Tuesday’s Elections Feature Redondo Beach Vote on Concealed Guns

While concern about violence has led one local city to embrace stricter control of bullet sales, Redondo Beach voters will decide this week whether to urge the state to allow more citizens to carry weapons.

The vote on the advisory measure is one of a handful of elections throughout Los Angeles County on Tuesday.

Municipal elections are also scheduled in Pasadena, Pomona and Hawaiian Gardens.

But it is in generally quiet Redondo Beach where the national debate over guns has enlivened the local campaign.

The city’s Proposition E, believed to be the first measure of its kind in California, would ask state lawmakers to ease restrictions on concealed-weapon permits.

The measure calls for changing state law so that anyone who passes a firearms safety course and is not deemed a public-safety threat is eligible for a permit. Current law allows only a community’s chief law enforcement officer to determine who gets a concealed-weapon permit. The permits are difficult to obtain in most jurisdictions.

In Redondo Beach, for instance, only five citizens have them.

Ironically, the vote on Proposition E comes as Pasadena has taken a different approach to the gun issue. An ordinance passed last week by the City Council there requires those buying ammunition to register their name and other information. Officials hope the law will prompt tougher enforcement of the existing ban on selling ammunition to minors.

The Redondo Beach measure has triggered strong opinions in the city of 60,000, where the only homicide last year occurred when a police officer shot an armed suspect.

The measure’s proponents maintain that a well-armed citizenry is a deterrent to criminals. “This isn’t primarily a gun issue, this is a community safety issue,” said Jerald Lorenz, one of eight members of a citizens group that is pushing the proposition.

The measure’s opponents, who include Councilman Robert Pinzler, say gun-toting citizens pose a threat to the public peace.

Some residents fear that publicity over the issue will keep tourists away.

“It makes Redondo look like an unsafe place to be, and it’s not,” said Vanessa Poster, a member of the city’s Youth Commission. “Why should tourists want to come to any city that would make a statement like that.”

The permit issue has arisen elsewhere in California. Two state lawmakers recently proposed new laws to make it easier for citizens to carry guns. City councils in Fresno and Stockton recently voted down proposals to dramatically ease restrictions on permits in their cities, in part because the local officials believed that their power to ease such rules is preempted by state law.

Redondo Beach’s election also features a four-candidate contest for city treasurer. Incumbent Alice E. DeLong, seeking her sixth term, has faced allegations in the last year that she mismanaged the office and came to work under the influence of alcohol. She has denied the allegations and filed a libel suit against the city.

In Pasadena, 15 candidates are vying for four council seats in campaigns that have been notable for their cordiality. This has led some observers to predict that Tuesday’s results will spell an end to the bickering that has plagued the council.

Council members Kathryn Nack, Rick Cole and the controversial Isaac Richard, whose angry outbursts caused his colleagues to censure him three times in recent years, are not seeking reelection to the seven-member body. The one incumbent on the ballot, William M. Paparian, is seeking a third term in Pasadena’s 4th District. He faces one opponent.

Crime, economic development and the future use of the Rose Bowl emerged as key campaign issues. But the underlying issue has been restoring civility to the council chambers. Political observers predict that Richard’s departure will ease tensions at City Hall.

The three candidates vying to represent Richard’s 1st District, which has a large low-income population, have pledged to be strong advocates for their constituents without resorting to the yelling and name-calling employed by the incumbent.

The race in this district--as well as the contests featuring six candidates in the 2nd District and four contenders in the 6th District--may not be decided until April 18. In each case, the two top finishers will meet in a runoff on that date if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote Tuesday.

In contrast to Pasadena, the campaign for two council seats in the blue-collar city of Hawaiian Gardens has been anything but friendly. Rumors, personal attacks and intrigue have dominated the rough-and-tumble race in the city of about 14,000 people, a community plagued by budget woes, poverty, high unemployment and crime.

Candidate Placido Alvarez said two men threatened his life if he did not drop out of the race, and an ally of Mayor Kathleen M. Navejas threatened to clobber candidate Alan Calcote after Calcote complained that the city’s newsletter is a campaign organ for the mayor. For her part, Navejas, who is seeking reelection, has accused her enemies of selling drugs to her son.

In Pomona, controversy over card clubs has been a central issue in the race for three council seats and the mayor’s post. The current council has approved proposed casinos for the city, which has angered some residents.

Benning is a community correspondent and Holguin is a Times staff writer.