Candidates Agree on Growth Limits

CALABASAS —  Three first-time candidates and an incumbent vying for two seats on the Calabasas City Council agree on the need to control growth and maintain the city’s small-town appeal.

Their main difference in the March 2 election is over who can best accomplish those goals.

Daniel S. Glaser, an attorney and chairman of the city’s Park and Recreation Commission, said he wants to expand the city’s recreational programming and help maintain its low crime rate. He is on a board overseeing construction of the Agoura Hills / Calabasas Community Center, which should be completed in the summer.

He said city involvement has given him experience dealing with transportation and planning issues. At 30, he’s the youngest of the candidates but counts youth as an asset, saying he has “a lot of energy and enthusiasm.”

While he is against overdevelopment, Glaser said the city needs projects that will fund more parks and public recreation areas.

Janice Lee is an environmental advocate and longtime opponent of the Ahmanson Ranch project, a proposed development of more than 3,000 homes on the city’s northern border that she said would dramatically increase traffic in the area.

“Our citizens have kept overdevelopment at bay, which says a lot,” said Lee, 48. “I would like to take that a notch higher.”

Lee, a businesswoman, said she also supports the Mulholland Highway beautification plan and strengthened safety and monitoring guidelines for the city’s landfill.

“I don’t think any community can sustain itself without preserving the resources that make it viable in the first place,” she said.

Helene Regen, chairwoman of the city’s Tree Board Commission, helped write the city’s ordinance protecting oak trees. She said she wants to extend the protections to sycamores.

Regen, 58, said she wants to make the city’s transportation services more responsive to the elderly and young adults. Now riders need to make an appointment 24 hours in advance for service, she said.

A board member of the Calabasas Park Homeowners’ Assn., Regen said she would like to ensure that all areas are treated equally and supports moderate growth while protecting the city’s scenic beauty. Now retired, Regen spent 20 years in the clothing industry.

Councilman Dennis Washburn said he has helped bring state and federal money into the area. He said much of the funds available for city projects, such as improving Juan Bautista de Anza Park, came from creative financing and effective grantsmanship that he helped implement.

“I pride myself on getting that [government] money back,” said Washburn, 56. “It’s creative thinking that allows us to find that money and express the political will to get the job done.”

Washburn, Calabasas’ first mayor and a council member since 1991, said he also wants the city to continue growing through community-friendly projects.

Recently, he began a campaign to collect signatures to stop the Ahmanson project and he will forward them to Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks).

“[Congress] should be able to buy it and turn it into public land,” he said.

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Calabasas City Council Race

Two seats are up for grabs in Calabasas’ March 2 City Council election. The candidates are:

Dennis Washburn, incumbent. Washburn, 56, Calabasas’ first mayor and a council member since 1991, said he wants the city to continue growing through community-friendly projects. He recently began a campaign to stop the Ahmanson Ranch project.

Daniel S. Glaser, attorney and chairman of the city’s Park and Recreation Commission. Glaser, 30, is also on a board overseeing construction of the Agoura Hills / Calabasas Community Center. He says the city needs projects that will fund more parks and public recreation areas.

Janice Lee, businesswoman. Lee, 48, is a longtime opponent of the Ahmanson Ranch project. She is an environmental advocate and supports the Mulholland Highway beautification plan and strengthened safety and monitoring guidelines for the city’s landfill.

Helene Regen, chairwoman of the city’s Tree Board Commission. Regen, 58, is a board member of the Calabasas Park Homeowners’ Assn. She says she wants to make the city’s transportation services more responsive to the elderly and young adults.