Huntington Beach City Council candidates talk business at forum

On Wednesday night, grandfather Ken Inouye, who has lived in Huntington Beach for nearly five years, took center stage.

A few seats to Inoue’s left sat a student, Gabriel Sammy, who played basketball at Orange Shore College.

This year’s Huntington Beach City Council race has undoubtedly brought 18 candidates of varying ages, experiences and viewpoints.

On Wednesday night, 16 of them participated in a senior center forum hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. The problem is mainly related to the business of the city.

The 100 Minutes forum, moderated by Sheik Sattau, found commonalities and differences among the candidates who are fighting for four vacant seats this November. Only two, Jill Hardy and Billy O’Connell, have served on the committee in the past.

Other candidates in attendance include, in alphabetical order, Bobby Britton, Brian Burley, Pat Burns, Gina Clayton Tarvin, David Clifford, Villafel, Amerihan Sen, Kathy McKean, Oscar Rodriguez, Tony Strickland, Grace Vandermark and Mike Vogler.

Most agree that homelessness is a key issue the city needs to address.

“I promise that if I am elected, I will work with the city attorney as an attorney to develop a comprehensive municipal ordinance to address this issue,” Vogler said. “I don’t want to violate anyone’s civil liberties or civil rights, But we have to take this seriously. We don’t want Huntington Beach to become Venice Beach.”

For some, the crime appeared to be homeless, including Burns, who was a police officer in Long Beach for 30 years. Burns, Van Der Mark, McKeon and Strickland have been campaigning together to try to occupy the four vacancies on the podium.

Some businesses have fled to neighboring cities with fewer restrictions, McKeon noted.

“We’re sending sales tax money to other cities,” McKean said. “This is unacceptable.”

Clayton-Tarvin sees inflation as a major issue, not only nationwide, but especially in Surf City. As Chair of the Seaview School District Board of Trustees, she has seen the realities of the economy firsthand.

“We’ve seen the construction cost of rebuilding schools through Measure R actually tripled,” she said. “It’s destroying the school district, it’s destroying Huntington Beach.”

Sammy said she saw labor problems firsthand as an employee at a local hotel.

“I’ve talked to several businesses about what they think are problems, and one of the big ones is the workforce, especially in this post-pandemic era where no one wants to go back to work,” she said. “I’m in Kay in Huntington Beach. Working at the Wyatt Hotel, one of our most beautiful hotels. Their minimum wage is $22 an hour, and they can’t find anyone who wants to work right now.”

Sattaur also asked candidates what industry areas the city should pursue, in addition to tourism and car sales revenue.

Fair and Clifford noted that Huntington Beach’s population is aging, making health care more important.

“I think we need to bring healthcare closer to home for seniors,” said Clifford, a business owner in the transportation industry. “Those are higher-paying jobs. I also agree with Brian that we need more manufacturing, good blue-collar, high-paying jobs.”

O’Connell said it was important to revitalize downtown Huntington Beach.

“Families don’t want to go to downtown Huntington Beach,” he said. “We have to invest. I’m all for free and fair trade, but when you don’t have free and fair trade, we have to step up and support small businesses and American workers. If we don’t start encouraging our supply chains to come back to the U.S. from overseas, then It will be a huge challenge in the future.”

Former state legislator and state Senator Strickland said he would listen to the community if he was elected to parliament.

“God gave you two ears and a mouth for a reason,” he said.

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