of protecting our quality of life. 

PV Patch: How might you conduct business differently than the current council?

Emenhiser: While I do have the endorsements of all the current council members, there are a number of ways that they conduct business that I'm troubled by. To be brief, the members of the council talk too long, therefore the meetings last too long and they're not always welcoming to the people who've come to present and share their views. A council with myself as a member will be more welcoming to and appreciative of the public. By nature I'm more interested in listening than talking and more interested in pursuing solutions than in continuing the conflict. I believe we can disagree without being disagreeable.     

PV Patch: Are there any issues you feel deserve more attention in the city? How would you address them?

Emenhiser: After walking now 66 miles and knocking on the doors of over 1,000 voting households I can tell you that the citizens of RPV have lots of issues that deserve more attention. While much of the attention this campaign season has focused on the council, the city staff and , the residents of RPV are interested in a host of other issues. Infrastructure tops the list, with concern about our sewers and road maintenance. We have an opportunity with the revenue from to address these issues in a more comprehensive fashion. The city has a long list of capital improvement projects and I'm hoping the new council will revisit and re-prioritize this list so we can speed the process of road and infrastructure improvement. The citizens are also concerned about what you might call the retail side of city government and city governance. They want civil discourse about their policy makers and feel uncomfortable with the conflict exhibited, they are concerned about taxes especially in this economy and they're concerned that city government isn't always as transparent as it need to be. I'll work with my colleagues on council and the staff to address these areas of concern.

PV Patch: Where do you stand on the city’s ?

Emenhiser: I believe the pension issue will be revisited by the new council early in its term. I believe the current council did a good job of establishing a new and smaller pension for future city employees and made a small cut in the current pension expenditures. I understand Councilman Steve Wolowicz's concern the State of California CalPERS pension system puts many constraints on cities that limit our options and flexibility. But frankly, the average voter whose employer moved to a less generous 401K system long ago, whose home and stock values have dropped substantially, doesn't understand how a city/public employee can retire at 55 with a majority of their salary, paid for life. The disconnect between private and public pensions have created this rift, and the current economic situation has added fuel to the fire. Therefore, I supported Councilman Anthony Misetich's plan, which would have overtime phased out the city's payment of the employee's portion of their pension contribution, a plan for the current employees that was presented, but not approved by the current council.    

Click here for more information on Emenhiser's campaign. And visit Palos Verdes Patch for more candidate responses in the coming days.