First, a round of general questions will be asked.
General Questions: 1. What are your qualifications to serve the city
of Huntington Beach? What has been your involvement in city affairs? 2.
What do you believe are the top issues for the city over the next five
years and how would you address them? 3. How would you enhance city
income to pay for needed services and capital improvements? 4. What is
your vision for Huntington Beach?
Following that, council members will have the opportunity to zero in
on topics of interest by asking one of the following specific questions:
Specific Questions: 1. How would you address the city's infrastructure
needs? 2. How would you deal with youth sports needs? 3. How would you
deal with senior citizen needs? 4. What are your views on the 301H waiver
under which the Orange County Sanitation District is operating? 5. What
do you think should happen on the Bolsa Chica Mesa? 6. How can the city
recruit and retain a highly qualified staff?While Councilwoman Shirley
Dettloff said she hopes to get an off-the-cuff answer to some of these
specific questions, candidates tend to be prepared.
"I think the top issue is keeping Bolsa Chica out of the hands of
developers as much possible," said candidate Laurence Korn, 67. "I'd like
to keep as much parkland for our children and grandchildren as possible
-- there's only so much land we have left."
Another key issue is education, Korn said. Although he is not
necessarily in favor of the $30-million school bond proposed by the
Huntington Beach City School District, he has been active in providing
scholarships to high school students over the years, he said.
Another little-known candidate, Jim Moreno, 57, would also like to see
a focus on youth.
"There is a large population of seniors in town and I think there is a
lot of potential for [a] symbiotic relationship with our youth," Moreno
said.
With the departure of Garofalo the council is left with a distinct
environmentalist bent and Moreno would offer a bit of development advice.
"I'd like to see the [Huntington Beach] mall revived. I went to
college at Long Beach State and I think that it was the leading edge mall
in the nation. Attention needs to be given to it -- make it a block kind
of venue, it's something that could be a jewel," he said.
A third potential candidate, Neal Gagliano, 51, is interested in
seeing Downtown revitalized.
Each of the candidates will have a 15-minute interview with the City
