DANA POINT : Trio on Water Board Will Test Relations

Addison DeBoi, James Hayton and Bonnie Streeter, three political activists and, at times, bitter rivals, won the open seats on the Capistrano Beach County Water District Board of Directors.

For DeBoi, the question is whether the trio will be able to put aside their often-vocal differences and get along on the five-member board.

“We are going to have to,” said DeBoi, 42, a physicist with Southern California Edison. The three “are going to have to sit down and work out our differences because there are some very important things to do for the community. It will be interesting.”

DeBoi, the leading vote-getter in the nine-candidate race, is a political insider who is part of Councilwoman Judy Curreri’s steering committee. He has frequently clashed publicly with Hayton and Streeter, who teamed up to fight Dana Point’s proposed redevelopment agency and its General Plan.

Hayton and Streeter have attacked the plan as too tourist- and development-oriented. They have filed a lawsuit that seeks a citywide referendum on the plan.

Streeter, 47, an engineer currently out of work due to disability, came in second. She said she won because people recognized her name and ethics and supported a woman.

“I was the only woman on the list,” Streeter said. “And people have seen my name in the newspaper and in letters to the editor and know what I stand for: fairness.”

Though she has been a key dissident in the past, she said her “rabble-rousing days are over.”

“The city (Establishment) has been defused, whether they want to admit it or not,” Streeter said. “Now it’s time to get some work done.”

DeBoi and Streeter are on opposite sides of one of the key issues in the water district--whether to merge operations with the Capistrano Beach Sanitary District. DeBoi said it will save the city ratepayers money and provide reclaimed water.

Streeter, however, wants further study of the issue. “At this time, I’m not in favor of it because I don’t know enough about it,” she said.

Hayton, 29, the third-place finisher and owner of the Dana Point Car Wash, said he is not convinced the merger is the right thing for the community.

“Although the combining of the two districts sounds good on the surface, I want to make sure we are not just creating a new bureaucracy,” Hayton said. “I am all for saving money for the public, but I want to make sure that would happen.”

As for DeBoi, Hayton said he wants an apology for the “mudslinging” during the recent campaign. The two have traded charges that the other was stealing or destroying campaign signs.