Arcadia voters will choose between several current and former City Councilmen and Mayors in the April 13 election to fill three of the five City Council seats, along with a prominent community leader making his third bid for a Council seat, and three newcomers, including the first woman to run since Gail Marshall left the Council.
Scott Hettrick
Although as many as nine or ten residents picked up applications, seven wound up formally filing by the deadline at 5:30 p.m. Monday. That’s more than three times as many as the election in 2008 and more than twice the number of available seats.
And I think that’s great. Two years ago I wrote here in my Arcadia’s Best blog what a shame it was that the only two real candidates were two 50-plus white guys who, like the other three Councilmen, have been on the the Council for several terms each. While all those men are responsible for the great city we are proud of today, and continue to show strong leadership, I asked why we did not have a more diverse group of candidates interested enough to run and better represent the current Arcadia demographic breakdown that includes a significant percentage of women, Chinese, and young adults.
Well, two years later we have a far better demographic mix of candidates that includes a woman, four contenders of Asian descent, and at least one much younger candidate getting into the race alongside three longstanding white male Councilmen. It’s terrific to see this kind of balance and fresh cultural and age perspective. Over the next weeks and months we’ll all have to decide which of them will best represent us and protect, preserve and advance our fair city, regardless of their age or culture.
Mayor Pro Tem Peter Amundson and former multi-term Mayor and current Councilman Bob Harbicht will run for re-election, each seeking another four-year term as an incumbent. Although Amundson was elected Mayor Pro Tem by the current Council, a position that typically puts one in line to be the next Mayor, he would still have to be elected in April and the new Council would have to vote for him to be Mayor.
There is one additional open seat vacated by Mayor John Wuo, who is termed out. The other two current Councilmen, former multi-term Mayors Gary Kovacic and Roger Chandler, ran virtually unopposed in their re-election bids two years ago. Only one other candidate, George Young, filed in 2008 and he did so 15 minutes before the deadline, forcing the City to hold an election that cost we taxpayers $160,000 even though Young then did little or no campaigning, and only a couple interviews andcandidate forums. Young requested application papers again recently but did not file to run.
Former Mayor Mickey Segal, who was termed out two years ago, filed to run again. To many locals he is essentially running for re-election as well.
Two Pasadena lawyers, who have been very public for weeks and months about their first-time candidacies through advertisements and media events, Jason Lee and Paul Cheng, also filed as expected. You can see videos from recent political events of Cheng and Lee covered here at ArcadiasBest.com.
Former two-time Council candidate Sho Tay, who has been president of the Arcadia Chinese Association, was recently installed for the second time as Master of the Arcadia Masonic Lodge, and is a board director for the Arcadia Red Cross and Los Angeles County Arboretum Foundation, and who was in line to be president of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce this year but recently stepped aside as Vice President in compliance with Chamber bylaws disallowing a board executive to be involved with a political campaign or hold a political office, has also filed to be a Council candidate.
Finally, political newcomer Tammy Woloski (Japanese name Miyamoto Sitsuka), is perhaps the least known of all the candidates (at least, by me).
She has lived in Arcadia 14 years. She inherited her father’s real estate development business at a young age and is the wife of a Monterey Park police officer and Medal of Valor winner, Paul Woloski.
Woloski told ArcadiasBest.com that her primary areas of focus are: Law Enforcement — education and training to prevent crimes before they happen; Education — supplement schools with after-school classes to prepare them for adulthood and about illegal drugs; Senior Citizens — programs to improve quality of life; and City Budget — cut/reduce taxes and fees, including waste disposal.